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I participate in local politics, it's not just housing. Housing means more people which means more infrastructure, schools, fire, police, roads and so forth. Al

I participate in local politics, it's not just housing. Housing means more people which means more infrastructure, schools, fire, police, roads and so forth. All of that costs money and immigrants/asylum seekers tend to be at bottom of economic scale which means any taxes they pay are extremely likely not to cover their share of cost. This is why many communities are against it and it's massively impacting local services the community provides. In particular, we got influx of asylum seekers and schools had to made massive cuts to many programs because budget was being poured into education programs for the asylum seeker kids and support services for their parents. This is required by law. This is why my county went for Trump in a way it hadn't seen since Bush. Before you go posting links about Social Security and Federal Taxes, it doesn't matter to local governments, they don't see that money. Also worth noting, Local Governments don't work like Federal Government, any debt they take on must be repaid on time or go bankrupt which is not good.

wizzwizz4 2y ago
> immigrants/asylum seekers tend to be at bottom of economic scale which means any taxes they pay are extremely likely not to cover their share of cost. I understand that people are worried about this – and it's certainly an intuitive idea –, but is it true? I would count taxes on the total economic output / labour, not just the taxes from what is captured as salary (after all, underpaid workers make the world go 'round), but any analysis would do.
- stackskipton 2y ago
  I've searched for sources that break it down instead of just looking at United States GDP but also remember, states/counties can only capture income from sources that fall under that state/county. For example, immigrant worker enables bigger salaries for Tyson Food HQ people in Springdale, Arkansas but Tyson Food Plant in upstate New York means county/state in New York is absorbing that burden without getting taxes from Springdale, Arkansas people. So sure, the entire US GDP and thus taxes is extremely reliant on these workers but who sees the benefits is not uniform throughout the country and thus the friction around immigration.
  - wizzwizz4 2y ago
    This explanation is even better than what I asked for! Do you know if increasing the minimum wage would stop people being so upset? I imagine this would funnel enough of the value immigrants are creating to the immigrants that they can pay tax in their local area, thus avoiding the "we're subsidising other parts of the country" problem – but I'm no economist. (The whole "pay a fair wage" thing has other benefits, but it might not solve this problem.)
    - stackskipton 2y ago
      Increasing the minimum wage might help but it's still a sticky problem. It probably requires some federal solution which is to say, it's not going to happen. I don't know the solutions, I'm just aware of the problem.

wizzwizz4 2y ago

> immigrants/asylum seekers tend to be at bottom of economic scale which means any taxes they pay are extremely likely not to cover their share of cost. I understand that people are worried about this – and it's certainly an intuitive idea –, but is it true? I would count taxes on the total economic output / labour, not just the taxes from what is captured as salary (after all, underpaid workers make the world go 'round), but any analysis would do.

stackskipton 2y ago
I've searched for sources that break it down instead of just looking at United States GDP but also remember, states/counties can only capture income from sources that fall under that state/county. For example, immigrant worker enables bigger salaries for Tyson Food HQ people in Springdale, Arkansas but Tyson Food Plant in upstate New York means county/state in New York is absorbing that burden without getting taxes from Springdale, Arkansas people. So sure, the entire US GDP and thus taxes is extremely reliant on these workers but who sees the benefits is not uniform throughout the country and thus the friction around immigration.
- wizzwizz4 2y ago
  This explanation is even better than what I asked for! Do you know if increasing the minimum wage would stop people being so upset? I imagine this would funnel enough of the value immigrants are creating to the immigrants that they can pay tax in their local area, thus avoiding the "we're subsidising other parts of the country" problem – but I'm no economist. (The whole "pay a fair wage" thing has other benefits, but it might not solve this problem.)
  - stackskipton 2y ago
    Increasing the minimum wage might help but it's still a sticky problem. It probably requires some federal solution which is to say, it's not going to happen. I don't know the solutions, I'm just aware of the problem.