Steelman uses 'bad info' to claim illegals cost Mo.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Treasurer Sarah Steelman claimed Wednesday that Missouri is missing out on as much as $49 million a year from illegal immigrants not paying income taxes.

But Steelman may have significantly overstated the impact.

Steelman, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, based her projections on a Pew Hispanic Center estimate of up to 65,000 unauthorized immigrants in Missouri. Steelman assumed all of those are adults, 90 percent are working and none are paying income taxes.

But the Pew Hispanic Center numbers also includes children. The center's own report notes that about 65 percent of the illegal immigrant population is working. And the state Department of Revenue believes that thousands of those illegal workers may be paying income taxes.

Steelman presented her figures Wednesday in support of Senate legislation cracking down on illegal immigrants and those who employ them.

"The problem of employers hiring illegal workers is quite evident in the loss of tax revenue to the state," Steelman told the Senate Pensions, Veterans' Affairs and General Laws Committee.

Steelman stood behind her projections in an interview with reporters after the hearing.

But after The Associated Press subsequently informed her office she may have overstated the effect, assistant state treasurer Doug Gaston acknowledged that Steelmen relied "on bad info" supplied to her by staff.

Even though Steelman's numbers likely overstate the problem, "there is a cost to the state, and it is a significant number," said Gaston, adding: "It's still a valid point, I think."

Illegal workers have become a hot topic in Missouri and elsewhere around the nation as Congress has failed to pass legislation dealing with the growing number of people entering or remaining in the United States illegally.

The Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington-based research organization, used census figures to estimate in April 2006 that there were 12 million adults and children illegally living in the United States. The census survey found that about 65 percent of the total illegal immigrant population was employed.

In Missouri, the center estimated there were between 35,000 and 65,000 illegal immigrants. Steelman used those figures for her analysis, but failed to subtract the children and assumed a much higher percentage of the total was working than the census survey actually indicated.