Who would be willing to give up 20% income to help others?

[Panina]

You can report them.

I'm not sure why someone would choose a very low standard of living, but you don't have to let it continue.

And why would I put myself in harms way?

 

[geekette]

I don't know what all benefits they were collecting. But that is what they said to me. The two 30ish year olds living with the disabled person may have been collecting unemployment from somewhere on top of the disability their family member was collecting.
Illinois also has the Link program which is part of SNAP. The attached is how much Illinois may pay on top of disability. However. Very few of these people actually live at the home on file with the state. And the state doesn't have the man power to check up on their address. So I'll see three-five adults, living in a section 8 house (government funded) and each of them will be collecting their $200/mo or more if they have kids, and won't have hardly any rent if any to pay.
And they live that way because they were raised that way. They don't want the responsibility of taking care of a property. Or having to work hard to have nice things. As long as they have food, booze, smokes, and something to do, they're happy.
Even now, there is a UPS distribution faculty and a main Amazon hub that they could ride the bus to for free and get a job. But they just don't want to. Once a person gets used to a quality of life. It's hard to make them change if they don't have to.

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Ah, the array of benefits, gotcha.

What a strange mentality. Passed down through generations? ugh. Sounds even worse to me to have to have all those other people in the household! I guess one person's "quality" is another person's worst nightmare. Ugh, forever with mom and my siblings? Probably could get diagnosed with mental illness after years of that.... but would have run off to join the circus long before that (yes, there is a circus in my state).

Seems like a fairly sad and boring existence, like wasted lives that could have channelled into great things, but, potential suffocated. I guess, what, they are "really showing" us or something? Sure, look at me, what a sucker, selling out to The Man... I guess I feel sorry for people without more curiosity about the world, without any interest in Being Something. Hard to understand how they can requalify year after year, an entire family.

 

[Shankilicious]

And why would I put myself in harms way?

That's my job. And we've tried to report people cheating the system but there's not enough manpower and these people move all the time. But that doesn't matter in my state cuz their Link card gets automatically filled. The Link card (state aid) also doesn't have a name or picture on it and the cardholder can withdraw $40 a month in cash. Can anyone tell me what essential item you need that requires cash?

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[geekette]

That's my job. And we've tried to report people cheating the system but there's not enough manpower and these people move all the time. But that doesn't matter in my state cuz their Link card gets automatically filled. The Link card (state aid) also doesn't have a name or picture on it and the cardholder can withdraw $40 a month in cash. Can anyone tell me what essential item you need that requires cash?

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weed?

 

[geekette]

I programmed for years on complicated systems. They are printing the to name, prior, just put in code looking for consecutive letters that say decease.

Just put in code Where? I don't see that they are searching names, they are printing a roll. I can't assume that there is some kind of search attached to mail merge or whatever it is they are using. If it were easy, I'm pretty sure they would have done it. They said they wanted to go Quickly, so, to me, that means, no simple fix to this.

 

[Brett]

I hear this opinion but I can tell you its no picnic living on disability wages, I don’t think there are many able people that choose to “sponge off the government”. As you said, you are a pessimist, it clearly shows. I wonder how close a look you have taken at the people you see doing this.

I prepare tax returns for people with disabilities, they get a little SSI or SSDI and maybe a part time minimum wage job. They are allowed to earn up to $783/month and have no more than $2k in savings. None of them own cars, they ride public transit. None of them own homes, they share apartments in the least desirable parts of town. None of them eat at four star restaurants they eat cup of noodles and microwave dinners. None of them have 401k retirement accounts or pension possibilities.



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right, I'm not so sure poor people in Virginia "sponge off the government"

 

[Brett]

weed?

!!!

 

[WVBaker]

Wouldn't you also have to actually be seeing doctors that say you are disabled?

You can be disabled and not currently seeing a doctor. Your disability could have occurred years ago and there is no need to see a doctor for that.

