good for them, but does that $44K income include the direct subsidies they get back from the gubmint in lieu of paying any tax? Plus subsidies and reduced fees for that income and family size?
A tax free income of $44K plus thousands in “earned income” credits and “child credits” plus free lunch, free or sliding scale medical care, etc = equals an income of about $75-80K to the poor working slobs who actually pay taxes and also have to pay full freight for everything else
We carried the entire load ourselves, as we should.
As cameras followed the family through a Chinese all-you-can eat buffet, Annette crammed a takeout Styrofoam container to just short of the breaking point. “We stuff a container full of food, we bring it home and it will feed us for several meals,” she explained.
I am sure the all you can eat is no take out. If not the restaurant will go bust.
I listened to the videos and did not hear anything about them getting subsidies or being tax-free. Where I come from, $44K per year is not tax-free by any means, and it’s WAY over the limit for subsidies, free lunch, free medical care, etc. unless one of the parents is disabled. Maybe if you’re below $20K you can get that stuff, but back when I was a single mom making $30K I did not qualify for anything and I certainly paid taxes.
We have a family of 6—dh, me, and our four children, ranging in ages from 12 down to 3 years old. We have no debt other than our house payment. After taxes and benefits, dh brings home a grand total of $3600 and some change a month. That pays the mortgage, utilities, gas and insurance for our 10 and 13 y.o. cars, life insurance on dh and me, food, clothing, private school tuition for 3 of the kids, plus their lunches and other fees. We also manage to put some into emergency savings and another slush fund we use for the house, pets, cars, and Christmas.
We were doing this before the economy went south, because living below your means is the right thing to do, and debt is dumb (ala Dave Ramsey). Our kids already know this lesson at their young ages...if we don’t have the money, we don’t get it. No one’s starving, going naked, or doing without toys.
So while my kids don’t suck up tax dollars for their schooling (no free or reduced lunches—dh makes ‘too much’), I get to listen to people sneer at my choice of more than 2 kids and living on only one income, even on FR (how many people have told me that you can’t live on one income and you MUST have a credit card to survive!) At the end of the day, my car is mine and not the bank’s, and I know how I’m paying for Christmas.