Entitlements for the rich vs. poor

[Ponzio]

An interesting read.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/09/the-rich-get-government-handouts-just-like-the-poor-here-are-10-of-them/?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

 

[Chu Gai]

Well what the authors have done is look to sensationalize the IRS tax code which applies to all citizens and I guess what are now called dreamers, by looking how the wealthy can potentially file. From a perusal of the writings of Emily Badger, the first author listed, she's a long time advocate for those less fortunate - the poor if you will. However, IMO, looking to demonize the wealthy is an unfortunate, albeit common way to do so. For example, in one of her writings she took issue with a service in California called LYFT. This is a service that provides transportation for those willing to spend considerably more than taking mass transit. Her position was that by people no longer paying money to take mass transit, this decreases transit's income. Might as well rail against cabs, walking, or riding a bike to work.

 

[ski2xblack]

I'm not rich and I take advantage of several of the listed tax breaks, as I suspect a bunch of us do. It's my money, after all, and I'll do everything possible within the law to retain as much of it as I can.

 

[Ponzio]

Well what the authors have done is look to sensationalize the IRS tax code which applies to all citizens and I guess what are now called dreamers, by looking how the wealthy can potentially file. From a perusal of the writings of Emily Badger, the first author listed, she's a long time advocate for those less fortunate - the poor if you will. However, IMO, looking to demonize the wealthy is an unfortunate, albeit common way to do so. For example, in one of her writings she took issue with a service in California called LYFT. This is a service that provides transportation for those willing to spend considerably more than taking mass transit. Her position was that by people no longer paying money to take mass transit, this decreases transit's income. Might as well rail against cabs, walking, or riding a bike to work.

there's no doubt a slant to the piece. I just chuckled that the inverse is just as true about the stories nowadays of welfare recipients in Missouri purchasing lobster & filet mignon and the state's attempt to dictate what poor people can eat. Really? how many times does this occur? is it a state wide problem? a national epidemic? how dare these people eat a healthy diet? though I doubt lobster & filet mignon are good for ur heart anyway.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Some of the items are on the list are misrepresented too. Like the one about tax preparation write-off. That's a miscellaneous deduction that applies only to amounts over 2% of your AGI. So if you make $500K per year (we're talking about supposedly rich people here) the tax prep expenses wouldn't be deductible unless you had *more than* $10K of miscellaneous deductible expenses.

I couldn't believe the one about rental units. So apartment complexes can't write off business expenses like every other legitimate business? Silly.

As for the Social Security income cap, I've always hoped that it would get raised. Social Security is an incredible bargain. You get a cost of living adjusted pension guaranteed by a government entity that can print money, and you have a great chance of receiving much more than you pay in. If you raise the cap on income the maximum benefits go up with it. That would be awesome. I think the let's-raise-the-cap-folks forget that. I think they want the cap to rise without benefits rising, but that takes major legislation. And it turns SS into a welfare system, which is risky.