"Mexican migrants sent record $36B in remittances in 2019" https://www.foxnews.com/world/mexican-migrants-sent-record-36b-in-remittances-in-2019 My gut instinct is ---- we should tax this. The only argument I've seen, really, against taxing remittances is that it would hurt Mexico (and the other countries which receive remittances), but is that really our responsibility? If Mexico's economy sucks so badly, shouldn't Mexico be responsible for trying to fix it, rather than relying on remittances from the US to act essentially as their welfare safety net? What about the good we could do in our own country with the money we could make from taxing remittances? Thoughts? If there is a legitimate reason ---- putting America's interests first ---- for not taxing remittances, I'd be interested to hear it. *People living in the US send remittances all over the world. Since the article is about Mexico, I've mentioned Mexico, but the same principle would apply to any country and all remittances.
You have to figure that these people aren't making more than minimum wage yet still sock enough away to send $36 large back home. That tells me two things: 1. The $15 minimum wage being proposed by the left is unneeded since these folks are proof that people can survive with less if they're motivated to do so. 2. The left is missing out on a great opportunity to tax something. Not only am I surprised the left hasn't rushed to tax this money, but I'm also surprised they haven't imposed an immigrant registration fee, a border crossing fee, a translator fee, etc.
We (the American citizenry) should probably check in w/ Sen. Chucky Schumer before levying a tax on the illegals... ROTFL ... He / them Dems seem to have other intents in mind...
I'd rather have immigrants who are here working legally send money home to their family, than have their family members move here. The cost of living in Mexico is so much lower that it makes sense to have a temporary-worker or permanent-resident status migrant come earn the money and support a family than to try to earn enough to move their entire family here and support them. If they are here working and paying income tax, Soc Sec and Medicare then they've been taxed and how they spend their disposable income is their business. I was reading this week that migrants from India also send billions of dollars back to family in India. The migrant workers from India have a tendency to be highly-educated (here) though and have an average income right around $100,000/year. Different demographic. Anyway, if migrants are here working legally, they are paying taxes just like everyone else. If it makes economic sense for themselves and their families them to send money home, that's a good thing. Illegal aliens are unlikely to be wiring money (which could be easily traced) making them more likely to be caught and deported. There may be billions more money that we can't account for because it's "cash". I do have a problem with that. It's probably most practical to crack down and fine employers who knowingly hire illegals to disincentive them from hiring "cheap labor for cash".
I posted before watching that video. What Ted Cruz is saying about 40% of legal immigrants vote Republican in Texas, I find to be true from my anecdotal experience of having friends and acquaintances fairly representative of the demographic mix of Caucasians and Hispanics in the state. My Hispanic friends are slightly more Democrat and slightly less Republican. Most, however, are opposed to open borders.
I completely agree with the both of you. However, if we taxed remittances then we would have to be on the lookout for other ways that people would send money out of the country. Maybe like this. Oops, my bad. This is the $1.5 billion in cash that Obama sent Iran.
Appalling...! A 'pen & phone' instance in our Representative Republic that should stand out in - infamy...
one would think it was already taxed. hahaha likely not all of it. That said: good luck trying to enforce something like this without pissing off people. You'd have an easier time taxing automated stock trading (and probably make more off of it)
Yes, particularly the billions, actually more likely trillions, that the billionaires, both businesses and personal wealth, being "remitted" to the offshore tax and cash hordes being untouched by the American wealth! Trump would know all about this since his business has been fueled by Trump's real estate projects across the world to be the funneled into his condos and Trump Properties!
one comment, if the us decided to tax money going out, where does that stop, and do you tax only mexico or money going out to any country? Its not all mexican's its multiple countries i'm sure. and aren't there multiple workarounds to western union? Venmo, paypal, zelle? I assume other countries have all that stuff too. I only mention western union because they have one at the local walmart and its pretty common to see people of latin descent in line to do a transaction, and I assume they aren't sending money to their relatives in Japan.
Are you guys being funny, talking about tax on remittances "paying for the wall"? --- Rant warning! Sheesh. Trump only asked for $10 Billion to pay to replace the border fence Obama built from California to New Mexico with a stronger, sturdier, taller fence, and add a "wall" to most of Texas where there were eminent domain suits against the Obama administration which prevented Obama from finishing his half-hearted border fence. Anyway, if the wall were to run over budget, like most government projects to, say, $25 Billion, we can still pay for our own d*mn wall. The government spends almost $3 Billion a day, 365 days a year. The government has paid for things like $200,000 to a researcher to study the gambling habits of monkeys to discover that monkeys like to gamble. We can most likely find wall money without increasing the budget. Sorry for going off topic, but the "...and Mexico is going to pay for it" rhetoric has always made me cringe (and still does). Rant over. ---- So....I'm going to assume y'all are just joking to make liberals' heads explode.
Most of the people who have not fled Venezuela (those who are not part of the well-paid Maduro government regime) are only surviving the Socialist collapse on remittances, particularly U.S. dollars. I know a migrant woman who fled Venezuela (legally) about 8 years ago. Sending $20 or $40 of her weekly paycheck was enough to support several family members. Minimum wage there is less than $10 per month. She was working at a grocery store when she first moved here, and studying to get a license to be an insurance agent. I wouldn't want her to have additional taxes on her disposable income which she spends to keep her family from literal starvation. If it weren't for remittances, how many more people would be wanting to rush across borders, both legally or illegally? Besides, we spend U.S. Aid here and U.S. Aid there, throwing billions of dollars to multiple countries "in need". Remittances to countries from migrants of those countries do not cost the tax-payer anything. We shouldn't punish the practice.
my only comment would be that the "tax" would likely be like a 1% or 1/2% surcharge, if anything, so its not going to break the sender nor is it going to be substanstial to the US as far as taxable income, right now its hypothetical anyway I honestly thought the figure was higher, a small tax on 38 billion isn't going to generate much So basically, I think we're on the same page, not worth getting worked up over.
