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reveals that immigrant-headed households are larger consumers of K-12 education (due to relatively larger family size) and receive more state transfers to households (due to relatively lower incomes). Native and immigrant households pay nearly the same in local taxes, but the richer native households pay more in state income and sales taxes. Within immigrant groups, families from Europe/ Canada are actually net fiscal contributors, even more so than natives, and households from Asia, Latin America, and "other" (Africa and Oceania) receive net fiscal transfers from California's state and local treasuries.
Combining the state and local public-sectors, native households pay an additional $1,178 per household in revenues above services received to support a net fiscal transfer to the average immigrant-headed household of $3,463 household (see Table 6.3). As in New Jersey, the immigrant group making the biggest contribution to this net fiscal burden on native households in California is families from Latin America.
Net Fiscal Burdens in California: The Federal Budget
Clune (1997) also provides estimates of revenues paid, expenditures received, and the fiscal balance for the federal budget for households living in California for fiscal year 1994-95; all dollars have been inflated to reflect December 1996 prices. Table 6.4 summarizes these estimates for an average California household ("all") and then provides separate estimates for native households, all immigrant households, and immigrant households by country of origin.
Clune estimates the average California household paid $14,896 in federal taxes and received $13,549 in federal service spending. The difference-$1,347 per household—is the surplus contributed by the typical California household to the "primary" federal budget.36 Native households contribute more than immigrant-headed households; virtually all the difference is due to the larger tax payments made by the (on average) richer native residents. Native and immigrant families receive about the same aggregate level of benefits from the federal treasury, with native families (which are, on average, older) receiving relatively more in Social Security and Medicare benefits and immigrant families (which are, on average, poorer) receiving relatively more in income assistance transfers
36
Excluded from the accounting in Table 6.4 are federal government interest payments. Californians' share of federal interest payments equalled $1,995 per household in fiscal year 1995 (measured in 1996 dollars). Like all Americans, Californians ran a federal deficit on the full—primary plus interest payment—budget. The Californians' share of this deficit averaged -$648 per household (= $1,347 - $1,995). This total is smaller than the national average deficit of -$1,672 per household in fiscal year 1995 because Californians are richer (and thus pay more taxes) and younger (and thus use fewer services) than the typical American household, thereby "benefiting" less from federal borrowing.
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