Strayhorn says Texas profits from illegal alien population

Washington Post:

It is a Texas showdown, a war of words over illegal immigration at the border.

State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn fired the first shot with a recent report that, for some, says the unthinkable: Illegal immigrants not only pay their fair share in taxes, but they are also good for the economy.

"The absence of 1.4 million undocumented immigrants in Texas . . .would have been a loss to our gross state product of $17.7 billion," Strayhorn said in a statement. Overall, the report said, illegal immigrants put about $420 million more into state coffers than they take out.

Strayhorn billed the report as the first ever by a state finance official, a crucial step forward. But for Texans who believe hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants are overrunning their state, the report is a misstep.

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Because Texas's primary source of tax revenue is the sales tax it is difficult for the illegals to avoid paying their share. In fact Texas profits from Mexicans who come to the state just to shop, and not to live here. None of this really should matter if you support the rule of law. By failing to support the rule of law on immigration matters you undermine it elsewhere. The report seems to be just about the revenue side of the equations and does not really address the cost side. Others suggest she is off by over three billion dollars.