[M]illionaires received $74 million worth of unemployment checks from 2005 to 2009; $316 million in farm subsidies from 2003 to 2009; $89 million for the preservation of lands on ranches and estates in 2009 and 2010; and $7.5 million to compensate for property damages caused by disaster…
[F]rom 2006 to 2009, millionaires claimed $27.7 billion in mortgage interest tax deductions, $64.3 billion in rental expense deductions and $21 billion in deductions for gambling losses. During that time, millionaires also deducted $607.7 million for business entertainment expenses…
What’s most onerous is their method. Getting such steep tax breaks for one or two cows is, well, you know. If ranchers could retrieve that much per animal at the slaughterhouse, we wouldn’t need the subsidy in the first place.
I’m glad Coburn did his. Good report.
I wish I received government transfer checks — then maybe I too would be a millionaire!
Unemployment checks to unemployed millionaires? Isn’t that an oxymoron?
This is an appropriate complaint. Complaining that all successful people aren’t paying their “fair share” of taxes is an inappropriate (and incorrect) complaint.
We need a flat (or flatter) personal income tax with just two deductions.
1. Dependents.
2. Health Insurance premiums up to X dollar amount.
Get rid of all other deductions, credits, and other crap.
@Devon no, it isn’t an oxymoron. Federal regulations prohibit means testing most such forms of aid.
For instance, there have been cases where millionaires get food stamps. Qualifying for food stamps is typically based on income, not assets. So you can have a million in the bank, but not have any income, and get food stamps.
They just changed that (or tried to) in Michigan because of a lottery winner on food stamps. The problem was, as I recall, Federal strings attached to the funding that made it hard to do the change.
@Chris
I remember how years ago the Dept. of Agriculture distributed surplus commodities to the ”poor”. Lacking an effective distribution channel or a way to means test, the Dept. of Agriculture merely gave commodities to cities or counties — who could decide how to distribute them. The country where I grew up just sent boxes of the stuff over to the senior center, where retired and semi-retired millionaire farmers could carry home a 10-pound block of American cheese free for the taking. Since seniors (presumably) didn’t really have a use for a 10-pound block of cheese, much of the excess was passed down to adult children, friends and neighbors. I remember my parents continually trying to give me sliced, American cheese when I came for a visit.
This post is mistitled. It should say “job creators” get $30 million/year from the government, right?
One hopes that the report was at pains to point out that most of the “millionaires” were probably flow through businesses like sub S corporations, and that they file as individuals and a lot of the reported millionaire income was used to grow those businesses.
I am not holding my breath.
And since when is deducting a legitimate cost of doing business “getting money from government?” It is mine to start with, not the government’s. Legally abiding by the tax code is not a subsidy.
So, I agree with Eric. This time.