Posted on 11/10/2013 12:53:21 PM PST by Olog-hai
James Brady, the formerly homeless man who earned national praise for turning in $850 he found on the street in Hackensack, learned the hard way this week that no good deed goes unpunished.
Brady was denied General Assistance and Medicaid benefits by the Hackensack Human Services Department through Dec. 31 because he failed to report new income he received. The income, according to the agency, was the cash he found on Main Street last spring and that police returned to him in October after no one claimed it.
The good deed turned Brady, who was homeless at the time he found the money, into a minor celebrity. He was featured in news reports across the country and honored by the Hackensack City Council. Now, he said, he’s being treated like a crook.
“This is stupid,” Brady said. “I had already proven my honesty by turning in the $850. They were treating me like I was a dishonest individual, like I was trying to cheat them out of the money.” …
(Excerpt) Read more at northjersey.com ...
Why do so many FReepers think this guy should be allowed to receive welfare without reporting his income and assets? Should everybody be exempt from such reports, or just the nice people?
Whether this action was justified or not, depends on the wording of the entitlement legislation, administrative rules of the state and county involved, and the definition oft the type of income the cash is (usually IRS and Federal court).
I hope he gets his benefits restored. If I read correctly, the benefits were cancelled from Oct. through Dec. 31st, so maybe that means he will again be eligible in January, provided he makes it through the next month. I’m happy to hear people are gathering money for him. This man was an accomplished professional before 9/11, but suffered severe depression when he realized that he just missed going to a business meeting near one of those towers. I don’t know how I would handle that, I cannot judge him on that.
Address: Anywhere Occupation: Good Samaritan/Money Finder
Skills/brief job description: I find money and give it to the police, if they take pity on me, they give it back after a month.
Income: $835 in the past 2 years
Assets: $811.33; I bought some chicken sandwiches
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Oh, hmmm says here you didn't previously report your occupation as a Good Samaritan.........
Address: Anywhere
Occupation: Good Samaritan/Money Finder
Skills/brief job description: I find money and give it to the police, if they take pity on me, they give it back after a month.
Income: $835 in the past 2 years
Assets: $811.33; I bought some chicken sandwiches
------
Oh, hmmm says here you didn't previously report your occupation as a Good Samaritan.........
What a crock. He wasn’t “punished” at all, let alone for turning in the money. Once he was allowed to keep it, he wasn’t eligible for welfare that month because he had income. By not reporting it he committed fraud, and he isn’t being punished for that.
Not their fault. They were just following orders.........
The lesson the state is essentially giving him and everyone else on welfare, is that it is better to be dishonest.
If you find $800 lying around, shut up, and put it in your pocket. There is in fact a disincentive to honesty created by government (by design).
You have panhandlers bringing in $300/day living on welfare. I’m sure they report their income.
Government is all about perverse incentives to lying, cheating, stealing, and black market work.
Panhandlers cheat, so this guy should be allowed to cheat too? So should I be allowed to collect welfare too, even though I don’t qualify? All of my assets are from honorable endeavors, so I shouldn’t have to report them, as that would be a disincentive to acquiring assets honorably.
If i wuz on foo stamps
welfar, an’ i has a obamaphone
and i finds a thoosan dollahs
wuul i haf to give the stash bakc
too pay fo mau foo stamps, obamaphone
and welfar..?
If I had my way there would be no welfare to cheat.
Charity would be voluntary, handled by private organizations, and if I wanted to give a panhandler a buck it would only be my business and his.
Government “help” herds people into being cheating, thieving liars. That includes not just the welfare and food stamp programs, but the entire income tax system with its earned income credits and all the other deductions. It includes the entire regulatory system.
I don’t believe you should have to report your honorably obtained assets to anyone. I don’t think you should have to justify your income or assets to the government in exchange for a tax deduction. I don’t think there should be any deductions.
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