this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
1683 points (98.4% liked)

News

23295 readers
5390 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Students in Massachusetts will get free lunch and breakfast at school thanks to a new 4% tax put on people who earn more than $1 million.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Kage520@lemmy.world 118 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We need different terms for people who HAVE a million dollars and people who MAKE a million per year. Lots of people will read this millionaire's tax and think it will apply to them when they are nearing retirement since they finally have a million dollars after saving all their life.

[–] abraxas@lemmy.ml 45 points 1 year ago

That's what the campaign to quash the bill did. That, and tried to convince people that they might have a single multi-million-dollar transaction in their life (like selling a large successful business) and have to pay an extra 4% on it.

Always a push to get the "temporarily embarassed millionaire" to support the reach. "Yeah, yanno. My little lawmowing operation that makes me $20,000 coild sell for over a million and then I'm fucked"

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Gsus4@feddit.nl 108 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's easier to sell a tax hike if you know exactly where it's going :)

[–] theragu40@lemmy.world 83 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Unless you're Waukesha, Wisconsin, where they specifically voted to stop giving kids handouts (i.e. free lunch). Because, you know, kids should work for their food or something instead of using their energy to learn.

[–] Gsus4@feddit.nl 40 points 1 year ago (2 children)

probably the same people that say abortion is murdering kids...

[–] richieadler@lemmy.myserv.one 13 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I mean, cheap labor has to come from somewhere... Where do you find empoverished people to exploit if you don't force births?

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] affiliate@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago

kids just don’t want to work anymore these days. they’re too busy with their avocados and ipad games. meanwhile the child unemployment rates are at historical highs. won’t someone think of the economy?

[–] jumperalex@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

"It's about time these kids had some skin in the game!"

-Some Republican Somewhere I'm sure.

[–] MostlyBirds@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Waukesha County is by far the most conservative in the state, and has been playing a massive role in destroying our state's democratic process for a few decades now.

Another fun fact about it is that they've been trying for years to glom onto the Lake Michigan watershed, which, geographically, it is not a part of. They want to straight up take our water, which they do not need, in exchange for nothing whatsoever of any real value.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] TeoTwawki@lemmy.world 84 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The descriptor "free" misleads - this is exactly the type of thing taxes were always meant to pay for.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 29 points 1 year ago

This I have always hated the "FREE STUFF!" talking point and how the mainstream bought it.

I'm not talking about demanding some middle class guy be forced to buy me an Xbox, but rather I'm asking multiple billionaires start paying just a little more in taxes (instead of ya know.. constant rebates for "cReAtInG JoBs") so that little Timmy doesn't die of untreated pediatric cancer.

[–] Sir_Kevin@discuss.online 61 points 1 year ago (15 children)

It's not a free lunch. It's just your taxes going to something you actually benefit from.

[–] prole@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No shit. It literally says where the money that pays for it comes from right in the headline.

[–] Hacksaw@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 year ago

I think the point of the comment was that in the last few decades the rhetoric has been: "Taxes bad" "Government provides free bus passes to underprivileged people" Always divorcing taxes from their positive effects on society. Maybe they were trying to fight that by directly uniting the fact that the government is just a coordinator, collecting taxes and using it to buy lunches for kids.

"4% tax on millionaires pays for breakfasts and lunches for all school children" unlike the above example, is a sentence that reminds people that taxes are what provides these many positive social benefits they recieve, not "the government", not "for free", and that taxes aren't always "bad".

Or maybe I'm projecting!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Sternout@feddit.de 10 points 1 year ago

Of course it is free for the children.

load more comments (13 replies)
[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 48 points 1 year ago (1 children)

State House News Service, an independently owned news wire, reported that $1 billion of the state's record $56.2 billion fiscal budget for 2024 came from the state's new 4% tax on millionaires. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed the budget on Wednesday, making Massachusetts the eighth state to adopt a free school lunch plan since federal free school lunches which started during the COVID-19 pandemic ended.

