Millionaires lose unemployment benefits in new Senate deal

[happyg]

By Joel Gehrke

Millionaires will no longer qualify for unemployment benefits under the bipartisan Senate deal unveiled Thursday afternoon, ending a subsidy that Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., attacked as a "reverse Robin Hood" provision designed to increase support for government programs.

"Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no federal funds may be used for payments of unemployment compensation under the emergency un employment compensation program . . .to an individual whose adjusted gross income in the preceding year was equal to or greater than $1,000,000," reads the unemployment extension bill, written by a bipartisan group of lawmakers including Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
   
That's a long-game victory for Coburn. "This is not an accidental loophole in the law," the retiring senator wrote in 2011.

"To the contrary, this reverse Robin Hood style of wealth redistribution is an intentional effort to get all Americans bought into a system where everyone appears to benefit," Coburn said.

Coburn's report showed that millionaires had received $74 million in unemployment benefits from 2005-2009. They received another $9 billion in Social Security benefits paid by the government.

The deal gives Republicans a precedent they can use in further negotiations with Democrats over means-testing Social Security and other entitlement programs, something Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has opposed.

The Senate deal comes as the number of millionaires in the United States reaches a record high of 9.63 million.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/millionaires-lose-unemployment-benefits-in-new-senate-deal/article/2545656

[speekinout]

This is more garbage legislation that is supposed to make people feel good instead of actually doing something. Their definition of millionaire is someone who made $1M the previous year. That applies to very few (if anyone) who would be claiming unemployment benefits. I say the term millionaire should include anyone who has a net worth of >$1M, or anyone who is the beneficiary of a trust fund that has >$1M in assets.
But taking unemployment benefits away from those people might actually have an effect, so that won't happen.

[Oceander]

This is more garbage legislation that is supposed to make people feel good instead of actually doing something. Their definition of millionaire is someone who made $1M the previous year. That applies to very few (if anyone) who would be claiming unemployment benefits. I say the term millionaire should include anyone who has a net worth of >$1M, or anyone who is the beneficiary of a trust fund that has >$1M in assets.
But taking unemployment benefits away from those people might actually have an effect, so that won't happen.

apparently Coburn has stats showing that millionaires did get $74 million between 2005 and 2009.  That being said, I agree that this is just a dip of the toe in the water and that there should be a more comprehensive means test for unemployment benefits.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

This is more garbage legislation that is supposed to make people feel good instead of actually doing something. Their definition of millionaire is someone who made $1M the previous year. That applies to very few (if anyone) who would be claiming unemployment benefits. I say the term millionaire should include anyone who has a net worth of >$1M, or anyone who is the beneficiary of a trust fund that has >$1M in assets.
But taking unemployment benefits away from those people might actually have an effect, so that won't happen.

This is a step in the right direction.  Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.  This is common sense legislation that everybody except the millionaires can agree on.

[speekinout]

apparently Coburn has stats showing that millionaires did get $74 million between 2005 and 2009.  That being said, I agree that this is just a dip of the toe in the water and that there should be a more comprehensive means test for unemployment benefits.

I think this is another case of misusing statistics in order to mislead the audience. The definition of millionaire he used is someone who had an income of >$1M the previous year. That is much more likely to be someone who had to sell the family farm than it is someone who has a net worth of >$1M for a period of years. And by the time they pay taxes on that one-time event, they won't have a whole lot of money in ensuing years.

That toe is in the wrong water. They should be spending more time going after people who prefer unemployment checks to employment. That would save more money.

[elkfersupper]

If the millionaires paid any taxes toward unemployment, they are "entitled" to collect the benefits.

That is the definition of "entitlement".

When you do crap like that, there will be unintended consequences.

[Oceander]

If the millionaires paid any taxes toward unemployment, they are "entitled" to collect the benefits.

That is the definition of "entitlement".

When you do crap like that, there will be unintended consequences.

Why?  I pay income taxes, am I entitled to get all of my income taxes back in personal benefit?  Unemployment taxes are nothing more than a species of disguised income tax, and they were intentionally called something other than that to disguise what they really were - just another way of raising more general revenue for the federal government - and one is as entitled to have those back as one is to having one's income taxes back.