Re:Policy punishes disabled people who save more than $2k
by unethical_ban on Friday May 20, 2022 @06:06PM
(#31453106)
>as you make more money and become more self-sufficient, you lose some of those gains to government policy
Not quite. With a progressive income bracket and a simple tax scenario (1040EZ kind of thing), there is never a time where an increase in salary implies a net decrease in take-home pay. Going "into the next bracket" means your marginal dollars (the new ones you are making) get taxed at a higher rate, not your entire income.
This SSI situation does punish people, however, and it is clearly not the only assistance system with an all-or-nothing cutoff. The solution should either be to have a more intelligent system for measuring income, allowing people to put "excess" income into a focused-use bank account, or to scrap asset restrictions altogether. This sounds like the kind of requirement put in by politicians who have to pander to people who don't want to give money to "freeloaders".
Not quite. With a progressive income bracket and a simple tax scenario (1040EZ kind of thing), there is never a time where an increase in salary implies a net decrease in take-home pay. Going "into the next bracket" means your marginal dollars (the new ones you are making) get taxed at a higher rate, not your entire income.
This SSI situation does punish people, however, and it is clearly not the only assistance system with an all-or-nothing cutoff. The solution should either be to have a more intelligent system for measuring income, allowing people to put "excess" income into a focused-use bank account, or to scrap asset restrictions altogether. This sounds like the kind of requirement put in by politicians who have to pander to people who don't want to give money to "freeloaders".