Some 3,000 Millionaires Claim Jobless Benefits,IRS Data Show

Unemployment income to a social necessity to prevent a spiraling downturn to any economic dip in jobs. It has a purpose. The rich should be just as entitled to $300 a week as the next man. Fired through no fault of your own you get a check to hold you over a bit, even when you do not need the money. It is the way the system is designed. It also makes firing someone without justification something to consider for unemployment. It probably stops a lot of people from simply going postal when in one day they have no income. At least there is some hope when you have unemployment.

As far as the rich collecting unemployment, it does seem odd. I have been unemployed many times throughout my career and never collected unemployment until recently. I usually just went out and got a job. If I had millions in assets I am not sure $300 a week would even be worth the trouble. However, it is our system and I believe they should be entitled to their share equally.

There are so many ways to cut our government budget. The last place we should look to cut are benefits that flow directly to the people. That should be the last place to cut.

reply to post by Whine Flu


No I make no assumption what they use their money for. It is not my business. Just as it is not my business on what those that make less and have used the Unemployment Insurance scheme spend their money on.

Step away from your envy and apply an objective view upon the situation.

Is there fraud going on? Absolutely. Is it this story? Quite possibly but there is FAR greater fraud of the system than these minute amounts of people that had large incomes are engaging in.

ownbestenemy and zarlaan you both are partially right under normal circumstances the employer pays the unemployment insurance. however the employee may also pay into the fund as well.

most people don't know it, but most small businesses are not required to pay into the unemployment insurance fund because their staffing is not large enough. So if you work for a small business and the business owner is not required to pay the employee can pay all they have to do is contact the state they live in to find out how to set up the payments.

and don't ask for a source cuz i'm to lazy to look for it. but i was a small business owner that wasn't required under the law to pay unemployment insurance for my employees but i did anyway! just to save them the head ache of paying in for themselves!

Now as to the topic of this thread... do they have a right to claim benefits, yes they do. is it morally right? HELL NO! they was in a better position to plan for the worst than most people. And since they didn't plan better they now take from a fund that really wasn't meant for them and a fund that is almost bankrupt if its not already!

reply to post by ownbestenemy


I'm not envious of them. I just don't understand why they'd need it. Surely they already live beyond their means already. If they really are in a tight situation, I'm pretty sure they could safely just live a much more minimalistic life than the over indulgent ones they already live.

Sure, they can be over indulgent. I mean, who wouldn't want to be if they could choose to do so? But I mean if money is no object to them currently why would they need more of it?

reply to post by Whine Flu


But you are assuming without any intimate knowledge. I am doing the same to show you that there is much information that we are assuming on that is not available.

We can use your same comment to apply it to the average American household that is struggling on Unemployment. They were most likely living beyond their means, no savings, no emergency fund, etc.

I am sorry for and apologize for saying you are envious.

reply to post by ownbestenemy


That's true. I just have a habit of getting a little uppity when it comes to this sort of thing.

Apology accepted

Originally posted by ownbestenemy
reply to post by zarlaan

 

You are assuming they using such funds for such purposes. If you were making $500K/year and suddenly found yourself out of work, with mounting bills looming, would you not want to be afforded, under equal protection of the law, the same 'benefits' as those only making $30K/year?

Fair enough. But, answer me this. Who are the unemployment benefits actually going to make a life changing difference for? The person who earned between $1 and $2+ million in income the previous year, or the person who barely makes $20k a year? Keep in mind the maximum amount a person can collect every two weeks is capped at roughly $800 depending on the state.

Regardless of what they are truthfully using the funds for. The maximum amount they can receive is not going to make a difference if you're in that upper echelon of lifestyle.

The system itself is flawed and limitations need to be made. Just like the current proposals of denying benefits to those who are habitual drug abusers, further draining funds just to get their next fix.

reply to post by PatriotsPride


my brain just threw up a little. How stupid do I look for not knowing all the laws. How much does law school cost? How many laws are there?

America is defunct. America is a failed experiment. Thanks everyone for your participation, much appreciated.


I got nothing to say that is in accordance with the Terms and Conditions, so....

Hey Taxpayers,
"Ha Ha"
- Nelson Muntz

I found it.... it's a joke, right? please tell me this is a joke.

The real question that needs to be asked here is if they were entitled to some kind of severance package, which most people making that kind of $$ usually get as a job perk. Now if they were receiving that along with the unenjoyment, thats a problem in my book.

reply to post by Mercenary2007


According to the IRS, they state that

You report and pay FUTA tax separately from Federal Income tax, and Social Security and Medicare taxes. You pay FUTA tax only from your own funds. Employees do not pay this tax or have it withheld from their pay.

Source

Drilling down more we find that they provide a test, for employer's to determine if they must pay the tax: Source

Here we see that one only has to be paid $1500 in a calender quarter for you to pay the tax. There are other provisions regarding family members and farm workers (So much for equal protection under the law!)

Now, depending upon the State you are employed in, the state may have different rules, that which you speak of. But no state has it to where an employee must pay into the unemployment insurance fund of that state. Which again, according the IRS they state "Three states require minimal employee contributions."....though they neglect to say which three!

