American millionaires queue up to apply for unemployment benefits
Thousands of American households with incomes over 1 million USD per year still comfortably receive unemployment benefits from the US Government.
Bloomberg, a financial news agency, cited data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as saying that during the worst period of the recent economic downturn, the US government paid out about $80 million in unemployment benefits to households with a total income of over $1 million per year. In 2010 alone, unemployment benefits paid to this group reached a record high of $29.9 million.
Americans line up for unemployment benefits.
These 3,200 households earning more than $1 million a year, 20 percent of which are from New York, received an average unemployment insurance payment of $12,600 each in 2010, according to the latest figures available from the IRS.
The $80 million is less than 0.01 percent of the U.S. government's projected $845 billion budget deficit this year. But the unemployment benefits for millionaire households highlight the lack of realism in some federal aid programs. The figures also highlight the difficulty in curbing spending.
“There are so many people taking advantage of government assistance that others feel like why not do the same,” said George Walper Jr., president of Spectrem Group, a Chicago-based market research and consulting firm.
To date, US lawmakers have made many efforts to eliminate or limit the situation of the wealthy receiving benefits. In December 2011, the US House of Representatives passed a law that would tax 100% of unemployment benefits for individuals applying for benefits but with a total income exceeding 1 million USD/year or married couples applying for benefits but with an income of over 2 million USD.
According to statistics, among the American millionaire households receiving unemployment benefits in 2010, 610 households came from New York state, accounting for 20%. State.
These numbers seem understandable, since the city
Unemployment insurance was created in the United States in 1935 as part of the Social Security Act. It allows states to tax employers' payrolls to fund benefits. Weekly benefits vary by state. Unemployed people can receive $405 a week in
In 2010, each millionaire household in New York receiving unemployment benefits received $13,590 in benefits for the entire year, compared with $8,050 for the typical household nationwide.
Nationwide, unemployment benefits payments rose to $94 billion in fiscal year 2012, about three times higher than the $33 billion in 2007. Payments peaked at $150 billion in 2010.
Gary Burtless, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said the number of millionaires receiving unemployment benefits accounted for only about 0.035 percent of the 9.2 million Americans receiving this type of benefit as of September 2010. This group also accounted for just over 1 percent of the total 280,360 millionaires in the US last year.
According to Dan Tri-M
