Quote Originally Posted by bravo View Post
So then you were wrong when you said, "Why does it make any difference from where a person gets money? Income is money coming in. All money should be taxed the same. "


Seems it does matter where the money comes from.....

You can't have it both ways.....
Taxes go to the government. What would be the purpose of the government giving the needy financial help and then asking for some of it back? Consider it this way. People receiving welfare declare that is the only income they receive. Based on that the government figures out the minimum income one requires and the amount necessary after taxes are taken into consideration.

OK. Let's put out some numbers as an example. Let's say the government decides an individual requires $800/mth to survive and the current tax rate is 20%. So, every welfare recipient is eligible for $1,000/mth with 20%, or $200, going towards taxes. The net rate is $800/mth. so the government sends a check for $800.

When it comes to pensions it's a different story. The government does not know the total income of people receiving SS so it sends out the full amount and people pay tax according to their total income from all sources. Because the government knows the total income of welfare recipients, which is declared in order to qualify for welfare, it doesn't make sense to send the full amount and then tax it later when they already know the amount of tax due.