The $600 Million in Taxes That Haitian TPS Holders Pay Each Year

Every year, 93,000 Haitian TPS workers in Florida collectively pay $606 million in taxes to federal, state, and local governments. That is $306 million in state and local taxes and $300 million in federal and payroll taxes. These are not projections. They are not estimates based on speculative assumptions. They are the findings of Dr. Phillip Connor, a research fellow at Princeton University, who analyzed augmented 2024 American Community Survey data for FWD.us, the UndocuBlack Network, and the Haitian Bridge Alliance (1, 2). The figure has become a rallying point for advocates, a data point for policymakers, and a source of quiet frustration for the workers who generate it. TPS holders pay into a system that they cannot fully access. They file tax returns with valid Social Security numbers, pay property taxes on the 63,000 homes they own, contribute to unemployment insurance they cannot claim, and send hundreds of millions of dollars to Social Security and Medicare trust funds from which they are legally barred from collecting (1, 5). They cannot vote, cannot access SNAP or TANF or SSI or regular Medicaid, and under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law in July 2025, even the limited Medicare and ACA marketplace access they once had is being stripped away, while their payroll tax contributions continue (9, 10). This is the story of that $606 million: where it comes from, where it goes, and what it reveals about a tax system that collects from people who cannot access almost any of the benefits their taxes fund. "Haitian TPS holders in Florida pay $306 million in state and local taxes and $300 million in federal and payroll taxes every year, but are ineligible for most of the benefits those taxes fund." (1, 2) What the $606 Million Includes The $606 million is not a single number. It is the sum of two distinct tax streams. The first is $306 million in state and local taxes, which includes property taxes on the 63,000 homes Haitian TPS households own in Florida, sales taxes on the goods and services they purchase, state income taxes, and various local levies. The second is $300 million in federal and payroll taxes, which includes federal income taxes, the employee share of Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes (FICA), and contributions to unemployment insurance (1, 5). The $306 million in state and local taxes is large enough to have a measurable impact on public budgets. It is equivalent to 1.9 percent of Florida's $15.9 billion K-12 education budget, enough to fund 33,500 student slots in the state school system. It exceeds Florida's entire Safe Schools Allocation of $290 million, meaning the $306 million could cover 105 percent of the state's school safety funding, including resource officers, mental health services, and campus security (1, 15). It is enough to fund 189 percent of Florida's total HBCU funding allocation of $161.5 million. It could fully fund the city of North Miami's annual operating budget with money left over (1, 15, 21). The $300 million in federal and payroll taxes is even more significant in structural terms. A substantial portion goes directly into the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, where it becomes part of the pool of benefits paid to current retirees. TPS holders, however, cannot collect Social Security retirement benefits and, under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, are now being stripped of Medicare eligibility as well (9, 10). They are paying into a system that is actively excluding them from its benefits. Tax Category Annual Amount Source State & local taxes (FL) $306 million FWD.us (1) Federal & payroll taxes (FL) $300 million FWD.us (1) Total Florida taxes $606 million FWD.us (1) Federal & payroll taxes (national) $805 million FWD.us (3) State & local taxes (national) $755 million FWD.us (3) Total national taxes $1.56 billion FWD.us (3)

The National Picture: $5.9 Billion and $1.56 Billion in Taxes Nationally, the numbers are even larger. There are roughly 200,000 Haitian TPS workers in the United States, and their combined annual economic contribution is $5.9 billion. They pay $1.56 billion in total taxes each year, broken down into $805 million in federal and payroll taxes and $755 million in state and local taxes (1, 3). These are workers concentrated in healthcare, agriculture, construction, hospitality, and food service industries, and their tax contributions flow to every level of government (4, 5). The $5.9 billion in economic contribution is not simply income. It represents the total economic footprint of Haitian TPS workers, including their direct earnings, the spending they generate, and the business income produced by the entrepreneurs among them. The American Immigration Council found that TPS holders nationally have an entrepreneurship rate of 14.5 percent, compared to 9.3 percent for U.S.