 

[VacationForever]

In my previous work, some of the people who were job applicants and ex-employees had the attitude which Shankilicious described. Some said they had to stay under 15-20 hours per week otherwise they would lose their welfare checks. Some quit and said it was not worth working because it was too much hassle to work when instead they could collect welfare checks and stayed home with their children. I never saw that portion of the population until my previous work. Before then I worked in high tech where even the lowest paid employee drew at least $60K a year, not counting other benefits.

Until you have worked with the population who choose welfare over work, you cannot envision that could happen.

 

[Shankilicious]

Ah, the array of benefits, gotcha.

What a strange mentality. Passed down through generations? ugh. Sounds even worse to me to have to have all those other people in the household! I guess one person's "quality" is another person's worst nightmare. Ugh, forever with mom and my siblings? Probably could get diagnosed with mental illness after years of that.... but would have run off to join the circus long before that (yes, there is a circus in my state).

Seems like a fairly sad and boring existence, like wasted lives that could have channelled into great things, but, potential suffocated. I guess, what, they are "really showing" us or something? Sure, look at me, what a sucker, selling out to The Man... I guess I feel sorry for people without more curiosity about the world, without any interest in Being Something. Hard to understand how they can requalify year after year, an entire family.

It's the lack of people to physically check on these people. For instance:
Mom, daughter and two grandbabies live in one house.
Mom is disabled and gets her SSI plus Link card for a 4 person household so $600 plus SSI right there.
The daughter leaves her address as her baby daddy's and gets $500 for her 3 people.
Both mom and daughter are part time in a cash business that allows them to make up to a recorded $3500 and $2900 respectively and still get the Link benefits.
There are plenty of 2-3 bedroom rentals around my area for less than $1000/month with utilities.
And there is more financial assistance available for mother's per child.....
Again. Plenty of people do need the assistance but there are literally generations living off these programs with nothing to motivate them to change.

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[Shankilicious]

weed?

Illinois will help you pay for that too now! Amidst this pandemic, recreational cannabis sales are still going strong

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[Brett]

.

Illinois will help you pay for that too now! Amidst this pandemic, recreational cannabis sales are still going strong

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so the poor people getting rich off the government with plenty of money to buy weed - sounds like you want to move to Illinois

 

[Shankilicious]

.


so the poor people getting rich off the government with plenty of money to buy weed - sounds like you want to move to Illinois

I live and work in IL in the STL region. Ilinois is losing people at the highest rate or at least top three in country. Don't get me going even more about how messed up Illinois is financially lol! Stealing teachers and cops pensions, taking money from the lotto fund, 4/7 previous governor's sent to prison with the current one going next..... Lucky for me, my profession gets paid best in Illinois.

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[Panina]

Just put in code Where? I don't see that they are searching names, they are printing a roll. I can't assume that there is some kind of search attached to mail merge or whatever it is they are using. If it were easy, I'm pretty sure they would have done it. They said they wanted to go Quickly, so, to me, that means, no simple fix to this.

I disagree, very easy to do. Sometimes the simplest things are considered difficult.

 

[Brett]

I live and work in IL in the STL region. Ilinois is losing people at the highest rate or at least top three in country. Don't get me going even more about how messed up Illinois is financially lol! Stealing teachers and cops pensions, taking money from the lotto fund, 4/7 previous governor's sent to prison with the current one going next..... Lucky for me, my profession gets paid best in Illinois.

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OK, you're part of the legal wealthy, "the hard working good guys" --- the rest of the populace are ripping off the "system" - got it

 

[geekette]

Illinois will help you pay for that too now! Amidst this pandemic, recreational cannabis sales are still going strong

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I'll be right there!

 

[JanT]

Thank you so much for your condolences. They definitely knew she was deceased because I filed her 2019 tax return and noted that she was deceased as required. Stuff happens and I'm just sending it back but I waited for direction from them (it's now on the irs.gov website on how to deal with it), so that's on my list of things to do this coming week.

But, they obviously knew she was deceased.

