The rich get government handouts just like the poor.

When the rich get tax deductions, it increases the amount that the rest of us have to pay for necessary things like schools, roads, health inspections; police, fire, and military protection; installing & maintaining traffic lights,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/09/the-rich-get-government-handouts-just-like-the-poor-here-are-10-of-them/

By Emily Badger and Christopher Ingraham April 9, 2015

In case you are still skeptical that many of the non-poor — and, in fact, a lot of the rich — receive benefits from government, too (for which we don't make them pee in a cup or promise not to buy luxuries), we've rounded up some more examples below.

1. The mortgage interest deduction for big houses and second homes.

Thanks to this tax break, the 5 million households in America making more than $200,000 a year get a lot more housing aid than the 20 million households living on less than $20,000. Deductions for mortgage interest incentivize people already capable of buying big homes to buy even bigger ones. This tax break applies as well to second homes (you only get one second home though!). [If you can't afford to buy a house and have to rent, you don't get this.]

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2. The yacht tax deduction.

If you’ve got a boat and you’re paying interest on it, that interest is tax-deductible – provided your boat is really, really big. If it has sleeping quarters, a kitchen and a toilet – e.g., it is a yacht – then it can be considered a second home and any interest you pay on it is deductible. But if you just have a garden-variety fishing boat or canoe, sorry – no deduction for you.

Beyond that, if you have a yacht you can loan it out to a charter business for part of the year, and keep it for personal use the rest of the time. This allows you to deduct the purchase price, insurance, maintenance and slip fees too.

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3. Rental property.

If you're a landlord, which you probably aren't if you're very low-income, you can deduct many of the expenses you incur renting a home, including repairs, advertising, HOA fees and — again — mortgage interest. If you happen to rent out either your first or second home for 14 days or less — because, for example, Augusta National Golf Club is hosting the Masters nearby — you get to just pocket all that income without paying taxes on it at all.

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4. Fancy business meals.

Talking business over an expensive dinner? That's tax deductible, too, a fact that puts taxpayer spending on food stamps into relief.

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5. The capital gains tax rate.

This is the big one. Taxes on investment dividends and capital gains currently max out at about 24 percent when you add in a Medicare surtax that applies to some investment income. But the top income tax rate is 39.6 percent. So investment income is taxed at a much lower rate than regular income [for which people work]. The annual earnings of many of the ultra-rich come from investments, not from wages. This is why Warren Buffett famously has a lower effective tax rate than his secretary.

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6. The estate tax.

“The Estate Tax is a tax on your right to transfer property at your death,” according to the IRS. Without the estate tax, super-wealthy families would be able to hoard that wealth in perpetuity, becoming ever more powerful in the process. The tax, as it currently exists, only kicks in on estates worth $5.4 million or more, affecting about the top 0.2 percent of households.
[This is a tax on the people inheriting it, getting free money for which they have not worked.]

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8. The Social Security earnings limit.

Social Security taxes only apply to income up to $118,500 – anything after that is Social Security tax-free. So the more money you make, the less your effective Social Security tax rate is, making this tax about as regressive as they come. Technically, of course, Social Security is a savings plan, not a tax. But the rich tend to live longer than the poor and receive benefits longer than lower-wage earners, so an adjustment to the earnings limit would help offset this difference. Social Security’s own actuaries estimate that eliminating this cap would reduce the program’s long-term deficit by about 86 percent.

9. Retirement plans.

The federal government incentivizes retirement by allowing you to reduce your taxable income by saving money in 401(k) plans or IRAs. But employer-sponsored retirement plans only benefit those people with employers that offer them (so, largely not people who work in retail or the fast-food sector). And the benefit for IRAs doesn’t help people who have no money left over for retirement after they pay their living expenses. In total, about 66 percent of these retirement subsidies go to the top 20 percent of taxpayers. Less than 1 percent go to the bottom 20 percent.

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10. Tax prep.

If you have hired an accountant to help you sort through all of these tax breaks to make sure you maximize them — which the wealthy are much more likely to do — you get to write off that expense, too.