[–] wrath-sedan@kbin.social 39 points 1 year ago

COVID response is wild because for like 2 years we had a robust expansion of both direct government aid and healthcare coverage and accessibility, and the poof most of it disappeared. Like we literally had free healthcare at point of service for one disease which is crazy.

Great to see that at least some states responding to the demand for these heightened services. We should be pointing towards the example of COVID aid to show what the government can do if the public pressure is there. If we did it once we can do it again!

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As a student who grew up attending Massachusetts public schools, this is fantastic news. Just wish that could have been me!

I used to bring a lot of boxed lunch in most days instead because school lunches were an unnecessary expense, but sometimes I'd buy school lunch if it was one I liked.

I don't know if this applies everywhere, but my school district at least had a needs-based free lunch (and breakfast) program for those from low income families, but honestly all students deserve to eat a healthy and nutritious meal during school, which I am sure also takes quite a bit of stress off of parents.

[–] solrize@lemmy.world 47 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

The trouble with needs based programs is that students who receive the free lunch then get shamed by other students for being poor. Thus the movement to give the lunch to everyone. The cost per student is fairly low compared to the other expenses of running a school. Plus there are savings resulting from getting rid of the bureaucracy that figures out who is needy enough to get a free lunch, getting rid of the payment collection operation, etc, that partly offset the cost of the additional free lunches.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] goforliftoff@lemm.ee 33 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Cool, but you know who isn’t getting a free lunch now? Those millionaires who worked so hard for that money. What have those kids done to earn theirs?

/s, to be clear. I wish these cool places to live (e.g, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan) weren’t so fucking cold. Why can’t there be a nice liberal southern state?

[–] zdrvr@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago

There is. It is California and a 500sqft house cost $1000000000

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] DerArzt@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

But but that's socialism

[–] eek2121@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Slightly off topic. A lot of public schools already get free meals thanks to federal education dollars. The school lunches are free in my area because of this, even though the (red) state won’t act.

The state has attempted to kill off those dollars in the past.

[–] kiwwimix@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Let's fucking goooo!!!! I love my home state ❤️. I wish they did this sooner.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago

Mass is doing so many things right. There's still a long way to go to get to European standards, but still doing a lot better than most states.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Hnazant@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Indiana did free meals, then announced kids had to get approved nicknames like Florida...

[–] fylkenny@feddit.de 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What are approved nicknames? That's usually not how nicknames work.

[–] grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org 35 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I read an article about it recently. If a student asks to be called by a name other than the one they were registered with (for example, Benjamin asks to be called Ben or William asks to be called Sir Buttface) the school is supposed to inform the parents and get approval. A "side" effect of this is outing trans kids to their parents.

[–] fylkenny@feddit.de 8 points 1 year ago

Thanks for explaining. Does sound like the only effect this law has.

[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Just to clarify for other here. Indiana does not do universal free lunch like Massachusetts. You have to apply for it.

[–] Pratai@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago

That’s a weird nickname.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (15 children)

Good. Now slap a 0 to the end of that 4, and then double it.

[–] wrath-sedan@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago (12 children)

Made me curious what the total tax rate would be in Mass. Apparently it has a flat 5% income tax, plus 4% millionaires tax, plus federal rate for income over about 578k is 37%, so altogether it’s 46% for income over a mil in Mass.

Definitely think it should be higher for such wildly high income. Also disappointed to see for being a relatively progressive state Mass has a flat rather than progressive income tax.

load more comments (12 replies)
load more comments (14 replies)
[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

[https://www.investmentnews.com/welcome-to-the-millionaires-tax-240997](An overview for those that don't know anything about this.)

Edit: fixed the link An overview for those that don't know anything about this.

a 4% surtax on individual earnings above $1 million. This new provision, which comes into effect from Jan. 1, 2023, will be layered over the preexisting 5% state income tax rate.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] just_the_ticket@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's like the us is always 20 years behind the rest of the world when it comes to things that actually matter.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] cokane_88@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

And my kid will still refuse to eat it.... We had free lunches here during the pandemic.

[–] Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 year ago

4% of WHAT is taxed?

load more comments
view more: next ›