-born workers. This means a higher proportion of TPS holders are not just employees but business owners who create jobs for other workers, pay additional business taxes, and generate economic activity beyond their own earnings (5, 56). The Penn Wharton Budget Model, in a November 2025 analysis, found that all TPS workers nationally generated $35.9 billion in annual GDP and that Florida alone accounted for $10.7 billion of that total. The same analysis found that the termination of TPS would result in significant GDP losses across multiple states, with Florida, Texas, California, New York, and New Jersey bearing the brunt of the economic contraction (4). The Congressional Budget Office has provided the most sweeping context for these figures. In a July 2024 report, the CBO found that the 8.7 million increase in immigration between 2021 and 2026 reduced the federal deficit by $897 billion over 10 years (7). Immigrants, including TPS holders, are not a fiscal drain. They are a net positive for federal finances, and their tax contributions substantially exceed the cost of the public services they consume. "Nationally, Haitian TPS workers contribute $5.9 billion to the U.S. economy annually and pay $1.56 billion in total taxes, with $805 million going to federal and payroll taxes alone." (1, 3) The Social Security Windfall: $20 Billion They Will Never Collect Perhaps the most striking fiscal fact about TPS is the cumulative Social Security contribution. Since 2001, all TPS holders (including Haitian, Salvadoran, Honduran, and Venezuelan beneficiaries) have contributed an estimated $20 billion to Social Security using only the employee-side share. When employer matching contributions are included, the real figure is roughly $40 billion (3, 8). This is money that flows directly into the Social Security trust fund, helping to pay benefits for current retirees, with no corresponding obligation on the part of the government to ever pay benefits back to the people who contributed. It is, in effect, an interest-free loan from people who cannot afford to make loans. A TPS holder in Florida earning $35,000 per year pays approximately $2,678 in FICA taxes annually, meaning roughly $1,339 goes to Social Security and $487 goes to Medicare, with the employer matching those amounts. If a TPS holder works for 25 years at that income level, they will have contributed approximately $33,475 in employee-side Social Security taxes alone. They will never see a penny of it in retirement benefits (1, 5, 27). If every Haitian TPS holder stopped paying into Social Security tomorrow, the trust fund would lose an estimated $540 million per year or more using just the employee share. The system depends on the contributions of people who cannot collect from it, and that dependence is not trivial. The Penn Wharton Budget Model analyzed this dynamic specifically, finding that mass deportation of TPS holders and other immigrants would reduce Social Security's trust fund ratio and accelerate the date of trust fund depletion (8). The same dynamic applies to Medicare. Undocumented immigrants nationally paid $6.4 billion into Medicare in 2022 alone, none of which they can ever collect (6). TPS holders with valid Social Security numbers are in the same position. And under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July 2025, even the limited Medicare and ACA marketplace access that TPS holders once had is being eliminated. They are being locked out of the very programs they fund with every paycheck (9, 10). Metric Value Source Cumulative SS contributions (all TPS, employee share since 2001) $20 billion FWD.us (3) Cumulative SS contributions including employer match ~$40 billion FWD.us (3) Annual SS/Medicare contributions from undocumented immigrants (2022) $33.9 billion ITEP (6) Annual SS contributions from undocumented immigrants (2022) $25.7 billion ITEP (6) Annual Medicare contributions from undocumented immigrants (2022) $6.4 billion ITEP (6) FICA tax paid by a TPS holder earning $35K/year ~$2,678/year FWD.us (1) Potential SS trust fund loss if Haitian TPS contributions stopped $540M+/year FWD.us (1)

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act: Stripping Benefits While Keeping Taxes The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July 2025, represents a significant escalation in the fiscal treatment of TPS holders. Before the act, TPS holders had limited access to Medicare and ACA marketplace subsidies. They were still ineligible for most federal benefit programs, but at least they could purchase health insurance through the ACA marketplace, and those 65 and older who had worked enough quarters could qualify for Medicare. The act changed both of those things (9, 10). Rosa Maria Carranza, a 67-year-old Salvadoran TPS holder in Oakland, California, told NPR and KFF what this meant in practice. She co-founded an outdoor Spanish-immersion preschool and has paid into Social Security and Medicare for 24 years. Her SSA earnings record shows tens of thousands of dollars in verified contributions. She