• @[email protected]
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    1111 months ago

    I don’t think they care. I think they just say they are free loaders because what they really feel is hate towards people of other races and ethnicities, but they can’t say it out load or often even admit it to themselves.

    • @[email protected]
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      111 months ago

      More often than not they’re ashamed their wic is funded in large part by illegals. Pride is dangerous as fuck.

  • @[email protected]
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    311 months ago

    I notice we’re comparing “taxes” in one column to “federal income taxes” in the other column. I wonder why.

  • @[email protected]
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    11 months ago

    How much was paid with employee income tax? How much was paid with VAT?

    How much did immigrants take out of the system?

    This is the most biased one sided comparison.

    It’s strange how in the when businesses employee people and that wage gets taxed that’s 100% on the employee. But when a business sells a product and it gets taxed that’s 100% on the customer.

    • Zement
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      1811 months ago

      Nah Bro, it’s biased against poor and pro rich. Taxes on income are nothing the company pays, it’s paid by the employees.

      Taxes on profits and gains are circumvented by “declaring necessary investments” to set the net profit to 0.

      I know there are cases where this is legit, but I doubt, Amazon and others just steal.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 months ago

        From an economic perspective it’s largely the same.

        Research and development is important for long term growth that’s why governments do their best to financially encourage it.

        But this is Lemmy. Might as well be talking to a spam sandwich when it comes to economics.

        • Zement
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          11 months ago

          Well a Billionaires Super-Yavht technically generates Jobs, is good for the economy and so on… still it’s a waste of resources (= environment dies a little for nothing).

          If companies would actually “invest” in RnD as much as you imply, we would be at a vastly different technological state. Capitalism is like, infinite Solar energy? Nah, let’s distribute fake news and manipulate the voters (Started in the 70s after Carter). It’s just braindead at this point.

          Yeah nah, I think we will never discuss on one level. It’s like easy to dismiss others arguments as stupid, because “Lemmy”, while cosplaying capitalist fanboy.

    • @[email protected]
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      711 months ago

      Imma go ahead and say the income tax & VAT combined don’t equal 97B.

      Additionally, imma guess immigrants took out much less than the 97B they put into the system.

      Fact check me.

      • @[email protected]
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        311 months ago

        That’s not how fact checking works.

        Someone’s made a stupid text on image post incorrectly comparing things and didn’t even back that up.

        • @[email protected]
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          811 months ago

          Here’s the study. Robert Reich is a former Secretary of Labor known for pushing worker’s rights. He’s generally pretty credible.

          • @[email protected]
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            11 months ago

            Funny how that person responded to everyone except for you. You being the person who provided evidence that likely proves them completely wrong.

            Mustn’t draw attention to the argument that beats mine.

      • Unbecredible
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        411 months ago

        An easy example is not paying income tax. Some illegals work for cash because they’re undocumented and so pay no income tax. When that person uses public stuff like roads and local dog parks and anything that’s ultimately paid for with taxes, they’re taking benefits and not paying back into the system.

        Whether or not we might want to deport someone or otherwise punish them for this “freeloading” is a separate question, but I don’t think there’s much of an argument to say that no amount of freeloading is happening at all.

        • @[email protected]
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          211 months ago

          Hmmm yes, they can go for a walk in a park. But they can’t use TANF, Medicaid, SSI/SSDI, SNAP, or anything else that requires means testing. While they do get taxes withheld from their paycheck. So they are actually paying for that park.

          Yes some are on a cash only, under the table arrangement. But 100 billion dollars worth of them are not. Banks don’t require proof of citizenship, and states that aren’t busy trying to shoot themselves in the foot aren’t checking citizenship for work. So they get taxes, the immigrants get worker protections, and life goes on as normal.

        • @[email protected]
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          411 months ago

          Define “freeloading” for me. They don’t have access to big social services (TANF, SSI, etc) due to not having documentation, roads are funded through fuel taxes as far as I’m aware (so if they’re pumping gas, they’re paying for the roads), dog parks are usually paid out of local sales tax (again, only as far as I know, I live in GA and we’re a fucked up state a lot of times).

          Income tax is a big one, but not on a small scale (like municipal level)… Hell, I haven’t ever had a local income tax that I can remember.

