Many illegal immigrants don't pay what they owe in taxes

Patsy Lowe wrote: "Most illegals do pay income and Social Security taxes."

I've heard that point of view before and what is never mentioned is this. These workers simply claim large numbers of dependents so that their federal and state income tax is lowered to almost nothing.

They do have Social Security and workers' comp deducted, but very little income tax is withheld. There is no mechanism other than the employer to stop this. In fact, the employer has a natural inclination for them to take home as much money as possible because it just makes his company look all that much better in the eyes of his employees.

So, in fact, they are not feeding money into U.S. coffers. In some cases employers collect the withheld money and simply pocket it.

Employers can easily get away with this because they know that these workers won't be filing a tax return. The IRS does send no-match letters to the employers but there is no followup. That's right, no follow-up. Unlawful employers as well as law-abiding employers realize this fact and make a decision based on their own character or the lack of.

Patsy Lowe also wrote: "If illegals were properly paid a living wage and given health insurance, they wouldn't need so many social services."

Nobody comes out of the gate with a living wage and health insurance. We all work up to a living wage by developing skills that someone wants to pay us for doing.

And she wants to just give them health insurance? Why don't you get together with some like-minded people and buy health insurance for some illegals?

Not to be harsh or rude, but I think that the saying "Put your money where your mouth is" is appropriate here.

Joel Pierson

Simi Valley