is now being stripped of Medicare access under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, despite having paid into the system for nearly a quarter of a century. "It's like getting slapped on the face after more than 30 years working for the system here," she told NPR. "And in return, this is what we have now" (10). Carranza's case is not exceptional. It is a direct consequence of a policy design that separates tax liability from benefit eligibility. TPS holders are required to pay FICA taxes. They are not allowed to opt out. The IRS and Social Security Administration collect their contributions with the same efficiency they apply to every other taxpayer. But the benefits that those contributions would normally purchase are being systematically withdrawn. It is taxation without representation, but it is also taxation without service. "'It's like getting slapped on the face after more than 30 years working for the system here. And in return, this is what we have now.' - Rosa Maria Carranza, Salvadoran TPS holder, on losing Medicare access after 24 years of payroll tax contributions." (10) The $306 Million: What It Could Fund The $306 million in state and local taxes paid by Haitian TPS holders in Florida each year is not a small number. It is large enough to map onto specific budget items that affect every Florida resident. Understanding what that money could fund makes the abstract figure concrete (1, 15, 16). The Safe Schools Allocation in Florida's FY2025-26 budget is $290 million. The $306 million in state and local taxes from Haitian TPS holders covers it and leaves $16 million remaining. This is the program that pays for school resource officers, mental health counselors, and campus security infrastructure in Florida's public schools. Haitian TPS holders, who cannot vote in any election, fund the safety of classrooms their children attend (1, 15). Florida's total K-12 education budget is $15.9 billion. The $306 million represents 1.9 percent of that total, enough to fully fund the education of 33,500 students for an entire school year. That is roughly the enrollment of the entire Miami-Dade County public school system's northern region (1, 15). The state's total HBCU funding allocation is $161.5 million. The $306 million from Haitian TPS holders could fund 189 percent of that. Florida A&M University, one of the nation's premier historically Black universities, could see its state appropriation doubled from the TPS tax contribution alone (1, 15). For municipalities, the figures are equally striking. The $306 million could fund the entire annual operating budget of North Miami, a city of roughly 60,000 residents, with money left over (21). It could cover a significant portion of Palm Beach County's property tax revenue, which hit a record $1.9 billion in 2025 (22). It is, in short, a material contribution to the fiscal health of the state's communities, produced by people who have no say in how that money is spent. Budget Item Amount Taxes as % of Item Safe Schools Allocation $290 million 105% covered ($16M surplus) Florida K-12 budget $15.9 billion 1.9% = 33,500 student slots HBCU funding in FL $161.5 million 189% covered North Miami operating budget ~$150 million ~200% covered

The 63,000 Homeowners: Property Taxes Without Representation There are 63,000 Haitian TPS homeowner households in Florida, supporting $19 billion in housing value. The homeownership rate among TPS holders is 41 percent, which is above the national immigrant average and significantly higher than commonly assumed (5, 55, 56). Each of these households pays property taxes to local school districts, counties, and municipalities. They pay for roads, police, fire services, parks, and libraries. They pay for services they use, services they do not use, and services they are legally prohibited from accessing. The property tax dynamic is one of the least discussed dimensions of the TPS tax contribution. Property taxes are not optional for homeowners. They are a lien on the home, enforceable by foreclosure if unpaid. Haitian TPS homeowners, many of whom have held TPS for 16 years or more, have been paying property taxes throughout that period. They pay the same rates as every other homeowner in their county. They receive the same tax bills. But they cannot vote on the school board members, county commissioners, or bond measures that set those property tax rates (5, 22). The American Immigration Council's 2023 analysis of TPS contributions found that TPS holders nationally own 63,000 homes with a combined property value of $19 billion and pay $1.3 billion in annual rent for 89,600 rental households (5). Haitian TPS holders represent a substantial portion of those figures. Every rental payment includes an implicit property tax contribution, passed through from landlord to government. Every mortgage payment includes escrowed property taxes. The system collects from TPS holders at every point in the housing market, and they have no representation at any level of the taxing authority. "Sixty-three thousand Haitian TPS homeowner households in Florida support $19 billion in housing value and pay property taxes to local governments where they cannot vote." (1, 5) Timeline: The Tax Story in Context The tax contributions of TPS holders did not emerge in a vacuum. They are the product of a specific legal and policy history that created a population of taxpayers who cannot access most of the benefits their taxes fund. Understanding that history makes the current moment intelligible. 