this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023

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Massachusetts passed a 4% millionaire's tax last year. Now every public school student is going to get free lunch (www.businessinsider.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

192 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

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[–] Kage520@lemmy.world 187 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 70 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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"

[–] Hoomod@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago

Ah, the Philip J. Fry mentality

"someday I might be rich, and then people like me better watch their step"

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[–] Gsus4@feddit.nl 130 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 103 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 46 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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

[–] richieadler@lemmy.myserv.one 16 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?

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[–] affiliate@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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?

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[–] jumperalex@lemmy.world 15 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 15 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.

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[–] TeoTwawki@lemmy.world 115 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 37 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.

[–] hglman@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's mad that children could some how not deserve or accumulate debt to eat. It's even more mad that its exactly what happens.

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[–] sQuirrel21@lemmy.world 104 points 1 year ago (13 children)

Free school meals should be a given since our taxes should go to what our elected officials have so thoughtfully decided where to apply them. What no one rarely brings up let alone tries to solve is the disgusting and unsafe food that the local, state and fed officials decide to make available. There's too much politics in cafeteria food. They should focus there budget in getting healthy food not the cheapest, uncles cousins or corporate friend contract.

[–] Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg 41 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Yes, we 100% should be using our school kitchens as kitchens, not just reheating premade "GFS Food."

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[–] Sir_Kevin 75 points 1 year ago (17 children)

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

[–] prole@sh.itjust.works 28 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 20 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!

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[–] Sternout@feddit.de 17 points 1 year ago

Of course it is free for the children.

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[–] TruTollTroll@lemmy.world 68 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's great news! No kid should ever be hungry at school, especially when they really are legally forced to be there!

[–] Ragdoll_X@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

But that will teach them that free stuff is good which will make them communists who love big government!!1! I want children to hunt for their own food like in the good old days. Didn't catch anything? Too bad little Timmy, guess you won't eat tonight because we don't got no welfare state!

Also I believe in protecting the children and am pro-life.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 51 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 42 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!

[–] DerArzt@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago

But but that's socialism

[–] 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 53 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.

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[–] goforliftoff@lemm.ee 40 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 19 points 1 year ago

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

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[–] jimmydoreisalefty@lemmus.org 38 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Thanks for the article, learning aboutnthe positives.

On another note...

In February, President Joe Biden urged lawmakers to pass his billionaires' tax proposal, which would impose a minimum 20% tax on households with a net worth of more than $100 million.

It is a start, but may be too late in the game for the blue administration for 2024.

I have also heard of other positive things being pushed, in my bubble of politics.

Might be due to all the military conflicts around the world and union strikes, that are also starting to ramp up in the US.

Great post on the positive news. Thanks again!

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[–] kiwwimix@lemmy.ml 34 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 14 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.

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[–] Dark_Lords_Servant@lemmynsfw.com 28 points 1 year ago (15 children)

A European here. Aside from going in the right direction, I have a question: Don't the rich already pay most of their earnings as taxes? So the problem is not that they are not getting taxed, but rather that they avoid paying them through loopholes? Or is that a billionaire problem?

[–] GyozaPower@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yeah. The problem is that the richest people have many loopholes to avoid paying taxes. Getting a minimal salary and then just taking loans against their assets is one of them.

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[–] Eccitaze@yiffit.net 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Part of it is loopholes, but an equally big part is that we tax the way the rich earn their money differently. Most working- and middle-class earners make their money from a wage or salary, which is taxed as income. However, the rich make almost all of their money through dividends on stocks, low- or no-interest loans backed by assets, and selling stocks through the market or companies (that they have a seat on the board) doing stock buybacks. All of the income made from the above are taxed differently as "capital gains tax," which is usually taxed at a much lower rate than income.

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[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 26 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.

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[–] eek2121@lemmy.world 25 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.