The Richest 1% Get $10 Billion A Year From The Government
The federal government gives $10 billion a year in benefits to the top 1%, mostly to rich retirees, according to a study by Investors Business Daily.
The bulk of the taxpayer money going to the richest 1% came from Social Security and Medicare, which provide benefits to retirees regardless of their income.
Using IRS data, IBD found that the top 1% of income earners claimed approximately $7 billion in Social Security benefits in 2009. That year, the program paid super-rich seniors — those with adjusted gross incomes exceeding $10 million — an average of $33,000 each.
Medicare, meanwhile, paid roughly $2.6 billion in health care subsidies for the richest 1% of enrollees, based on calculations using Medicare enrollment, overall Medicare spending and premium data. (Medicare does not track spending by enrollee income.) And if you consider that 5% of Medicare enrollees have more than $1 million in savings, the amount taxpayers spend to subsidize retiree health benefits skyrockets.
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