1990. Congress creates TPS in the Immigration Act of 1990. From the start, TPS holders are required to pay full taxes but are barred from most federal benefits. The structural separation of tax liability from benefit eligibility is baked into the program from birth (1). 2010. A 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastates Haiti, killing over 200,000 people and leveling much of the country's infrastructure. The U.S. designates Haiti for TPS. The first wave of roughly 50,000 Haitians begin the cycle of 18-month renewals, work authorization, and tax filing that will define the next 16 years of their lives (1). 2017. The Trump administration announces termination of TPS for Haiti. Lawsuits block the termination in federal court, but the uncertainty begins to take a toll on TPS families, businesses, and homeowners. During this period, the tax contributions of TPS holders become a major advocacy talking point, with the American Immigration Council publishing the first comprehensive economic analysis showing $10.3 billion in earnings and $2.2 billion in taxes (5). 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, TPS holders pay full taxes, work as essential healthcare workers and farmworkers, and are ineligible for many pandemic relief benefits, including stimulus payments for some TPS families. Their FICA contributions continue uninterrupted, funding Social Security and Medicare for a nation in crisis (1). 2021. The Biden administration redesignates Haiti for TPS. The TPS population grows as new arrivals from Haiti's deepening political and security crisis expand the pool of eligible workers. Tax contributions rise proportionally (1). 2024. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy publishes a landmark study finding that undocumented immigrants nationally paid $25.7 billion into Social Security and $6.4 billion into Medicare in 2022, none of which they can ever collect. The study becomes a key reference for TPS tax contribution analysis (6). July 2025. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is signed into law. TPS holders are barred from Medicare and ACA marketplace subsidies. Their payroll tax obligations remain unchanged (9, 10). November 2025. The Penn Wharton Budget Model publishes its analysis finding TPS workers generated $35.9 billion in GDP and that Florida alone accounts for $10.7 billion of that total. The model also finds that mass deportation would accelerate Social Security trust fund depletion (4, 8). January 2026. FWD.us publishes the Haiti TPS Fact Sheet, prepared by Dr. Phillip Connor of Princeton University. The $606 million annual Florida tax figure enters the public conversation for the first time. The $5.9 billion national economic contribution and $1.56 billion in total taxes are also published (1, 2, 3). April 16, 2026. Representative Wasserman Schultz takes to the House floor to declare that TPS holders are on work permits, pay taxes, pay into Medicare and Social Security, and get nothing in return. The speech goes viral in immigrant advocacy circles (12). June 25, 2026. The Supreme Court rules in Mullin v. Doe that the executive branch has sole discretion over TPS termination, clearing the way for the end of protections for roughly 350,000 Haitian beneficiaries. The $606 million in annual Florida tax revenue now faces elimination (1, 13). The People Behind the Numbers The $606 million is not an abstraction generated by a spreadsheet. It is the tax contribution of 93,000 individual workers, each with a personal history of how they came to be in the United States, how they built their lives, and what they stand to lose. Corinne, Miami, Age 25 Corinne has been a TPS holder since age 9, when her family fled the 2010 earthquake. She graduated high school in Florida and enrolled in a private university, but was forced to withdraw when she realized she could not access federal financial aid, because TPS holders are ineligible. She found work in retail, starting as a seasonal shipping associate. She was promoted multiple times and now oversees 120 employees as a business manager. She pays federal, state, and local taxes on her salary, pays FICA taxes on every paycheck, and has no path to the benefits those taxes fund. "We are not a status," she told The New Yorker. "We are human beings" (11). Rosa Maria Carranza, Oakland, Age 67 Rosa Maria Carranza is a Salvadoran TPS holder who co-founded an outdoor Spanish-immersion preschool in Oakland. She has paid into Social Security and Medicare for 24 years, with tens of thousands of dollars in verified contributions on her SSA earnings record. