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| Source: Senator Tom Coburn |
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Law just passed by Congress taxes at 100% Unemployment Benefits collected by people with incomes over $750,000 ($1.5M for a couple). Read that again. Yes, millionaires collecting unemployment benefits IS a problem! See the data here...
The following two graphics (source HERE) show the amount of Unemployment compensation collected by millionaires from 2005 to 2009. Really? I mean REALLY? I would love to know who those 18 with OVER $10 million in income for ONE YEAR are. Gee Whiz...
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So in other words, a taxpayer whose sources of income other than wages, e.g. interest income, rental income, or other investment income are deemed to produce "too much" income shall not be allowed to receive unemployment income in the event of job loss because he/she does not "need" it? I seem to remember a leading economist (not related to Grouch, Harpo, and Zeppo) who espoused the notion that distribution of income should be according to need. It appears our Congress now agrees with him.
ReplyDeleteTim---I am VERY queasy about signaling any support for this particular part of the law. I dont like the precedent it WILL set for means-testing OTHER entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that (as I termed "creepy millionaries") are legally entitled to taking the benefits does not mean they should (I know, that is a subjective value judgement on my part).
As I said, I wish they would have "acted their tax bracket" and sucked it up. But not for me to say. However, I think their behavior has quite possibly created a legal precedent for means-testing the above programs, which are MUCH more lucrative to them in the long run....
Thanks for commenting---I do appreciate it and hope you re-visit.
File it under "coping".
ReplyDeleteIt's not that millionaires don't "need" it. It's that the government is forced to cut spending, and unemployment payments to millionaires probably seems like a safe place to cut (because lots of people probably think millionaires don't need it).
The problem is NOT whether millionaires need it. The problem is that the government cannot afford it... In the richest nation in the world.
I think there's a problem in the premisses somewhere.