Hmmm. That's very interesting. If they went so far as to note that she's deceased (my condolences by the way) I would think they checked that she fit whatever criteria to qualify for the check first, but who knows.

@geekette I'm a bit of a pessimist with my job and see a lot of people sponging off the government, claiming disability and unemployment etc when they are perfectly capable of working but don't want to and then collect a tax return as well after not working for years.
The system is broken for certain. Not saying I have an answer, just saying. As my original reply to this post stated, I give quite a bit each year to organizations that help those in need and I know there are people out there who truly don't make enough due to unforeseen or uncontrollable circumstances.

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[Brett]

Thank you so much for your condolences. They definitely knew she was deceased because I filed her 2019 tax return and noted that she was deceased as required. Stuff happens and I'm just sending it back but I waited for direction from them (it's now on the irs.gov website on how to deal with it), so that's on my list of things to do this coming week.

But, they obviously knew she was deceased.

well, "they" probably didn't know she was deceased (it's a computer)
that happens all the time with social security payments of a deceased person

 

[geekette]

I disagree, very easy to do. Sometimes the simplest things are considered difficult.

We'll agree to disagree. I have never seen their system so I just don't know, I can't say for sure with any confidence. Don't know how old it is, what it's built with, if it is one big system or a patchwork of many.

 

[Shankilicious]

OK, you're part of the legal wealthy, "the hard working good guys" --- the rest of the populace are ripping off the "system" - got it

Lol! I appreciate the sarcasm of that jab sir.
But I wouldn't say my job is hard. There are days it is. But I love it and couldn't imagine doing anything else and count myself very blessed to be paid quite well to do what I love.
I just wish there was a way to get more money to the people who need it and put an end to those who don't. But that's an extremely controversial topic that I'm sure my opinion will infuriate several so I'll not go there.

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[tompalm]

The government would not be able to manage money correctly. They have a long history of mistakes and poor management. Why did they give student loans to people that would never be able to pay it back. The financial crisis in 2008 was the fault of the government. Credit card debt should have limitations Why did they need to give a stimulus payment to people collecting social security. I realize they are trying to stimulate the economy, but the money could have been better spent giving it to people that need it. Nothing has changed for retired folks living on social security and we have income from the government every month. We will all pay more in state and federal tax in the future. The more you make, the more they will take. By the time you add increases to property tax, fuel tax, sale‘s tax, and anything else they can think of to state and federal tax, we will be paying more than 20 percent.

 

[JanT]

Well someone should have known and if they don't have their computer program set up to flag that stuff that's a problem they need to solve. I don't mind sending it back (because obviously there was never any doubt I would because she is deceased) but I seriously got a good laugh out of the fact it had her name and then "deceased" after it and I wondered what the heck they were doing. No worries, it goes right back to the IRS as required.

well, "they" probably didn't know she was deceased (it's a computer)
that happens all the time with social security payments of a deceased person

 

[SmithOp]

The IRS validates tax returns when they are efiled by checking SSN and first four characters of last name with the Social Security database.

The SS DB has a Deceased flag, if your SSN is flagged as Deceased the date of death has to be provided when the tax return is efiled in order to be accepted. I efile at least 1,000 returns every year, have a lot of experience with these edits.

When a death certificate is filed the SS DB is updated poste haste, and they cut off any SS benefits right away.

IRS must have been in a hurry to generate checks if they didn’t use the SS death file edit, its code they already have in use in the efile system for tax returns.


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[TravelTime]

My question was not whether you trust the government or not. It is whether you would be willing to give up 20% or more of your income (whether through private job, government job or social security or pension) to help others who are suffering. In my question, let’s assume the aid was effective in going to those in need.

 

[VacationForever]

Nothing has changed for retired folks living on social security and we have income from the government every month.

With regards to social security income, nothing has changed with COVID-19. However, many who also rely on withdrawals from their investments to live on also suffer a drop in income. The more inclusive the criteria not only simplifies the payment process but also ensures that more people get the financial help.