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, she is now being stripped of Medicare access, even though she turns 67 this year and has earned the benefit multiple times over through her payroll tax contributions. "It's like getting slapped on the face after more than 30 years working for the system here," she told NPR and KFF (10). Ketlie Moise, Springfield, Ohio Ketlie Moise worked two jobs for years to save enough money to open Keket Bongou, her own Haitian Creole restaurant in Springfield, Ohio. Her business pays property taxes, sales taxes, and payroll taxes for her employees. Every tax dollar she sends to the government comes from a business she built from nothing, in a country where she cannot vote and cannot access SNAP or other food assistance programs. Her story, told by America's Voice, illustrates the paradox at the heart of the TPS tax experience: she feeds others through her restaurant but cannot access food assistance for herself (26). Pascal Antoine, Brooklyn Pascal Antoine is the station director of Dodor Vibe, a Haitian community radio station in Brooklyn that offers not just programming but tax preparation services, translation, and real estate assistance to the community. After the Supreme Court ruling, he told Truthdig he fielded terrified calls from community members who did not know whether they would be able to keep working, keep their homes, or keep their families together. He described a community in which people have paid taxes and built lives for over a decade, only to face the sudden elimination of the legal status that makes it all possible (25). Michele S., Broward County, Florida, Age 42 Michele S. has been a TPS recipient for 18 years. In February 2026, she renewed her driver's license at a mobile DMV event designed to help TPS holders comply with Florida's license requirements amid the ongoing uncertainty. The renewal was valid for only two weeks. She told the Hartford Courant, "I'm just grateful. Even though it's only for two weeks, we still need it. We don't have to ask someone to drive us somewhere or pay for an Uber" (14). Her tax contributions do not pause for the uncertainty of her status. She pays the same rates as every other Florida driver. Tessa Petit, Florida Immigrant Coalition Tessa Petit was born and raised in Haiti and lost her mother in the 2010 earthquake. She now works for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, advocating for the rights of TPS holders and other immigrant communities. She frequently cites the $1.3 billion in state and local taxes paid by TPS households and the broader economic contribution of the community. "We deserve to be recognized for what we have contributed and continue to contribute to this nation," she told The New Yorker (11). "'We are not a status. We are human beings.' - Corinne, 25-year-old Haitian TPS holder, Miami, after losing access to higher education but building a career overseeing 120 employees." (11) The Tax Rate Disparity: 7.9% Versus 2.7% One of the most striking findings in the research is the effective state and local tax rate paid by immigrant households in Florida compared to the state's highest earners. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that immigrant households in Florida pay an effective state and local tax rate of 7.9 percent of their income, while the top 1 percent of earners in the state pay just 2.7 percent (6, 17). This disparity is the result of Florida's regressive tax structure. The state has no personal income tax and relies heavily on sales taxes, property taxes, and various excise taxes. Lower-income households, including many TPS households, spend a higher proportion of their income on taxable goods and services, and their property tax burden as a share of income is higher because their homes represent a larger portion of their net worth. The result is that the wealthiest Floridians pay the lowest effective tax rate, while TPS holders, who cannot vote and cannot access most public benefits, pay among the highest (6, 17). The median effective state and local tax rate for Haitian TPS households in Florida is estimated at 7.9 percent, roughly three times the rate paid by the top 1 percent. This is not a rounding error in the tax code. It is a structural feature of a system that taxes consumption and property more heavily than income and investment, and it operates on a population that has no voice in changing it. "Immigrant households in Florida pay an effective state and local tax rate of 7.9%, nearly three times the 2.7% paid by the top 1% of earners." (6, 17) The Cost of Removal: What Happens When TPS Ends The economic consequences of terminating TPS extend well beyond the immediate loss of tax revenue. For every TPS holder who is deported, there is a direct cost to the government for the removal process itself. The Cato Institute has estimated the