          • Unbecredible
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            111 months ago

            Yeah I take your meaning that the severity of the freeloading is negligible in most cases.

            I was just trying to demonstrate how an illegal immigrant could in principal be “taking” from the system for the person who asked.

      • @[email protected]
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        211 months ago

        Well that’s just the level of economic understanding on this website. Immigrants get everything for free but everyone else pays for society at large.

        • @[email protected]
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          411 months ago

          Illegals pay taxes bud. I’m sorry you didn’t know that. When they buy groceries they are taxed. Everything they buy is taxed. The only thing they are getting away with is federal and state taxes but there are plenty of Americans that don’t pay their taxes either.

          Everything the tv is telling you about undocumented workers is a lie. Even the numbers. Some of your favorite brands are perpetuating the problem because they love to hire these “freeloaders” and pay them poverty wages and not tell anyone. Tyson is one of the biggest employers of illegal immigrants.

          If the Republican Party gave a shit about fixing the issue they would stop allowing businesses to hire these people.

    • @[email protected]
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      511 months ago

      We don’t have VAT in the US and we don’t track sales tax. This is from two sources. Immigrants that can use a tax ID number, and immigrants that cannot but still have taxes withheld from their paycheck. So the only effect is they can’t get a refund.

    • @[email protected]
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      811 months ago

      So much wrong with this post. First, the US does not have a VAT. Second, why would you ascribe an employees wages to the employer? Isn’t it the employees skills that earns them a wage? Third, what do you even mean with “undocumented “ migrants taking out of the system? They are undocumented and thus don’t have access to social security/medicaid etc.

    • @[email protected]
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      111 months ago

      Just say you care about money more than people. It’s quicker and easier to ignore you than when you sputter out some pseudointellectual nonsense.

  • @[email protected]
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    1911 months ago

    Stupid question: If undocumented, how are they verifiably paying anything close to this figure in taxes? Pls respond

    • @[email protected]
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      1611 months ago

      Not all taxes are collected, much of what we pay in taxes is added on to the cost of things.

        • Avicenna
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          211 months ago

          probably by questionnaires on spending habits

            • Avicenna
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              111 months ago

              I suspect it might be but in its core it points at a truth, anyone who works in a country creates value and anyone who spends their earnings in a country contributes to tax. And I would not be surprised that proportional to their income immigrants end up paying more tax to their country than a billionaire.

        • zeekaran
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          111 months ago

          “unable to have bank accounts”

          Believe it or not Mexican debit cards are accepted in the United States.

    • @[email protected]
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      1411 months ago

      They can request and may be assigned an individual tax ID number (ITIN). Having an ITIN may allow them to open a bank account. It also makes it so they pay taxes which a surprising number want to do. Since they want to stay in the country, having a long history of paying taxes is a way to show you don’t want to cause trouble and you just want to work. Hell, a lot of them probably know they got Al Capone on tax evasion and don’t want to end up like him. Here’s a report I just Googled, and possibly the source of the number which is an estimate.

      On the other side is how much tax funding is used on them. Here’s a report from the House of Representatives which states they use more in services (Medicare, WIC, sending kids to school, etc) than they pay. I can’t speak to how accurate the report is considering the makeup and views publicly expressed by members of the committee. I’m personally leaning towards ‘they don’t, and can’t, use as more than they contribute’ because they’re not eligible for many benefits.

      • @[email protected]
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        611 months ago

        I love how in your last article it’s a human centipede ouroboros

        Macgregor said that “every alleged asylum seeker, illegal migrant pouring in through the border in Texas or wherever else” is given a monthly payment of $2,200.

        Gheen added that ALIPAC “did not make the original claim about the $2,200,” pointing to Carlson’s interview with Macgregor as its source.

        Macgregor cited an article published by a Houston radio station on its website to support the claim he made during the interview, which quotes Gheen and the ALIPAC release. The article was published a week after his interview.

    • DigitalDilemma
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      911 months ago

      Sensible question. Nobody even knows how many undocumented people are in a country - because they’re undocumented.

      This has to be a made up figure. The sentiment might be correct but the data is dubious.

