Of course, immigrants are also users and beneficiaries of these government programs. The study reviews the findings of more than two dozen recently published studies from the nation's most prestigious universities and research institutions. The study also derives new fiscal estimates based on the latest 1996 data recently released from the U.S. Census Bureau to help answer two critical public finance issues related to immigrants. To be sure, there is far from complete agreement on these issues. Immigrants who become U.S. citizens typically pay more in taxes than do native-born Americans.
Immigrant businesses are a source of substantial economic and fiscal gain for U.S. citizens.
Not all immigrants make the same tax payments or impose the same costs. The best predictors of immigrant success and thus their tax payments are their skills, their education, and their ability to speak English. Immigrants' earnings rise over time as they continue to climb the economic ladder of success in America. This economic assimilation pattern varies by ethnicity and country of origin, but it is as evident today as it was 30 years ago, when researchers first began to study the rate of economic success by immigrants over time. The age profile of immigrants is one of the key characteristics that makes them a fiscal bargain for native-born U.S. taxpayers.