per-person cost of deportation at between $10,900 and $17,000, including the cost of detention, legal proceedings, and transportation (19, 20). For 200,000 Haitian TPS workers nationally, the removal cost alone would range from $2.2 billion to $3.4 billion. That is before accounting for the loss of their tax contributions, the cost to employers of replacing them, the loss of GDP, and the social cost of disrupting 50,000 U.S. citizen children and 63,000 homeowner households (1, 20). The projected GDP loss over a decade from terminating TPS for Haiti, El Salvador, and Honduras is $45.2 billion, according to the Immigration Legal Resource Center and the American Immigration Council (5, 18). The cost of terminating TPS for Haiti alone would be a substantial fraction of that total. The tax revenue loss, the spending reduction, the business closures, and the housing market disruption would compound each other in ways that make simple cost estimates inadequate. And the cost is not evenly distributed. Florida would bear the largest share of the economic contraction, followed by New York, Texas, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. States that voted for the party that terminated TPS would experience the deepest economic losses (4). Cost Category Estimated Impact Source Per-person deportation cost $10,900-$17,000 Cato (20) Removal cost for 200,000 Haitian TPS workers $2.2B-$3.4B Cato (20) 10-year GDP loss (Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras TPS termination) $45.2 billion AIC/ILRC (5, 18) Annual GDP from all TPS workers (national) $35.9 billion PWBM (4) Children pushed into poverty if TPS terminates 25,000 FWD.us (1)

Fun Facts: What the Research Reveals A TPS Holder Earning $35,000 Pays $2,678 in FICA Taxes Every Year That money goes to Social Security and Medicare. The same TPS holder will never collect a dime of Social Security or Medicare benefits from those contributions. Over a 25-year working life, that is roughly $66,950 in employee-side FICA contributions alone, with no possibility of drawing benefits (1). The $306 Million in State/Local Taxes Exceeds Florida's Safe Schools Allocation The state budgets $290 million for school safety, including resource officers and mental health services. Haitian TPS holders pay $306 million in state and local taxes, covering the whole allocation with $16 million to spare. They cannot vote on the school board (1, 15). If TPS Holders Stopped Paying Into Social Security, the Trust Fund Would Lose $540M+/Year Using only the employee share of contributions from Haitian TPS workers in Florida, the Social Security trust fund would lose over half a billion dollars annually. The system depends on contributions from people who cannot collect benefits (1, 3). TPS Holders Have a Higher Entrepreneurship Rate Than U.S.-Born Workers The American Immigration Council found that 14.5 percent of TPS holders own businesses, compared with 9.3 percent of U.S.-born workers. This means more business tax revenue, more jobs created, and more economic activity per worker (5). The Top 1% in Florida Pay a Lower Tax Rate Than TPS Households The effective state and local tax rate for immigrant households in Florida is 7.9 percent of income. The top 1 percent of earners pay 2.7 percent. The lowest tax rates in the state go to the people with the most ability to pay (6, 17). Undocumented and TPS Immigrants Paid $33.9 Billion in Social Insurance Taxes in 2022 This total includes Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance taxes. None of these workers can ever collect the benefits their taxes fund. It is the largest transfer from an excluded population in the U.S. tax system (6). Economic Contributions at a Glance $606M Annual taxes from Haitian TPS holders in Florida $1.56B Annual taxes from Haitian TPS holders nationally $5.9B Annual economic contribution (national) $35.9B Annual GDP from all TPS workers (PWBM) $20B Cumulative SS contributions from all TPS holders since 2001 $40B Total FICA contributions including employer match 93,000 Haitian TPS workers in Florida workforce 63,000 Haitian TPS homeowner households in FL $19B Housing value supported by TPS households 41% TPS homeownership rate (above national avg.) 14.5% TPS entrepreneurship rate vs 9.3% U.S.