WASHINGTON – Boosting the number of legal immigrants in the United States would help defray the cost of Social Security benefits, which is facing a deficit that could adversely affect future retirees, according to a study released Wednesday.
More legal immigrants would help strengthen the system’s financial structure because the cost of benefits that go to retirees are covered primarily by taxes paid by current workers and their employers.
The more immigrants on America’s payrolls, the more money goes into the Social Security pot, according to the report compiled by the National Foundation for American Policy, a research center in Arlington, Va.
The study comes as lawmakers are embroiled in a heated debate over Social Security. President Bush is pushing to allow workers to divert part of their Social Security taxes to private investment accounts. Opponents argue that the “privatization” plan does not resolve the long-term solvency issue.
Among the report’s key findings:
• Maintaining or increasing the current levels of legal immigrants, about 600,000 each year, would provide a net benefit of $611 billion to the Social Security system over the next 75 years.
• Placing a moratorium on legal immigration would lead to a loss of revenue that could only be recouped by increasing Social Security taxes – an estimated $1,860 over the next 10 years for an American worker earning $60,000.
• Halting legal immigration would reduce both the growth rate of the U.S. labor force and the rate of the country’s economic growth.
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