The Drumpf family, including sons Eric and Don, have always traveled all over the world on business. Now that they run the Drumpf business interests and must have Secret Service protection, it costs money to protect them.
Melania and son Barron stay most of the time in the family’s New York City apartment while the ten-year-old finishes up school. It costs money to protect them there. The family travels to their place in Palm Beach, Florida, and Drumpf’s talking about retreats at his New Jersey Drumpf golf course.
That’s the way they’ve always lived their lives.
Protecting the president isn’t easy or cheap, and according to estimates from The Washington Post, the cost to protect Drumpf and his family is on track to supersede the cost to protect former president and his family by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Plenty of times I’ve heard … ‘those people on welfare are taking advantage of the system’.
They shouldn’t be on it. I’m paying for it with the taxes I pay.
Some have applauded Trump’s taking advantage, for his personal benefit, of the current tax code.
That’s what makes him smart.
That’s what makes him a genius!
That’s what makes him a great businessman.
Yet, remember, we also paid for his gaming the system with the taxes we pay.
Hence, no complaining about the welfare use if Trump’s ‘gaming of the system’ is OK with some.
These two options ARE NOT inclusive.
It’s comparing ‘apples to oranges’.
The idiom, comparing apples and oranges, refers to the apparent differences between items which are popularly thought to be incomparable or incommensurable, such as apples and oranges.
Gaming the system (also referred to as gaming the rules, bending the rules, abusing the system, cheating the system, milking the system, playing the system, or working the system) can be defined as using the rules and procedures meant to protect a system in order, instead, to manipulate the system for a desired outcome …
~Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia~
~Social Welfare System Definition~
A social welfare system provides assistance to needy individuals and families.
The types and amount of welfare available to individuals and families vary depending on the country, state or region.
I have so-called ‘friends’ and some family members who decry the fact that those immigrants ‘are taking our resources and services we pay with our taxes without contributing to the pot.
I’ve always tried to educate them that this is not a fact.
Here is information to help with education of those who may feel that way.
They pay billions in US taxes.
So much more than one of the presidential candidates in this cycle.
Immigrants illegally in the U.S. collectively contribute nearly $12 billion each year to state and local tax coffers, according to a new report that challenges recent election cycle rhetoric.
The study from the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy found that immigrants in the U.S. without legal permission kick in their billions in the form of income, property, sales or excise taxes.
There were roughly 11 million immigrants estimated to be in the U.S. illegally as of 2013, according to the report. And each and every state collects at least a few million dollars from tax payments made by such immigrants each year, ranging from Montana’s $2.2 million to California’s $3.2 billion.
“Regardless of the politically contentious nature of immigration reform, the data show undocumented immigrants greatly contribute to our nation’s economy, not just in labor but also with tax dollars,” Meg Wiehe, the institute’s state tax policy director, said in a statement.
The Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy‘s study found that individuals lacking legal permission to be in the U.S. consistently receive lower wages than their immigrant counterparts who are in the country legally, which inherently limits how much they pay in terms of income taxes.
The report estimates the average income of an “undocumented family” is a little more than $30,000, well below the country’s median household income of around $54,000, according to the Census Bureau.
Born and raised by underpaid public school teachers in Sanford, Fla., Andy Marlette graduated from the University of Florida and became staff editorial cartoonist at the Pensacola News Journal in 2007.
Andy’s editorial cartoons have become both hated and adored by daily readers. His work has been awarded by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors for best editorial cartoons on state issues.
Baseball caps have been a fad in pop culture for a long time.
The red baseball cap gained new popularity when it became the standard bearer for
“Make America Great Again“.
Plenty people have either bought them (I’m kinda skeptical that they were simply given away) as a symbol of the candidate they had chosen for the Presidential Elections 2016.
Crooked Donald
There’s a new one!
‘Lost $916 Million‘
Hence the reluctance to release the tax returns as has been the usual procedure for the last 40 years.
Donald Trump Tax Returns Reportedly Show $916 Million Loss in 1995
Donald Trump’s income tax returns from 1995 reportedly show he declared a $916 million loss, according to the New York Times, which said it received three pages from Trump’s filings that year.
The Times posted three pages it said were from Trump’s New York, New Jersey and Connecticut state income tax filings from 1995, all of which declared a loss of $915,729,293.
The documents came to the newspaper by mail, with a New York City postmark, the Times reported.
The paper said the legitimacy of the documents was confirmed by Jack Mitnick, a lawyer and certified public accountant who handled Trump’s tax affairs until 1996 and who was listed as the preparer on the New Jersey tax form.