-born 50,000 U.S. citizen children with Haitian TPS parent 25,000 Children pushed into poverty if TPS terminates 7.9% Effective tax rate for immigrant households in FL 2.7% Effective tax rate for top 1% in FL $45.2B Projected GDP loss over decade from TPS termination $897B Deficit reduction from immigration surge (CBO) The Legal Framework: Taxation Without Representation The phrase "taxation without representation" is most commonly associated with the American colonial era, but it applies with uncomfortable precision to the situation of TPS holders in the United States today. TPS holders pay federal income taxes, FICA taxes, state and local taxes, property taxes, and sales taxes. They cannot vote in federal, state, or local elections. They cannot serve on juries. They cannot run for office. They have no elected representative who depends on their votes for their job. Every tax they pay is levied by a government in which they have no voice (1, 12, 13). The situation goes beyond the classic formulation of no taxation without representation. The full formulation is no taxation without representation and no taxation without benefit. The founders were objecting to taxes imposed by a Parliament in which they had no voice, but they were at least receiving the general benefits of British governance, including military protection and access to British markets. TPS holders receive neither representation nor the full range of benefits their taxes fund. They are taxed at the same rates as citizens, but they are excluded from SNAP, TANF, SSI, regular Medicaid, Medicare, and ACA subsidies (1, 9, 10). Representative Wasserman Schultz summarized the situation on the House floor in April 2026: "TPS holders are on work permits, pay taxes, pay into Medicare and Social Security, and get nothing in return" (12). The statement is not political rhetoric. It is a factual description of the tax treatment of TPS holders under current law, before and after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Justice Kagan's dissent in Mullin v. Doe added a constitutional dimension to the discussion. She wrote that President Trump's statements about Haiti "fairly shout, in their racial undertones and overtones alike, that race entered into the president's resolve" (13). The tax contributions of Haitian TPS holders, the dissent suggests, are being terminated in a legal environment shaped by racial animus. The money keeps flowing into the Treasury, but the people who earned it are being pushed out. "'TPS holders are on work permits, pay taxes, pay into Medicare and Social Security, and get nothing in return.' - Rep. Wasserman Schultz, House floor, April 16, 2026." (12) Why This Matters Now The Supreme Court's June 2026 ruling in Mullin v. Doe does not end TPS overnight, but it removes the primary legal barrier that has kept the program alive through multiple administrations. The Department of Homeland Security can now proceed with termination, and the $606 million in annual tax revenue from Haitian TPS holders in Florida, the $1.56 billion nationally, and the $20 billion in cumulative Social Security contributions are all at risk of disappearing (1, 3, 13). The loss of that tax revenue would be felt across every level of government. The federal government would lose $300 million per year from Florida alone in FICA and income tax receipts, accelerating the depletion of the Social Security trust fund and reducing Medicare revenues. State and local governments in Florida would lose $306 million per year, forcing cuts to education, school safety, infrastructure, and public services. The property tax base supporting 63,000 homes, valued at $19 billion, would begin to erode as homeowners lose their ability to make mortgage payments (1, 5, 8). The human cost is even larger. Twenty-five thousand U.S. citizen children would be pushed into poverty when their parents lose work authorization. Fifty thousand children would face the prospect of either losing a parent to deportation or being uprooted from the only country they have ever known to move to a Haiti that remains in the grip of gang violence, political chaos, and humanitarian catastrophe (1, 11, 23). And the fiscal math does not work. The CBO found that the immigration surge between 2021 and 2026 reduced the federal deficit by $897 billion over 10 years (7). Immigrants, including TPS holders, are a net positive for federal finances. The Cato Institute found that deportation costs alone would reach nearly $1 trillion under mass deportation scenarios (20). The $606 million in taxes that would be lost is not a savings. It is a cost, shifted from the tax side of the ledger to the expense side, and multiplied by the economic disruption that follows. For organizations tracking the impact of TPS termination on communities, households, and local economies, PROVEN provides a real-time data platform that maps workforce displacement, housing stability, school enrollment shifts, and service needs across affected regions. When 93,000 workers, 50,000 citizen children, 63,000 homeowners, and $606 million in annual tax revenue are all in play, understanding where the need is greatest and where resources are most urgently required is not an academic exercise. It is the difference between a managed transition and a humanitarian crisis. For policymakers weighing the future of TPS, the tax contribution data offers a clear and uncomfortable question: If the government is going to collect $606 million a year from workers it will not allow to stay, what exactly is the public policy rationale for collecting that money in the first place? The system takes from people who have no voice in setting the rates, spends the money on benefits they cannot access, and then removes them when their usefulness to the fisc has been exhausted. That is not sound tax policy. It is extraction, and it has a name. The Bottom Line Haitian TPS holders in Florida pay $606 million in taxes every year. They have contributed $20 billion to Social Security since 2001. They own 63,000 homes, start businesses at rates that exceed U.S.