I don’t have tattoos or piercings and I have to pay full cost on my property taxes, while seniors in some states don’t, which is more than 50 cents difference!
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PBS Pledge Week: it's baaaack!
- Thread starter joebtsflk1
- Start date
If you're like most people, you're getting older every day. It won't be long before you will qualify for those deductions.
Hey! Don't lump me and my cohort into that category. I'm in my mid-to-late 60s and doo-wop says absolutely nothing to me; Lawrence Welk was what my grandparents watched (and mine were born in the 1890s); and Led Zeppelin was supplanting the Beatles on the charts when I started listening more closely to Top 40 radio**. We're less Lawrence Welk's confected "family" and more the KY-102* Rock 'n' Roll Army.
(* reference to Kansas City's KYYS)
(** KIOA or WHB)
That is a horribly mistaken analysis of the "state of the senior" at present. You should truly fee shame for having posted it!
Most people retire with little money other than Social Security and/or a company/union pension fund or a government equivalent for the public sector workers. And, like Social Security, those sources are funded from "contributions" made while working... sort of a forced savings account.
Most states do not give property tax discount or reduction for seniors. California , with about 12% of the US population, does not... as one example. And many states tax Social Security income. States with a property tax discount for seniors: South Dakota, Washington, Florida, Alabama, Alaska, South Carolina, Georgia, Hawai, Mississippi, New Hampshire. States with low property tax for everyone: US States with No Property Tax: Check out the complete list here! - NCBlpc
Those senior discounts at movies and restaurants are sales promotions. They are intended to bring in people who are unlikely to go to their theaters or restaurants unless the price is right. Don't confuse price incentives that are intended to attract customers during hours when restaurants are usually empty and when nobody else goes to the movies with "senior benefits".
I know many people who did not earn enough to amass considerable savings because it was hard to make ends meet and reach the next payday on what they made. I also know many who lost their income in the 2008 mega recession and never found another job; they took early Social Security benefits and some get less than $1000 a month today.
And don't blame seniors for the fact that changing birth rates has reduced the income of Social Security while increasing life expectancy has increased the cost of the program. If Social Security had done what state and private retirement plans do and invest the income in stocks, real estate and other revenue-producing sources, they would not be in the state they are in now.
If you look at the incomes of retired people, you would not have such a snarky attitude. The majority live at or just above the poverty level. Look at this list of average retirement incomes by state: What Is the Average Monthly Retirement Income in Every State? | SmartAsset
Could you live in California on just under $35,000 a year? Remember, this is an average. More than half of people have much less. And they still can't afford to go to the movies or Denny's despite the discount.
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And some localities do not give “discounts” on property taxes but instead cap property tax increases so if property taxes increase 25% or more in one year (often because of reassessments along with gentrification) a senior on a low fixed income will not forced to sell their house because they can’t afford the new property taxes. Note these programs are usually means tested and subject to household income limits. The weekly 5% discount on Tuesdays at the local supermarket won’t pay for such a steep tax increase. Now if the supermarket starts giving a 20% discount I’ll be very excited!
And remember that the average supermarket chain has a net profit of 1% or less. So on a $100 dollar purchase, they make an average of a buck.
When I was VP of a supermarket chain in the 70's, I ran the radio stations they had acquired as part of a purchase of the local Holsum Bread franchise. They tried to sell the money losing stations, and couldn't so they hired me to run them. Our 40% profit margin was so amazing to them that they wanted to buy stations in places like Miami and New York!
I did live in California (Bay Area) on under $35k/year for a few years, I ate $1 menu McDonald’s, used coupons and had a bunch of roommates. I wasn’t trying to be snarky, I was just pointing out examples that contradicted what tbolt said about people in my generation “wanting everything for free”. I didn’t mean to suggest that that made the people who get those senior discounts “bad people” or anything like that. If that is how it came off, then sorry about that. Also, Social Security taxation doesn’t always apply to people with modest incomes, according to their website:
Social Security History
“ In 1993, legislation was enacted which had the effect of increasing the tax put in place under the 1983 law. It raised from 50% to 85% the portion of Social Security benefits subject to taxation; but the increased percentage only applied to "higher income" beneficiaries. Beneficiaries of modest incomes might still be subject to the 50% rate, or to no taxation at all, depending on their overall taxable income.”
Understood. Thanks for the clarification!
You’re welcome & thanks for understanding
Taylor Swift & Beyoncé should buy PBS then that way PBS doesn't need to do Pledge drives every month it seems. PBS in the afternoons took off kids programming at 1PM or 2PM to air more for adults also because they have PBS Kids on a subchannel. Proves that government can't run a network since PBS doesn't make a profit other than a little not that much, and I wonder how many local PBS stations are in debt for?
The government doesn't run PBS. PBS doesn't make a profit because it's set up as a non-profit. That's on purpose.
I doubt many stations are in debt. A lot of them are owned by colleges and universities.
True too the confusion about "Government running PBS" is based on local PBS affiliates like KPBS San Diego which is owned by public universities like California State University. Also the non-profit status comes from a time when the local stations were founded they were listed as local educational foundations as the license holders in some places. Yes this is all political rantings that come into play here surrounding Public Media and always placed while looking for segments about PBS Frontline and PBS Newshour that certain parties don't want aired.
It also goes back to the early days of PBS. Anyone remember NPACT (The National Public Affairs Center for Television)? It was intended to be an independent news and public-affairs operation with programs distributed by PBS. It was the home of Robert MacNeil's first news program on public television. It provided coverage the Watergate congressional hearings for distribution to PBS stations. Then, you know, more Watergate and Nixon and Agnew.
'20 Days in Mariupol' wins best documentary Oscar, a first for AP and PBS' 'Frontline'
A harrowing first-person account of the early days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, “20 Days in Mariupol” has won the best documentary Oscar.
apnews.com
Umm here's something better PBS Frontline in association with AP just won an Oscar for Best Documentary for a Frontline Episode.