“There it is,” said campaign manager Robby Mook.
“This bombshell report reveals the colossal nature of Donald Trump’s past business failures and just how long he may have avoided paying any federal income taxes whatsoever.
In one year, Donald Trump lost nearly a billion dollars. A billion.
He stiffed small businesses, laid off workers, and walked away from hardworking communities.
And how did it work out for him?
He apparently got to avoid paying taxes for nearly two decades – while tens of millions of working families paid theirs.
Taxes, which are the main source of federal, state and local government revenues, pay for buildings, public education, highways, airplanes, rockets, road signs, and the salaries of millions of government employees.
Large amounts of tax revenues are raised from levies on personal incomes, including investment income. The federal income tax is structured to tax different levels of income at different rates, on a gradually increasing scale.
Only without governments would there be no taxes; therefore, without taxes there would be no governments. Taxation is one of the several ways by which governments raise money to pay for the goods and services that they are called on to provide.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump exchanged a series of quick jabs during the first presidential debate at Hofstra University Monday night, September 26, in Hempstead, New York.
~A MOST MEMORABLE ONE~
Trump on Taxes
“That makes me smart,” Trump said in response to Clinton saying he might not pay federal income taxes.
“As it appears in … full read/full credit/more quotes”
I have been in a very committed relationship for 19 years now.
We both met while in college and when we were still very young and inexperienced. Life happened and we were separated for 24 years.
We reconnected in 1996 and have been together since. There was never any doubt about where we wanted to be once we reconnected.
It was where we wanted to be when life happened.
Life stops for no one.
Therefore we are not getting any younger. The wear and tear of our years are catching up and our bodies are telling us so. The things that concerned us when young have taken a back seat to the things that are concerning us now as senior citizens.
The issues concerning us now are not only physical.
They also have a legal background.
I never thought that this would be a reality in my lifetime.
Hence, the demand to have the same rights as heterosexual marriages.
Let’s face it – most of us don’t get married because of the legal recognition and benefits of the institution. We get married because we love each other and want to express that love. But, like it or not, the federal government uses marital status to determine lots of benefits, rights and privileges that aren’t afforded to those who are prohibited from marrying the person they love. In fact, as of 2004, there were 1,138 such benefits, rights and privileges specifically defining or including marital status as a factor contained within the United States Code.
(Jenn and Santos)
Category 1
Social Security and Related Programs, Housing, and Food Stamps
This category includes the major federal health and welfare programs, particularly those considered entitlements, such as Social Security retirement and disability benefits, food stamps, welfare, and Medicare and Medicaid. Most of these provisions are found in Title 42 of the United States Code, Public Health and Welfare; food stamp legislation is in Title 7, Agriculture.
Category 2
Veterans’ Benefits
Veterans’ benefits, which are codified in Title 38 of the United States Code, include pensions, indemnity compensation for service-connected deaths, medical care, nursing home care, right to burial in veterans’ cemeteries, educational assistance, and housing. Husbands or wives of veterans have many rights and privileges by virtue of the marital relationship.
Category 3
Taxes
While the distinction between married and unmarried status is pervasive in federal tax law, terms such as “husband,” “wife,” or “married” are not defined. However, marital status figures in federal tax law in provisions as basic as those giving married taxpayers the option to file joint or separate income tax returns. It is also seen in the related provisions prescribing different tax consequences, depending on whether a taxpayer is married filing jointly, married filing separately, unmarried but the head of a household, or unmarried and not the head of a household.
Category 4
Federal Civilian and Military Service Benefits
This category includes statutory provisions dealing with current and retired federal officers and employees, members of the Armed Forces, elected officials, and judges, in which marital status is a factor. Typically these provisions address the various health, leave, retirement, survivor, and insurance benefits provided by the United States to those in federal service and their families.
Category 5
Employment Benefits and Related Statutory Provisions
Marital status comes into play in many different ways in federal laws relating to employment in the private sector. Most provisions appear in Title 29 of the United States Code, Labor. However, others are in Title 30, Mineral Lands and Mining; Title 33, Navigation and Navigable Waters; and Title 45, Railroads. This category includes laws that address the rights of employees under employer-sponsored employee benefit plans; that provide for continuation of employer-sponsored health benefits after events like the death or divorce of the employee; and that give employees the right to unpaid leave in order to care for a seriously ill spouse. In addition, Congress has extended special benefits in connection with certain occupations, like mining and public safety.