-born workers, and work in the industries that Florida's economy depends on. They cannot vote, cannot access the benefits their taxes fund, and are now facing the termination of the legal status that makes their tax contributions possible. The $606 million is not a political claim. It is not an advocacy slogan. It is a research finding from Princeton University, based on American Community Survey data, published by FWD.us, the UndocuBlack Network, and the Haitian Bridge Alliance. It is the tax contribution of 93,000 individual workers who file returns, pay their taxes, and receive almost nothing in return. And it is about to end, along with the legal status that makes it possible. The question for the country is whether a tax system that collects from people it will not represent and excludes from benefits it will not provide can be defended on any principle other than expediency. The numbers suggest it cannot. The people suggest it should not. Works Cited FWD.us, UndocuBlack Network, and Haitian Bridge Alliance. "Haiti TPS Fact Sheet." Jan. 2026, fwd.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Haiti-TPS-Fact-Sheet_January-2026.pdf. FWD.us. "Haitian TPS Holders Make the U.S. Stronger." 22 Jan. 2026, fwd.us/news/haitian-tps-holders-make-the-u-s-stronger/. FWD.us. "Temporary Protected Status Report." Apr. 2026, fwd.us/news/temporary-protected-status-report/. Penn Wharton Budget Model. "550,000 Workers Lose Status by End of 2025: Potential Impact by State and Industry." 19 Nov. 2025, budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu. American Immigration Council. "The Contributions of Temporary Protected Status Holders to the U.S. Economy." Sep. 2023, americanimmigrationcouncil.org. Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. "Undocumented Immigrants Pay Billions in Taxes." Jul. 2024, itep.org/undocumented-immigrants-taxes-2024/. Congressional Budget Office. "The Demographic Outlook and the Federal Budget." Jul. 2024, cbo.gov/publication/59836. Penn Wharton Budget Model. "The Impact of President Trump's Deportation Policies on the Social Security Program." Jun. 2025, budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu. KFF. "Recent Changes to Temporary Protected Status Designations: Potential Impacts on Health and Health Care." Jun. 2026, kff.org. NPR and KFF Health News. "Immigrants Who Paid Into Social Security and Medicare for Decades Are Losing Access." Apr. 2026, npr.org. The New Yorker. "Miami's Haitian Community Braces for Deportations." 2026, newyorker.com. Congressional Record. "Rep. Wasserman Schultz on TPS Holders." 16 Apr. 2026, govinfo.gov. Supreme Court of the United States. Amicus Brief, Mullin v. Doe, No. 25-1083. 6 Mar. 2026, supremecourt.gov. Hartford Courant. "'Grateful' Haitian TPS Holders Rush to Renew Driver's Licenses." 27 Feb. 2026, courant.com. Florida Policy Institute. "Florida FY 2025-26 Budget: Introduction and Revenue Overview." 2025, floridapolicy.org. Office of the Governor of Florida. "Governor DeSantis Signs Florida Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Budget." 2025, flgov.com. Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. "Florida State Tax Profile." 2024, itep.org. American Immigration Council. "Mass Deportation Report." 2024, americanimmigrationcouncil.org. Open Immigration. "Deportation Cost Analysis." 2025, openimmigration.us/analysis/deportation-costs. Cato Institute. "Deportations Add Almost $1 Trillion to Costs of GOP's Big Beautiful Bill." 2025, cato.org. Florida League of Cities. "City of North Miami Budget Data." 2025, flcities.com. Palm Beach Post. "Palm Beach County Property Tax Revenue Hits Record $1.9 Billion." 2025, bocapost.com. CNN Business. "Haitian TPS: Employers Brace for Economic Impact." Apr. 2026, cnn.com/2026/04/28/economy/haitian-tps-immigrants-economy-supreme-court. ACLU of Southern California. "TPS Holders Declare Victory in Litigation Protecting Status of 400,000 People." 2026, aclusocal.org. Truthdig. "NYC's Haitian Community Reels in Wake of Supreme Court TPS Ruling." 2026, truthdig.com. America's Voice. "Haitian TPS Holders Like Restaurateur Ketlie Moise Have Helped Revitalize Springfield." 2026, americasvoice.org. New York Times. "Social Security and Undocumented Immigrants." Jan. 2025, nytimes.com. IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service. "ITIN Data and Research." 2024, taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov. Haitian Times. "By the Numbers: Haitian TPS Holders Pump Billions into US Economy." Feb. 2026, haitiantimes.com. Spectrum News. "TPS Decision Causing Uncertainty for Haitian Business Owners." Jul. 2026, spectrumnews1.com.