American family. That is $2 to $3 billion federal dollars
annually for an indefinite number of years. He claims it is
for the state's expenses incurred by undocumented
Mexican immigrants.
Wilson's demands create even more problems. Should
families in other states pay for the 4 to 5 billion hours of
labor performed annually by undocumented immigrants to
the immeasurable benefit of California's urban business,
its agri-business, and its wealthier families who have used,
and are using, the undocumented for low-paid maid and
gardening services?
Strangely, in this scenario, the governor never speaks of
the federal government's payment to California of well
over 2.2 billion dollars under the U.S. Immigration
Reform and Control Act and the State Legalization Impact
Assistance Grants, one-half billion dollars in 1994 alone!
Furthermore, this program has reduced the number of
undocumented immigrants in California by 1,600,000!
Surely Wilson knows that, in addition the immigration
reform monies, Washington already spends more than
$500 million per year to support California agriculture,
where many of the undocumented may be found.
Washington's agriculture tax dollars are the equivalent of
$6897.00 for every one of the 85,000 farms in the state. In
point of fact, California's farming interests receive more
money annually from the federal government than they
pay the state in property taxes. This is totally unjust to the
state's homeowners, many of whom, certainly, would enjoy
homes whose property taxes were federally subsidized
each year.
While promoting himself nationally, Wilson is foisting
upon the American public one of the most incredible
distortions in the annals of American politics. To fully
understand the governor's politics, let's glance at recent
American history. For example, recent American
presidents have had their "devil" against which they
claimed to be fighting to save the U.S. Kennedy had the
Communists at our borders; Johnson, the Vietnamese
Communists and the domino effect; Reagan, the Russian
Communists and the evils of Grenada in our hemisphere;
Bush, the Iraqis and potential control of U.S. sources of
oil, as well as Panama's drugs. The only recent president
who does not seem be fighting a monumentally evil force
on the edge of destroying "America," is the current
president, William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton. In this sense,
like Jimmy Carter before him, President Clinton has
created a vacuum.
Newt Gingrich, for one, is moving to fill this void by saving
America from the nation-destroying evils of "liberalism"
and the "politically correct." He believes that he is really,
really correct politically, and that the "politically
correct" have been incorrect all along.
Where does all this leave Pete Wilson? Why, without a
devil to fight! After all, the Cold War is over. The U.S. is
doing "free enterprise" with North Vietnam. The U.S.
trades with China. Oil flows freely from the
women-stomping dictatorship of Kuwait. And Gingrich is
fighting internal evils. Has the world isolated Pete Wilson
politically?
Enter stage south, the evil Mexicans!
They will destroy California (read U.S.) if we don't watch
out! Pete Wilson is into big-time politics. He has created
his "devil."
The main vehicles promoting the ambitions of Pete Wilson
are The Budget of the State of California, 1994-95, and
Summary of the Budget, 1994-95. Here, the governor
proclaims to the nation that some 2,000,000 Mexicans have
invaded the state and, having done so, do nothing. They
are leeching parasites attached to welfare, the health
system, the schools, and the state's prisons, he claims.
"Seven-hundred-thousand new jobs need to be created to
support illegal immigration costs," of over 2 billion
dollars, trumpets the governor in his 1994-95 Summary of
the Budget. In this way, he says that not only do they do
nothing, they pay nothing, and "the hard working citizens
of the state," must absorb these costs!
It is incredibe that Pete Wilson has not told the nation that
his fabricated "devil" also works hard and pays taxes.
Nowhere, in his documents, commercials, or press
releases, does he mention the taxes that undocumented
California workers pay each year to California. Yet,
according to official California records, the undocumented
immigrants pay state income taxes, state sales taxes, state
and local property taxes, state vehicle license and
registration fees, state excise taxes, state gasoline taxes,
state lottery revenues, and local sales taxes. In a report
issued by the governor's own office to the General
Accounting Office of the Federal Government, California
estimated the taxes paid to the state by undocumented
immigrants, primarily Mexican, as ranging from a low of
$528 million to a high of $1.4 billion per year, with a
median of around $900 million. Obviously, the governor is
saying one thing to the federal government, and exactly
the opposite to the people of California.
In addition, California's undocumented workers are
paying taxes to the federal government. These taxes are
for income, excise, Federal Insurance Contributions Act
(FICA), unemployment insurance, and gasoline.
According to the GAO, this produced federal revenues
estimated at $1.3 billion for 1992 alone!
It is clear that undocumented workers in California have
paid at least $2.2 billion yearly in state and federal taxes.
This amount roughly equals the costs incurred as
announced by the governor.
Extrapolating from taxes paid, undocumented workers in
California contribute between $13 and $15 billion to
California's economy while they perform over four billion
hours of labor each year.
But, irrespective of how much in taxes the undocumented
pay, the structure of wages paid in California cannot
support the process of continually increasing government
spending (34 to 55 billion since 1985, a 62% increase!),
while simultaneously keeping the lower echelons of the tax
base static.
Specifically, if the lowest wages in California were to
increase from $4 per hour to $6, the taxes paid by the
undocumented would total between $3.5 and $5.5 billion,
thus paying for all expenses and easily leaving a healthy
surplus for the state. It is clear, therefore, that most of
Wilson's problems concern not the immigrant's social
status or country of origin, but the wage structure in
which they labor. Obviously, to eliminate the
undocumented workers (deport to Mexico) and replace
them with domestic workers at $4 an hour, will not solve
California's problems as long as the wage structure
remains the same. The faces will change, but the economic
problems will continue, or become even worse.
In this scenario, Governor Pete Wilson is promising a tax
cut!
All in all, the day may yet come when Californians will
give retroactive thanks to the undocumented immigrants
for having saved their state from even more severe
economic problems and a more onerous deficit, much as
the immigrants in the east coast did historically. After all,
over 4 billion hours of labor at the lowest of wages, $14
billion into the state's economy, over $2.2 billion paid in
taxes, all in one year, are not the work of "evil devils" who
are out to economically destroy California.
This being the case, Pete Wilson's xenophobia is
irrational. It appeals only to those who have irrational
fears. Or, it appeals to those who want to use xenophobic
politics for domestic political ends.
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