Hispanics Responsible For $605 Billion In Annual U.S. Spending Power, $190 Billion In Tax Revenue

New report highlights growing economic influence

BATON ROUGE, La., Dec. 11, 2014 — Today, the Partnership for a New American Economy released a new report highlighting the important role that both native and foreign-born Hispanics play as consumers, purchasing goods and services that circulate money through the economy and help to grow and sustain businesses. The report also highlights their contributions to tax revenue, Medicare, and Social Security programs.

“The Hispanic community has long been recognized in Louisiana for its contributions to our tourism, restaurant, agriculture and construction industries. Its heroic efforts in disaster recovery from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and others has been well-documented. This report adds further credibility to our belief that the Hispanic community in our country is, and will continue to be, an integral part of our economy and can offer tremendous opportunity and solutions to the problems that plague our state and our country,” says Martin Gutierrez, Division Director, Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Report Key Findings

– Hispanic households, both native and foreign-born, account for a large portion of America’s overall spending power. In 2013, Hispanics had an estimated after-tax income of more than $605 billion. That figure is equivalent to almost one out of every 10 dollars of disposable income held in the United States that year.

– The growing earnings of Hispanic households have made them major contributors to U.S. tax revenue. In 2013, Hispanic households contributed more than $190 billion to U.S. tax revenues as a whole, including almost $67 billion in state and local tax payments.

– Hispanics, and foreign-born Hispanics in particular, play an important role sustaining America’s Medicare and Social Security programs. In 2013, Hispanic households contributed more than $98 billion to Social Security and almost $23 billion to the Medicare’s core trust fund. Foreign-born Hispanics in particular contributed more than $46 billion to Social Security, while paying in more than $10 billion to the Medicare program.

See the full report, “The Power of the Purse: The Contributions of Hispanics to America’s Spending Power and Tax Revenues in 2013.”

About the Partnership for a New American Economy

The Partnership for a New American Economy brings together more than 500 Republican, Democratic, and Independent mayors and business leaders who support immigration reforms that will help create jobs for Americans today.