Posted on 02/25/2017 4:52:28 PM PST by TaxPayer2000
When Christina Knaack received a $5,600 tax refund, she didn't head to the mall or book a trip to the Caribbean. The South Carolina-based single mom of two kids used it to pay her rent … for the entire year.
"Instead of buying my kids the latest Jordans or fancy electronics I paid my rent for the YEAR," Knaack writes on Facebook. "I'm a single mom and I do it all by myself on a minimum wage job. I know that a roof over my kids head is what's important."
Since Knaack uploaded the picture of her rent receipt on Feb. 22, the post has gone viral and racked up more than 320,000 Facebook "reactions."
"You see too many posts now saying, 'Oh I got my kid the latest Jordans.' Or, "Look, my 7-year-old has an iPhone 7,'" Knaack says on FOX Carolina. "People lose sight of what's important."
Now that Knaack's rent is covered, "I don't have to worry about my kids saying, 'Mommy, I need this,' and I can't get it because I'm still trying to debate if I can pay my light bill or if I can pay my rent," she tells FOX.
Plus, she now has an extra $450 a month (the cost of her rent), which she plans to spend on fun activities with her kids.
If you're one of the millions expecting a tax refund this year, consider using it to improve your financial situation, whether that means chipping away at your rent or mortgage like Knaack, funding your retirement accounts or investing in your career.
Better to have a tax credit than welfare. Much cheaper on the taxpayers in the end.
“How does a single mom with a minimum wage job and two dependents get a $5,600.00 tax return.”
2 times $1000 Additional Child Tax Credit.
Earned income tax credit up to $5572 with two kids.
That is $7572 right there....
Ahhh... That is The Question.....
“I do get paid to prepare tax returns, and it isn’t obvious to me how she got so much”
You get paid to do tax returns, and you haven’t seen much larger tax refunds for low income folks with kids?
Where in the heck do you work?
BTW, I cited the wrong number in my previous post. With 2 kids, max EITC is $5,616, $6,318 for 3 kids. So EITC and ACTC could hit $9318...
What kind of dunce pre-pays their rent giving their landlord an interest free loan
“Much cheaper on the taxpayers in the end.”
One thing that has happened is that the “earned” part of the earned tax credit has about become meaningless. There is probably fraud enough in both systems.
I’d like to see a true analysis of the ETC and see just how much it really costs. I have seen people tell a judge that they will have enough money to (do whatever from paying fines, restitution or hiring an attorney) as soon as their income tax return comes in. Then the judge asks them about their employment, and they don’t have any and have not worked in several years. The judge then asks how they get a refund, and they don’t know . . . just that the HR Block man helped them and they are entitled to a refund.
Gee.
As part of my law practice I get to see a lot of tax returns. Typical of the really low end of the income spectrum was a family of four in FL with $23K in AGI that was getting an $11k refund, after having had only $600 withheld. This is accomplished by child tax credits, etc. The end of welfare as we knew it merely marked the beginning of another form of welfare.
Believe me, there are a lot of them.
You can get a house for 5k in Detroit. Not in a safe neighborhood though. Jobs that pay more than 50k a year are rare.
I’m doing all right, Rogers — not seeing too many low income clients though. :)
I am amazed at all the ignorant replies to this thread. This has been going on for years. These single moms with multiple kids feed off this "refund".
Wake up call: It ain't a refund. It's a money grab. The single moms pay ZERO in Federal and State income taxes, and, in return, receive thousands of dollars in credits for being non-contributing, irresponsible citizens in our country.
One of the many reasons our deficits have doubled in the last 8 years to a whopping $20 Trillion.
It's a joke...
...on us.
A $5600 tax refund on a minimum wage job? That’s outrageous.
In many places in CA, that would cover 1 or 2 months rent.
(The Earned Income Tax Credit was instituted by POTUS R Regan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No, it was not.
First proposed by Nixon, signed into law by Ford.
It was an EITC CHECK
EITC was Nixon
It isn’t a Tax Refund, meaning she didn’t have that much deducted and get it back.
It’s EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit), a Taxpayer funded gift for having Kids and not making much money.
She paid no Income Taxes, as in ZERO.
Correct. This has been available since Jimmy Carter to wage earners who have dependents and file “head of household”. It’s basically just welfare.
A single mother can get back at least a third - maybe half - of her entire salary for the year.
I thought it was Carter, he said Reagan, you say Nixon and Wikipedia says Ford. sigh
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