Immigrant Cost Study Draws Fire : Economy: Updated figures by Rice professor claim $44-billion expense to taxpayers in 1993. Critics call the original and revised reports flawed.

Firing another salvo in an ongoing statistical battle, the author of a controversial study on the economic effects of immigration released an updated report Monday, claiming that U.S. taxpayers in 1993 paid out $121 billion in public assistance but received only $77 billion in taxes from legal and illegal immigrants.

The study, done by Rice University economics professor Donald Huddle, was largely intended to address methodological criticisms of a similar study released last summer.

The earlier report, which was described by critics as wrong-headed and obvious fodder for anti-immigrant groups, calculated that immigrants caused a net drain on taxes of $42.5 billion. After making some statistical adjustments, the study released Monday increases the tax “deficit” to $44 billion.

“If the truth causes people to be upset, then so be it,” said Huddle at a Monday morning news conference. “The study is seeking to lay out the facts as carefully and fully as it can.”

But critics said that both studies by Huddle reach implausible conclusions and, in particular, exaggerate the effect that immigrants have on displacing native workers from their jobs.

The highly emotional pitch of the debate over immigration in California and other affected states has led to numerous disagreements over the veracity of immigration studies.

Groups opposed to immigration paint stark portraits of the effects of uncontrolled immigration on national and regional economies. Pro-immigrant groups tend to emphasize the positive effects of the millions of newcomers.

Hubble’s report was sponsored by the Carrying Capacity Network, a nonprofit Washington-based environmental group that has recently focused its attention on the costs and problems of immigration.

Neither Huddle nor the network made specific recommendations.

In a report released last May, the Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank, took aim at the earlier Huddle study, claiming he had made several serious methodological errors in compiling his data.

Jeffrey S. Passel, co-author of the Urban Institute report, found the new Huddle report no improvement.

“We stand by what we said before and the estimates we’ve done,” Passel said. “He’s the one going around changing his numbers.”

The Urban Institute study said that Huddle under-reported the incomes of immigrants and the amount of taxes they paid. Huddle was also criticized for overlooking several significant revenue sources in immigrant populations, including Social Security contributions, unemployment insurance and gasoline taxes.

Those errors, the Urban Institute contended, led Huddle to underestimate the amount of taxes immigrants pay by $50 billion.

“Contrary to the public’s perception,” the Urban Institute study said, “ . . . immigrants generate significantly more in taxes paid than they cost in services received.” But the report noted that the surplus was unevenly distributed among levels of government. While the federal government benefited from a net surplus, state and local governments suffer from a net cost, they said.

Gov. Pete Wilson, whose tough immigration stance is a key part of his reelection strategy, estimates that California spends $2.3 billion in unreimbursed costs of illegal immigration alone.

Huddle on Monday challenged the Urban Institute’s study.

The institute, Huddle said, inflated the amount of immigrants’ Social Security contributions by including the 50% paid by employers. He also said that the Institute underestimated public assistance costs and failed to subtract the costs of providing state and federal highway services to immigrants.

Where the two studies differ most strikingly is over the issue of displaced native workers. Huddle calculates that it costs nearly $12 billion in indirect social service costs for low-skill U.S. workers dislodged from their jobs by immigrants.

“The Urban Institute’s reasoning is that displacement has not been found in aggregate statistics, therefore it doesn’t exist,” Huddle said.

“We disagree completely on worker displacement cost,” said Passel. “We don’t think that the literature supports such a drastic view. He assumes that for every 100 low-skill immigrants, 25 natives have lost their jobs and never will get another job. That’s a very static view of the economy.”