Digging into the “unpopular” One Big Beautiful Bill provides many unexpected delights. The weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has a headline (p. A-5) that set my pulse racing,
How Immigrants Will Help Fund Republicans’ Tax Cuts.
Alas, it turns out there are not tax cuts directed exclusively at Republicans. But I found something just as good. The WSJ reports,
For the first time, Congress is putting a tax on remittances, the payments immigrants send to family or friends in their home countries. Those payments will be taxed at 1%—down from as high as 5% in an earlier version of the bill—and the new tax is estimated to generate more than $9 billion.
I’m skeptical that we will evert collect a dime. But the WSJ still feels the need to frighten,
The effect of the tax isn’t fully known. It could cause immigrants to use other, possibly illicit methods to transfer their money to avoid the new levy. It could also have a meaningful impact on the gross domestic products of several Central American nations such as Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, where remittances make up a significant portion of those countries’ annual income.
Or, now hear me out, the immigrants could emigrate back to their home nations and make them great again.
The OBBB contains many other provisions such as a nonwaivable $5,000 fine on illegal immigration and making illegal aliens ineligible for several welfare programs.
These things work both ways: whenever you tax more, or subsidize less, you get less of that thing.
