The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration

This chapter examines the state and local government fiscal effects of immigration for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia for the three-year period 2011-2013. The authors focus on the individual as the unit of analysis—more specifically, the independent individual. The panel’s analysis here attributes the fiscal costs of (and taxes received from) dependents to their parents. This independent-person concept best acknowledges that the fiscal costs or benefits of children are due to the decisions of their parents, independent of the children’s own immigrant status.