Let's get FIT

Remember this acronym: FIT. It stands for Foreigner Impact Tax. I’ll get back to it in a minute.

I used to think that the money sent home to Mexico (called remittances) was a big deal. It was about $23 billion out of our economy and in to the Mexican economy. By comparison, oil revenue is number one, then remittances, then tourism (about $20 billion a year).

But Mexico is only one country. The rest of South America receives over $20 billion combined. And Central America gets $11 billion.

When you look at all the countries in the world, the vast majority of $300 BILLION flows out of the United States in remittances every year! Here’s an agency of the United Nations with the report:
http://www.ifad.org/events/remittances/maps/

So, here’s my plan. Let’s impose a tax on these remittances equal to the percentage of illegal aliens among the foreign-born population. That percentage would be 30% right now according to a 2006 report by Pew Hispanic Center.

We’ll call it the Foreigner Impact Tax. That would give us tens of billions of dollars to work with.

On the receiving end a state would be required to provide information about the number of illegal aliens residing there and the impact. Minnesota and Texas have done a good job of analyzing the problem. Utah says $85 million a year is spent educating their children but hasn’t done much in the other areas. Illinois opens welcome centers instead so they wouldn’t qualify for any of the funds.

Instead of HIDING the fact that these folks are illegal, bureaucrats would actually try to find each and every one of them so they could get a slice of the federal money.

What could we do with the money? We could build a fence. We could deport additional aliens. We could find more detention beds. We could repay the local schools. We could pay hospitals that treated illegals gratis. Cities could hire more code enforcement officers and policemen.

Most of all, it might slow down countries like Mexico who distribute comic books telling people how to sneak into the United States. It might also create a little healthy respect for America among the legal permanent residents from other lands when their illegal brothers cost them money.

So, who’s for a 30% FIT on all personal money sent back to the old country?