Whenever she can, Irma Morantes sends $100 or so to help out her mother, who still lives in Mexico.

The frequency of her gifts, though, depends on whether Morantes is working at the time and can spare the money. "If I'm not working, then my husband and I will only send money on her birthday or for a special occasion."

She cherishes each opportunity to send money to family members back home, knowing every little bit is appreciated and can make a big difference in their lives.

Like most topics in the tempestuous debate over immigration reform, getting past the rhetoric surrounding the "remittances" immigrants send back home is important to understanding the issue, as is setting aside emotional reactions to the argument that those same workers contribute little to Utah's economy because they don't pay taxes.

"I can certainly understand why someone would want to send money back home to family members," said Cherilyn Eagar of the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration, a group that describes itself as working to address the negative impacts of illegal immigration. "But, it also can be an economic drain on a state when a large number of people are doing it."

A number of studies over the past decade have found immigrants send between $1,000 and $3,000 a year back to their homelands. But not all immigrants are like Morantes and send money home.

The Inter-American Development Bank, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that provides development financing for countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, indicated that in 2008 just 31 percent of Latin American immigrants in Utah sent money home that year.

Among those who sent money, the average annual amount was $1,861.

"I suppose someone could make the case the Utah economy would be better off if that money were spent here," said Thomas Maloney, an associate professor of economics at the University of Utah. "But thinking about the really bigger picture, you also could argue many of those recipients will have more money to spend on U.S.-produced goods."

Maloney, who contributed to a 2005 study that examined the complex economic relationship between Utah and Mexico, said some indicators suggest remittances have been falling, possibly because of the recession.

While some also contend undocumented immigrants are hurting Utah's economy because they do not pay taxes, Maloney said anyone who makes that assertion is wrong.

For the most part, undocumented workers pay the same state and federal taxes as all wage earners, he said. "They pay sales taxes like everyone else. They pay property taxes either implicitly or through their monthly rent."

Even if they work under some sort of false identification, undocumented immigrants still contribute to Social Security and Medicare despite being ineligible to collect any benefits from those programs.

In 2007, the chief actuary for the Social Security Administration estimated undocumented immigrants contributed about $12 billion to the trust fund that year — money they will be unable to collect unless they become legal residents.

"Our projections suggest that the presence of unauthorized immigrant workers in the United States has, on the average, a positive effect on the financial status of the Social Security program," Stephen C. Goss, the SSA's chief actuary wrote.

Economist Ray Perryman of the Perryman Group in Waco, Texas, has studied the impact of undocumented workers on Utah and other state economies. He concluded that undocumented workers pay far more in overall taxes than they receive in benefits.

But that comes with a caveat — one that may help explain the perception that undocumented immigrants do not pay their way.

Perryman noted the taxes many undocumented immigrants pay are weighted toward the federal government, while the services they consume — education, health care, law enforcement — are funded at state and local levels.

"From an economic perspective, the solution would be a simple transfer of funds from those who receive the surplus to those who experience the [funding] deficit. Politically in the current fiscal environment, however, that is highly unlikely," he said.

For Morantes, who has been in the U.S. since 1990 and has held a variety of jobs in delicatessens and factories and has done cleaning, such controversies at their hearts revolve around respect.

"Immigrants who come here all want to work and they contribute to the economy, but the work that we do is not always appreciated," she said.

steve@sltrib.com —

Immigration fact check

The claim • Undocumented workers contribute little to Utah's economy because they don't pay taxes and send a significant portion of their earnings back to their homelands.

The reality • Undocumented workers employed in most jobs pay the same state and federal taxes as all wage earners. They pay sales taxes and property taxes either directly or indirectly through rent. Not all undocumented immigrants send money home; those who do average less than $2,000 annually. —

About the series

In coming months, Utah lawmakers intent on immigration reform will argue their case based sometimes on facts and sometimes on assumptions. In a series that continues through Monday, The Tribune examines whether common claims made about undocumented workers match reality.

Coming Monday • Do the needs of children of undocumented workers tax the public school system to the point where the children of legal residents suffer?

Online • Read previous stories at www.sltrib.com.