Here's how the coronavirus relief stimulus 'checks' to citizens will actually work

Published 4 hours ago on March 26, 2020
By Matthew Rozsa, Salon

The $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, which the Senate passed on Wednesday, will be the largest economic relief measure in American history — and will purportedly provide tangible benefits to virtually every American citizen.

But how so? The idea of the government doling out “free” money to its citizens is anathema to many Americans, who have been trained to believe that they are undeserving of even the most basic social safety nets that are considered normal in most developed countries. Hence, Americans are apt to be curious and/or skeptical about the notion of government checks.

First, here’s how the funds will be allocated. The bill will provide cash payments of $1,200 to taxpayers whose incomes are equal to or less than $75,000 each year. After that, it will gradually phase out the payments for taxpayers whose incomes are between $75,000 and $99,000 each year and eliminate them entirely for taxpayers who earn more than $99,000 each year. Families will also receive an additional $500 for every child in their household.

Here’s how this distribution of funds to individual citizens will actually work. Those with a valid social security number who filed taxes in the past two years will likely get money. The government bases its knowledge of your income on your tax return, although different sources report different things. CNBC reporters say that one’s income is based off most recently-filed tax returns; that means that if you already filed your 2019 tax return, they would base income data on that. If you filed last year (for the 2018 fiscal year), but haven’t filed for 2019 yet, the income data would be based on that. Yet finance reporters at The Motley Fool believe that only 2018 incomes as reported on one’s tax returns will be considered.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/heres-how-the-coronavirus-relief-stimulus-checks-to-citizens-will-actually-work/

So the unworthy have to meet a "MEANS TEST"...........................