Discussion
The new Trump accounts seem like "baby bonds" but it's more like another tax-shelter IRA.
If you know someone or are someone who had a kid in the "window" you should claim the account. It's real money and your kid can use it later.
It's also basically an IRA, a way to avoid taxes from parent/employer contributions to a child. This child could be as old as 18. Big tax loophole right there for middle and upper income families!
@futurebird huh I didn't realize it was an annual $5k tax shelter per child. I just saw them touting the $1k for kids born between 2025 and 2028. So instead of putting away money for your kids in the bank, you invest it here and reduce your highest bracket taxable income by 5 or 10k...
@andrew @futurebird I would never put a red cent in these accounts because there's absolutely no guarantee you'll ever see it again. Nothing on the IRS website or the White House website about these accounts mention any kind of financial safety net applied to these accounts. So these are risky investments fueled by tax breaks in a highly volatile stock market in which the main over-valued actors are explicitly mentioned in the program?
It looks like yet another scam. The free $5,000? Take them. Beyond that? You're on your own.
@hypolite @futurebird as I understand it, these accounts are managed by the same investment banks as your 401k, IRA, etc. And as with most of these accounts, I imagine you could keep the money in the account as cash or invested in bonds, if you really trusted the valuation of USD over the market.
To claim it there is a form you need to fill out on IRS.gov
If you already pay taxes normally I don't see any reason to NOT do this, and heck if you run a non-profit that has contact with a lot of low income families why not walk them all through the paperwork. They are kind of counting on not too many of the wrong people claiming this.
But the real cost of this program to the government will be in future tax avoidance.
The 1k child payout is the only progressive part of this mostly taxcut of a policy. I feel it should all be claimed.
There isn't a simple paper form option through the IRS? What about the Amish?
@futurebird "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law." - US Constitution
So, you know, if you want to participate in an illegal fraud scheme designed to move money out of the Treasury and into investments as directed by a treasonous felon, which are sure to be found contrary to US law and which will undoubtedly harm both the economy and the Federal budget, yeah, go ahead.
It's also another sad attempt to help "the market" everyone must have a stake.
That's why it's not bonds.
They aren't going to reverse this. They probably should, but they won't.
@futurebird The next administratiopn very well might.
And it doesn't change the fact that it's against the law now, and that its true purpose is to fund investments into various companies that have paid the felon in chief for such consideration.
Is it big enough to have a real impact on problems of that size?
@futurebird Look at the stumulus checks. A few thousand dollars to every eligible citizen cost us BILLIONS of dollars, and drove up both inflation and the deficit. This is no different, except that it's also illegal as it wasn't approved by Congress.
@hypolite I'm not saying it's not a fraud that is better than, say, the military budget. But it's still an illegal fraud.
@futurebird apparently you have to put a load of personal info into a Trump mobile app and a lot of my US friends with kids are understandably very loath to do that
You don't need to use the app, I think you can go through the IRS. He still put his name all over it, but the IRS has a form. I think the app may be an extra gimmick although I need to look into this.
Yup the app is a gimmick. They can't require people own a smart phone to use a universal government program. The IRS form is sufficient.
The app may do all kinds of other things and collect extra data and may turn into some kind of other app in the future that does god knows what.
@futurebird that’s great to know. Thank you! I will pass this on to my friends.
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@futurebird These look like Cory Booker accounts as he has been pushing for a baby investment fund with government seed for years