Although the stimulus check payments were primarily designed to help those from poor and middle-income households, things didn’t always adhere to it. It has been reported that almost 18 billionaires, and close to hundreds of ultra-wealthy individuals- received the stimulus payments even though it wasn’t meant for them.
This report was put up by ProPublica, which noticed the discrepancy in the delivery of the stimulus payment from the IRS. It has been mentioned further that around 270 wealthy individuals have received their monetary payments in the first round of the stimulus payments which were directed by legislators in 2020.
Billionaires Have Received Stimulus Check Payments
While the individuals under fire had a total sum of $5.7 billion in income, they still managed to receive a payment that was probably peanuts to the vast sum they possessed. This was cited by ProPublica, which mentioned a trove of IRS data on thousands of the wealthiest individuals in the country.
The wealthy taxpayers managed to secure a stimulus check payment for themselves by tapping out on complex tax deductions to reduce their income below zero- which helped them qualify for the payments. Under this law, the total payments of $1,200 per single taxpayer, and $2,400 for married couples were only readily available to single people with an annual earning under the sum of $75,000 or couples who had their income below $150,000.
Among the billionaires who received the stimulus check payments, included are George Soros- with a net worth of $7.5 billion- and Ira Rennert- worth $3.7 billion. A representative for Soros claimed that Soros had simply received a payment from the U.S. government as a part of the CARES Act. But the philanthropist promptly returned it- having not asked for it in the first place.
