• Rhaedas@fedia.io
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    2 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.

  • undergroundoverground@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Its funny how much owning a successful business sound exactly like being a lazy, work-shy layabout who does nothing while living off of other people’s hard work.

  • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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    2 months ago

    Racism is either a symptom or a tool:

    Those who cant make sense of their situation being unsatisfactory may fall prey to it to soothe themselves.

    Those who hoard all of the worlds wealth use it to distract from that fact.

  • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)@badatbeing.social
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    2 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.

  • emerald@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months ago

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

    • wunami@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

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

      • beebarfbadger@lemmy.world
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        2 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.

  • Kaeru@slrpnk.net
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    2 months ago

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

    • microphone900@lemmy.ml
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      2 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.

      • A7thStone@lemmy.world
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        2 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.

    • AeonFelis@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

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

    • digdilem@lemmy.ml
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      2 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.

      • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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        2 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.

  • Overshoot2648@lemm.ee
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    2 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.

  • OpenStars@discuss.online
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    2 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

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The duty of the working person is to pay tithes to the ruling class. But these workers are also using public services and benefiting from public works.

    The only solution is to privatize more state functions, in order to make sure all immigrants continue to surrender their surplus value to the native aristocracy.

    And no more eating! I don’t want to see any Haitians who look well fed. We all know what that means. Haitians are supposed to be in a half starved state at all times. Otherwise, I just know they’re up to something.

  • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    Did those companies make billions in profit? Or just billions in revenue and did creative accounting and investing so that they didn’t actually make a profit so they don’t need to pay tax?

  • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

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

  • Lojcs@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    How is the government getting taxes from people it doesn’t know exist?? I thought you had to file your taxes yourself in America, why or how would the migrants even do that? Or if the employer is doing that, who do they say they are doing it for??

    • s38b35M5@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Filing taxes is how we get refunds for overpaying in the US.

      Paying taxes is done for us, through withholding out of our paychecks (don’t need a SS#, as a TIN will do here), sales tax on purchases of goods, and in other ways, like connected to housing, etc.

    • SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nz
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      2 months ago

      While immigrants in the country without authorization do not have Social Security numbers, they can file taxes using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN.

      Reports about 3m people file using an ITIN each year, and the number of people expected to legally use them is very small.

      Also says they see about $12B more paid into social security by illegals than paid out.

      As Al Capone found, the government is would rather you pay tax on illegally earned money.

      • Lojcs@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Every couple months I learn of another way the us government interacts with ‘undocumented’ migrants. I find it supremely silly that these people have identification numbers, pay taxes, are counted for the census and participate in elections but they’re still referred to as ‘undocumented’?? They clearly are documented, wtf does ‘undocumented’ mean then?

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        As Al Capone found, the government is would rather you pay tax on illegally earned money.

        That was more an end run around accidentally indicting all the state and federal officials who’d gotten wrapped up in his corruption.

        Capone should have gone down for murder years earlier, but too much of the early Hoover Era FBI was willing to turn a blind eye to Capone’s mafia exploits or rat out informants before they could go to trial.

        • SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nz
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          2 months ago

          Yes. But my point is that the IRS has a process for declaring and paying tax on income that you got illegally, whether it’s from being a mobster or working without the right visa.

          Capone didn’t follow that process, so got done for tax evasion.

          These illegal immigrants are paying their taxes, and therefore a) they aren’t exposed to prosecution for tax evasion, and b) the IRS won’t rat them out to ICE.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            These illegal immigrants are paying their taxes

            The vast majority of them are earning under the standard deduction and don’t actually owe anything. Individuals don’t owe taxes on income under $29.2k and the cheap labor migrants provide mean they often earn far less. Since they aren’t eligible for any refundable credits, this means there’s no incentive to file.

            Where they pay their taxes is typically on the consumer end - sales, real estate, gas/utilities taxes, etc.

      • Lojcs@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Is sales tax included in prices? I’ve seen people online saying it’s often not since it varies from place to place?

        • edgemaster72@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Correct, sales tax is not included in pricing in the US. I learned that at a fairly young age when I wanted to spend $20 I had from my birthday on a $20 Lego set when whoops, need another dollar (thankfully my mom was there to cover it)

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      How is the government getting taxes from people it doesn’t know exist??

      Going to the store and handing over my money for the stuff. There’s a % sales tax at the bottom of my receipt, but how is this possible?! I didn’t tell the government I was going shopping today.

      Drive back home to my apartment, where I pay my rent for the month. My landlord forward a chunk of that money to the city as real estate taxes. But I never formally registered my citizenship at this address, so how can that be?

      Heading to the bar where I earn my living. Most of my income is in tips, which my boss collects and skims the business tax rate off of before distributing the balance. But there’s no bartender’s license to work here, so how did he know to do that?

      Omw home, I’ve got to remember to re-register my car and buy more gas-taxed petrol and damn it feels like there’s a lot of ways for a government to collect tax money from me.

      • Lojcs@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Could you not write this less condescending? I’m sorry I’m not from the US. When I heard people say that sales tax isn’t included in the price and that you need to file your taxes every year I assumed that was how the tax was collected.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I’m sorry I’m not from the US.

          Sales, real estate, and other consumption taxes aren’t unique to the US.

          When I heard people say that sales tax isn’t included in the price and that you need to file your taxes every year

          You’re hearing bullshit. There was a historical loophole by which online merchants asserted that sales taxes needed to be collected from the individuals purchasing the goods rather than the businesses selling them. That loophole has long since been closed.

          But virtually nobody paid the tax. Few people even know how or what they might owe. And even if they had, you don’t need to be a citizen to buy something online.