      • @[email protected]
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        311 months ago

        It’s explained upthread. You can get an ITIN to pay taxes if you don’t have a Social Security Number. The estimate is from the amount collected by the IRS from people with ITINs.

    • @[email protected]
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      611 months ago

      Just because you’re undocumented doesn’t mean the IRS will give up on taking your money.

  • @[email protected]
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    1211 months ago

    Trump is not a free-loader though!? And now that I’ve planted that thought… can you remind me why not exactly - asking for a friend? :-P

      • @[email protected]
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        611 months ago

        He’s not a freeloader because he pays his fair share of taxes…. Wait a minute

        He’s not a freeloader because he takes on the risks of a job creator, including any financial losses…. Crap, nope

        He’s not a freeloader because when he contracts put work he pays on time what was agreed …… can you see the pattern?

        • @[email protected]
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          211 months ago

          img

          - “conservatives” Republicans

          img

          Oh wait my bad that’s 1 Thessalonians 5:21, oh well nobody seems to care.

  • @[email protected]
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    1411 months ago

    Freeloaders are the people taking up dramatically more resources than the value one human can produce.

  • @[email protected]
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    11 months ago

    I’d actually be willing to bet that we (the US taxpayer) paid those corporations for the privilege of their continued existence

    • @[email protected]
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      511 months ago

      Durrr. We need them to trickle down on some workers cause otherwise there wouldn’t be any jobs.

      • @[email protected]
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        211 months ago

        Indeed, they could simply choose to bunker their wealth in a tax oasis and just keep taking and taking without ever giving anything back. And according to studies they do exactly that.

        Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yes, the precipitations that they do decide to shower those beneath them with are then obviously worth their weight in gold. A golden shower, if you will.

  • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)
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    2511 months ago

    Reading about The Bracero Program seems kind of wild in today’s anti-immigrant US climate.

    The Bracero Program (from the Spanish term bracero [bɾaˈse.ɾo], meaning “manual laborer” or “one who works using his arms”) was a U.S. Government-sponsored program that imported Mexican farm and railroad workers into the United States between the years 1942 and 1964.

    • Schadrach
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      511 months ago

      Temporary agricultural worker visas are one of the types of work visa with no limit, and actually have more protections than a lot of regular US workers. They still hire illegals because illegals are cheaper.

  • @[email protected]
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    4211 months ago

    Posts like this are important, but unfortunately in vain, I’m afraid. Those who still don’t understand it will never understand it. I think they don’t want to. I don’t get it.

    • @[email protected]
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      211 months ago

      Post like this are misinformation because people don’t understand the difference between revenue and profit.

        • @[email protected]
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          211 months ago

          Oh yes. For the individual, very few costs can be deducted from taxes, and investments are not considered costs.

          There’s also different tax rates and subsidies available to businesses that individuals can’t access.

          But my point stands. People always get angry about large revenues which are not taxed. Changing the system so that a tax is also levied above the line is not impossible.

    • @[email protected]
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      2511 months ago

      I’d say it’s still important to post and talk about, not for the people who know and don’t care, but for the people who don’t know and do care.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 months ago

        Yes, I think so too. I just can’t understand why so many people aren’t able to hold those who are to blame for their misery to account. Instead, they allow themselves to be duped by their own enemies. It is incomprehensible to me how people can be so stupid.

  • Rhaedas
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    30811 months ago

    Yes, but corporations pay into the system in other ways. Take for example the time Duke Energy had a big coal ash spill into a river. They took the income resources they had and not only paid a fair fine price, cleaned up the…

    Wait. No they didn’t. They passed on all the costs to their customers. Fortunately those customers were able to use the free market and choose another provider…

    Wait. No, they can’t. Huh. That IS a freeloader.

    • @[email protected]
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      111 months ago

      Ok so if “white” is a color but nobody is actually “white” does that mean that we have solved racism? Finally realized that everyone just has a slight shade of brown difference?

      WOW! I love living in the early 2000’s! Fuck you all and your flying cars you 3000’s assholes! Sure I’ll die in this millennium before we meet aliens from outer space, but at least I don’t have to purchase oxygen in plastic bags on a daily basis from Trump-Tesla, your friendly oxygen company!