Category 6
Immigration, Naturalization, and Aliens
This category includes federal statutory provisions governing the conditions under which non-citizens may enter and remain in the United States, be deported, or become citizens. Most are found in Title 8, Aliens and Nationality. The law gives special consideration to spouses of immigrant and non-immigrant aliens in a wide variety of circumstances. Under immigration law, aliens may receive special status by virtue of their employment, and that treatment may extend to their spouses. Also, spouses of aliens granted asylum can be given the same status if they accompany or join their spouses.
Category 7
Indians
The indigenous peoples of the United States have long had a special legal relationship with the federal government through treaties and laws that are classified to Title 25, Indians. Various laws set out the rights to tribal property of “white” men marrying “Indian” women, or of “Indian” women marrying “white” men. The law also outlines the descent and distribution rights for Indians’ property. In addition, there are laws pertaining to health care eligibility for Indians and spouses and reimbursement of travel expenses of spouses and candidates seeking positions in the Indian Health Service.
Category 8
Trade, Commerce, and Intellectual Property
This category includes provisions concerning foreign or domestic business and commerce, in the following titles of the United States Code: Bankruptcy, Title 11; Banks and Banking, Title 12; Commerce and Trade, Title 15; Copyrights, Title 17; and Customs Duties, Title 19. This category also includes the National Housing Act (rights of mortgage borrowers); the Consumer Credit Protection Act (governs wage garnishment); and the Copyright Act (spousal copyright renewal and termination rights).
Category 9
Financial Disclosure and Conflict Of Interest
Federal law imposes obligations on members of Congress, employees or officers of the federal government, and members of the boards of directors of some government-related or government chartered entities, to prevent actual or apparent conflicts of interest. These individuals are required to disclose publicly certain gifts, interests, and transactions. Many of these requirements, which are found in 16 different titles of the United States Code, apply also to the individual’s spouse.
Category 10
Crimes and Family Violence
This category includes laws that implicate marriage in connection with criminal justice or family violence. The nature of these provisions varies greatly. Some deal with spouses as victims of crimes, others with spouses as perpetrators. These laws are found primarily in Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, but some statutory provisions, dealing with crime prevention and family violence, are in Title 42, Public Health and Welfare.
Category 11
Loans, Guarantees, and Payments in Agriculture
Under many federal loan programs, a spouse’s income, business interests, or assets are taken into account for purposes of determining a person’s eligibility to participate in the program. In other instances, marital status is a factor in determining the amount of federal assistance to which a person is entitled or the repayment schedule. This category includes education loan programs, housing loan programs for veterans, and provisions governing agricultural price supports and loan programs that are affected by the spousal relationship.
Category 12
Federal Natural Resources and Related Statutory Provision
Federal law gives special rights to spouses in connection with a variety of transactions involving federal lands and other federal property. These transactions include purchase and sale of land by the federal government and lease by the government of water and mineral rights.
Category 13
Miscellaneous Statutory Provisions
This category comprises federal statutory provisions that do not fit readily in any of the other 12 categories. Federal provisions that prohibit discrimination on the basis of marital status are included in this category. This category also includes various patriotic societies chartered in federal law, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars or the Gold Star Wives of America.
This is why same-sex couples need your help.
We need equal access to the law in order to protect our families, just like you!
THIS IS WHAT WE FIGHT FOR … THIS IS WHAT WE DEMAND
As I gathered this information and trolled through the internet, I’ve learned quite a bit. There are so many benefits; much more than the ones I listed on my own.
Here’s my short list:
Social Security benefits
Inheritance tax
Power of attorney
Hospital visitation rights
Medical insurance benefits
Last will and testament
Combined tax returns
Car insurance
Money managing/Finances
Pension benefits
Deed mortgage/Secure loan
I listed eleven benefits … come to find out I had left 1,127 out!
Maureen Hennessey lived with the love of her life, Mary Beth McIntyre, from 1984 until Mary Beth’s death on May 18, 2013, at the age of 55. Together they raised three children in Philadelphia. While Mary Beth was suffering the physical and emotional pain of end stage cancer, she had the additional burden of worrying about how Maureen would manage financially after she was gone.
Because their marriage is not recognized in Pennsylvania, Maureen must pay a 15 percent inheritance tax on half of their shared property, including their home. And unless their marriage is recognized in Pennsylvania before Maureen turns 65, Maureen will not be eligible to receive Mary Beth’s Social Security benefits.
It Is What It Is 