Support for immigration into the United States and for advancing the ways that people can gain legal status in the United States is often undermined by the misconception that immigrants do not “contribute” to the economy. However, the reality is that undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes every year in the United States. In fact, “the best evidence suggests that at least fifty percent of undocumented immigrant households currently file income tax returns using Individual Tax Identification Numbers (“ITINs”), and many who do not file income tax returns still have taxes deducted from their paychecks.” Currently, there are roughly 11.4 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) estimates that as of 2010, about 3.1 million unauthorized5 immigrants were paying Social Security taxes. Thus, while undocumented immigrants cannot vote on any state, local, or federal tax laws, more than half of undocumented immigrants in the United States go out of their way to file annual federal and state income tax returns.
Further, undocumented immigrants cannot claim the direct benefits of their tax contributions. Thus, despite the substantial amount of money that undocumented immigrants contribute by paying income taxes, they are ineligible to receive the Social Security benefits resulting from their contributions.
In the interests of economic fairness and equal protection under the law, undocumented immigrants who contribute to federal and state income taxes should be eligible for benefits. The most efficient way of reforming this issue may lie in a more liberal work authorization policy that grants asylum applicants work authorization as soon as they enter the United States, rather than only reforming the tax scheme as a post hoc solution.
In order to contextualize the impact of immigrant contributions to the American income scheme, Part II of this Note provides background on the U.S. income tax scheme and details immigrant contributions to federal and state income taxes. Part III introduces the problem of undocumented workers being disproportionately excluded from Social Security benefits, despite their positive contributions, leading to inequity in U.S. labor and taxation practices. Part IV details a legal analysis grounded in the Equal Protection Clause and explains why undocumented immigrants should be eligible for benefits on their income tax contributions. Part V explains this Note’s policy proposal, which proposes to include undocumented individuals in the Social Security Fund (“SSF”) without disruptions or amendments to the tax scheme as it exists today. Lastly, Part VI provides an explanation regarding the benefits of including tax-paying undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Social Security benefits scheme while also illustrating the challenges and shortcomings of the proposed solution.
The Tax Justice Network’s June 2025 update to the Financial Secrecy Index introduced new data points focusing on countries’ commitments under the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MAAC). The analysis shows that despite growing membership in the MAAC, many jurisdictions — particularly major financial centers— exploit reservations and opt-outs to limit their cooperation. In addition, most of the jurisdictions that are ranked high on the index, refuse to assistance in collecting foreign tax debts and avoid information exchange on non-compulsory taxes such as inheritance, wealth, and digital services taxes, often reserving these powers for selective bilateral agreements.
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