What Is The Cato Institute?
p> The Cato Institute ’s Revelatory Study: How Immigrants Delivered a $14.5 Trillion Fiscal Surplus to America (1994–2023) – And Why the “Job-Stealing” Myth Refuses to Die In an era of heated debates over borders, budgets, and belonging, one think tank has delivered data that challenges entrenched narratives. The Cato Institute’s February 2026 white paper, “Immigrants’ Recent Effects on Government Budgets: 1994–2023” , authored by David J. Bier, Michael Howard, and Julián Salazar , concludes that the U.S. immigrant population—legal and illegal—generated more in taxes than it consumed in benefits every single year for three decades. The cumulative result: a staggering $14.5 trillion fiscal surplus in real 2024 dollars ($10.6 trillion in direct net taxes plus $3.9 trillion in avoided interest on public debt). Immigrants paid roughly 17% more in taxes per capita than native-born Americans while costing 26% less in benefits (excluding pure public goods like national defens...