"Mr. Gates- what do you want me to do with this stimulus check?"

[packman]

At least 18 billionaires got federal stimulus checks, report says


At least 18 billionaires — and hundreds of other ultra-wealthy individuals — received federal stimulus checks even though the payments were aimed at helping poor and middle-income households weather the pandemic's economic crisis, according to a new report from ProPublica.

About 270 wealthy people received payments in the first round of stimulus checks directed by lawmakers in 2020, despite having a total of $5.7 billion in income, according to the the report, which cited a trove of IRS data on thousands of the nation's wealthiest individuals ProPublica said it had obtained.

These rich taxpayers received stimulus checks after tapping complex tax deductions to reduce their net incomes to less than zero, qualifying them for the checks, the report noted. Under the law, the full payments of $1,200 per single taxpayer and $2,400 for married couples were only available to single people earning less than $75,000 or couples with incomes below $150,000.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stimulus-check-18-billionaires-wealthy/

See- the uber-rich and the poor DO have something in common

[Salviati]

1. Honestly, I don't care.

It's a drop in the bucket compared to the total outlay. People are trying to get an emotional reaction out of you, don't let them.

[packman]

2. Couldn't disagree with you more

A drop in the bucket in regard to the total $ spent in the program - true. However a drop the rich did not need, but that drop might mean everything to the poor guy. The fact they "qualified" for a check due to their evasion of tax laws irritates the hell out of me. It certainly did pull my emotional chain.

[Salviati]

3. The solution then is to fix the tax laws.

Attacking programs like this just turns them into a bureaucratic nightmare and makes them easier to kill or to render totally ineffective. Getting just one of the billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes would more than pay for these 300 stimulus checks.