taxation

The campaign for the measure, which defined noncitizens as tax-paying undocumented people and green card holders, said it would allow for fairer elections, evoking the centuries-old slogan “no taxation without representation.”

He pledged to exempt Social Security benefits, overtime wages and tips from taxation.

In 2022, undocumented workers paid a total of $40 billion into three programs — Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance — that they are barred from accessing, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a think tank in Washington.

Since then, many law enforcement leaders say they believe the state has done little to address the problems fueling the black market — onerous taxation and regulations for legal producers, few consequences for illegal operators and limited access to legal marijuana in wide swaths of California.

There are also major incentives for sellers to opt into the illegal market — they can dodge taxation and licensing fees, while knowing that the penalty for selling or transportation of marijuana without required licenses is only a misdemeanor.