It sounds like he doesn't understand how taxes work. He already paid for those benefits by being employed.

Not exactly, that's only true on average across all taxpayers. An individual could still pay in less than they got out. This donation is a way for the guy to make sure he has repaid his share.

It's unemployment insurance, not a personal unemployment fund. If a car gets totaled and the owners insurance provider pays it off, that doesn't mean a rational owner saves up to pay the insurance provider back for living up to their obligation.

This guy sounds like he suffers from a misguided sense of responsibility.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

Calling it "insurance" is a linguistic trick politicians use to remove the stigma (little that there is these days) of being supported by the state. Is it really insurance if you're forced to pay for it? Or is it just another welfare program?

I imagine this guy sees it as just another welfare program, and thankful as he was to receive it, he was also ashamed to take it. We'd be better off if everyone was so "foolish."

Whether it was forced or not has absolutely nothing to do with whether it was insurance or whether it was originally his money anyway. Unemployment payments are effectively a tax cut (taxes being another forced fee) yet I've never heard of anyone claiming tax cuts are welfare.

I'm sure the guy did see it as a welfare program. That's why I called him a fool.

Yeah, unemployment benefits are around 2.8% of your wage.

It sounds like he was making a voluntary donation to the state. Kind of like how I make a voluntary donation to the FreeBSD Foundation to "repay" them for giving me that operating system.

I am kind of baffeled that you can actually do that though, I had assumed it would give the state too much work to do.

It says he lives in a different state now, though, and that he wanted to give back to California.

It's a very nice gesture. But surely a better way to pay it on would be to find some poor student(s) and set up a one-off bursary/scholarship. Rather than the money being used who knows where exactly.