So yes, you are correct merc, but the overall system is funded by employers both at the Federal and State levels.

reply to post by zarlaan


It always makes a difference. Call up any debtor and say you have no money until you find a job. See what they tell you. Then, call up that same debtor to make a plan to pay what you can until you can regain gainful employment.

Regardless of the amount of money one makes, they all have bills. Yes, the more money one makes, most likely the more the bills will be. They are sustaining their lifestyle based upon their assumed income. Not smart, but even the $20K/year person is doing it.

By your logic its a "F! the rich" mentality because of the amount of money they were previously making.

Where should the cut off be then? At what point do we tell people making a certain amount of money, sorry, you are not included in the system even though we will REAP the benefits from your employer through the Federal Unemployment Tax Act. If only you made less money, then you could have at least received a small amount to get you by, if only for a week or two until you can consolidate and liquidate assets.

reply to post by ownbestenemy


yes that is federal if you would have noticed i said they would have to contact the state they live in to set up the payments. sorry i should have added to that the payments they pay on their own behalf.

the whole point on my post though was to say there was a way that they could have paid into an unemployment insurance fund on their own. and to give everyone the whole picture on unemployment insurance as the employee can pay in to it if he or she chooses under certain circumstances.

hope that clarifies my post

reply to post by Mercenary2007


I figured as much and wasn't trying to correct you at all.

I just think it should be a private contract one makes at the time of employment, without Government intervention....but that is my limited government side coming out.

Take away that tax upon the employer gives the employer leverage to provide you with a higher wage...in most cases.

reply to post by ownbestenemy


I'm not saying F**K the rich. I'm saying help the ones who need it the most, the ones the system was intended to protect in the first place. Its such an antiquated system that basically hasn't changed with the times, much like social security.

I wish I could clearly say where the cut off should be, and that's a fine question. It just further proves the system is flawed and easily exploited. I suppose I just find it exceedingly difficult to justify how such little money would make a difference to a millionaire versus a person who has already budgeted their entire lives off that small amount.

reply to post by ownbestenemy


no worries. just wanted to clarify encase someone else didn't realize thats what i was saying.

the system definatly needs fixing and i agree there should be less Government intervention but even if the unemployment fund was administered by a private organization there would be just as much corruption, abuse, etc. so i honestly don't know how it could be fixed.

and to expand on your point about taking away the tax, not only could it provide a higher wage, but the employer could keep your wage the same rate and provide better health insurance or retirement benefits. but this is a topic for another thread i think along with all the taxes a business has to pay per employee.

I thought I understood what this thread was about but - are these people who are unemployed but have ASSETS?

in that case I got no problem with that.

If on the other hand these are people who are pulling in an INCOME of million+ a year, then claiming welfare benefits is fraud plain and simple, no sympathy.

-B.M

reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II


Amen to that. And while we're at it, people who make millions every year don't really need to collect any kind of social security benefits. Yeah, sure they paid for it , whatever but their success is only because there was a society here for them to make these enormous profits from. This society is the very thing they have derived their privileged status from.
We all have an obligation to help those who cannot help themselves, that is if we actually live in a true society.

reply to post by PatriotsPride


If I even had one million dollars, I could live out the rest of my years on that alone. Barring any truly devastating health issues. These people are either greedy or really stupid with their money, in other words they don't know how to keep money in their hands. This is totally retarded! And I cannot recieve any benefits because in Florida the only way to receive benefits is if you're laid off... If you quit(AS I DID) or are fired you don't get diddly s***! WTF????

Assumption: Unemployment benefits are there so that you don't starve to death if you get laid off and end up with no money. They are NOT there so that if you have already enough money to survive, you can live life a bit more luxuriously.

Let's be conservative and do some math, remembering these numbers are all from 2008:

($1,000,000 / year) - (40% tax) = $600,000 / year after taxes

($600,000 / year) / (52 weeks / year) = ~$11538 / week

That leaves these guys with an income of $11538 per week. That is a lot more than is necessary to survive. Because they can survive just fine without them, these guys don't need unemployment benefits.

So to those 2,840 who claimed an income of $1 million or more, a total of $18.6 million was paid.
That is an average of ~$6,549 per year, or ~$125 per week. So it's less than 50% of the national average.

However, we don't know how many weeks worth of benefits each person was paid, it could be that each only had one week of unemployment benefits and was paid $6,549 for that one week!

So we really can't tell if these millionaires were paid less than the national average per week (which I would hope is the case) or more. I'm still angry - these guys shouldn't need ANY help from us. But we can only be pissed that they were paid benefits - we cannot be angry at how much they were paid because we really don't know.

However, each of these fellas made AT LEAST ($11538 / $6549) = ~1.76 times as much each week in income (without a job) than they would have received in benefits for the WHOLE YEAR.

Clearly, most millionaires don't make most of their money working an actual job. They are likely to be investors. Do investors have jobs? Is investing considered a job?

reply to post by airspoon
That sound all noble except they have assets they could and should liquidate to support themselves. When I became disabled I had to sell everything I owned that was considered an asset including my retirement before I could get disability housing or apply for disability. The scumbag millionaires should have to do the same thing.