America’s wealthy enjoy an average of $30 billion a year in help from the U.S. government, according to a study produced for Republican U.S. Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.

 

Individuals earning more than $1 million annually have been taking advantage of numerous federal subsidies, as well as tax breaks, according to Coburn’s report. The financial assistance ranges from unemployment payments ($15 million a year) to farm subsidies ($45 million a year) to Social Security checks ($1.5 billion a year).

 

Bigger than the government payments are tax breaks claimed by millionaires. According to the report, millionaires saved $5.2 billion annually by being able to write off gambling losses (other than stock market investments), $16 billion a year on rental expense deductions and even $6 million annually by claiming the childcare tax credit.

 

Rock star Jon Bon Jovi benefited from breaks just because he raised honeybees on his property. Billionaires David Rockefeller and Ted Turner received farm payments, while former NBA star Scottie Pippen got $210,520 in agriculture subsidies. Bruce Springsteen received farm subsidies because he leases property to organic farmers.

 

“The country is sucking wind right now,” Coburn told the Daily Beast. “We end up subsidizing the very wealthy and not helping the ones who really need the help.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Welfare for Millionaires (by Daniel Stone and Laura Colarusso, Daily Beast)

Subsidies of the Rich and Famous (Office of Senator Tom Coburn) (pdf)