{
  "id": "R42643",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R42643",
  "active": true,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 456423,
      "date": "2016-10-12",
      "retrieved": "2016-10-17T19:16:24.658058",
      "title": "Receipt of Unemployment Insurance by Higher-Income Unemployed Workers (\u201cMillionaires\u201d)",
      "summary": "Under the federal-state Unemployment Insurance (UI) system, there is currently no prohibition on the receipt of UI benefits by high-income unemployed workers. States, which determine many of the eligibility requirements for UI benefits, may not restrict eligibility based on individual or household income.\nRecent Congresses, however, have considered proposals to restrict the payment of unemployment benefits to high-income individuals. These proposals define high income in a variety of ways\u2014often prohibiting UI benefits for \u201cmillionaires.\u201d For instance, in the 112th Congress, the House-passed version of H.R. 3630 (the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act) included a provision that would have imposed an income tax on unemployment benefits for high-income individuals. Based on a scaled approach, the tax would have increased to 100% for a single tax filer with Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of $1 million (or AGI of $2 million for a married couple filing a joint return). The provision, however, was not included in the final version of the legislation that became P.L. 112-96.\nSeveral other bills introduced in the 112th Congress would have restricted unemployment benefit receipt based on income (i.e., they would change the current requirement to provide unemployment benefits to all workers without income restrictions): S. 1944, H.R. 235, and S. 310. A number of bills in the 113th Congress would also have imposed income restrictions for the purposes of UI benefits: S. 18, H.R. 2448, H.R. 3979, H.R. 4415, H.R. 4550, H.R. 4970, S.Amdt. 2714, S. 2097, S. 2148, S. 2149, and S. 2532. As of the date of this report, no bills have been introduced in the 114th Congress to restrict UI receipt based on income.\nTo inform the ongoing policy debate, this report provides information relevant to proposals that would restrict the payment of unemployment benefits to individuals with high incomes. Three primary areas that may be of interest to lawmakers are addressed: (1) the current U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) opinion on means-testing UI benefits; (2) the potential number of people who would be affected by such proposals; and (3) policy considerations such as the potential savings associated with such proposals, particularly in terms of federal expenditures. The latter two issues are discussed because a small percentage of tax filers who receive unemployment benefit income have an AGI of $1 million or more. For example, in tax year 2010, when UI receipt was at a recent peak, approximately 0.02% of tax filers had an AGI of at least $1 million, based on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data. In tax year 2014 (most recent data available), however, there were no tax filers with AGI of $1 million who received UI benefits, according to IRS data.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": true,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R42643",
          "sha1": "607c951af38da17148e5df698193be4a7a28f980",
          "filename": "files/20161012_R42643_607c951af38da17148e5df698193be4a7a28f980.html",
          "images": null
        },
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R42643",
          "sha1": "43a14194aa535c2bcf9f464ea11bc36bcd030585",
          "filename": "files/20161012_R42643_43a14194aa535c2bcf9f464ea11bc36bcd030585.pdf",
          "images": null
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 4888,
          "name": "Unemployment Insurance"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 431854,
      "date": "2014-06-11",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T20:21:07.098450",
      "title": "Receipt of Unemployment Insurance by Higher-Income Unemployed Workers (\u201cMillionaires\u201d)",
      "summary": "Under the federal-state Unemployment Insurance (UI) system, there is currently no prohibition on the receipt of UI benefits by high-income unemployed workers. States, which determine many of the eligibility requirements for UI benefits, may not restrict eligibility based on individual or household income.\nRecent Congresses, however, have considered proposals to restrict the payment of unemployment benefits to high-income individuals. These proposals define high income in a variety of ways\u2014often prohibiting UI benefits for \u201cmillionaires.\u201d For instance, in the 112th Congress, the House-passed version of H.R. 3630 (the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act) included a provision that would have imposed an income tax on unemployment benefits for high-income individuals. Based on a scaled approach, the tax would have increased to 100% for a single tax filer with Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of $1 million (or AGI of $2 million for a married couple filing a joint return). The provision, however, was not included in the final version of the legislation that became P.L. 112-96.\nSeveral other bills introduced in the 112th Congress would have restricted unemployment benefit receipt based on income (i.e., they would change the current requirement to provide unemployment benefits to all workers without income restrictions): S. 1944, H.R. 235, and S. 310. A number of bills in the 113th Congress would also impose income restrictions for the purposes of UI benefits: S. 18, H.R. 2448, H.R. 3979, H.R. 4415, H.R. 4550 S.Amdt. 2714, S. 2097, S. 2148, and S. 2149.\nTo inform the ongoing policy debate, this report provides information relevant to proposals that would restrict the payment of unemployment benefits to individuals with high incomes. Three primary areas that may be of interest to lawmakers are addressed: (1) the current U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) opinion on means-testing UI benefits; (2) the potential number of people who would be affected by such proposals; and (3) policy considerations such as the potential savings associated with such proposals, particularly in terms of federal expenditures. The latter two issues are discussed because a small percentage (approximately 0.02%) of tax filers receiving unemployment benefit income had AGI of $1 million or more in tax years 2010 and 2011 based on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": true,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R42643",
          "sha1": "e26ed041045e004941a3412b5bad83c4a93b2069",
          "filename": "files/20140611_R42643_e26ed041045e004941a3412b5bad83c4a93b2069.html",
          "images": null
        },
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R42643",
          "sha1": "b89751e0676273a16078d3f376455f7112b330ec",
          "filename": "files/20140611_R42643_b89751e0676273a16078d3f376455f7112b330ec.pdf",
          "images": null
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 3938,
          "name": "Unemployment Insurance"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc463474/",
      "id": "R42643_2013Jan23",
      "date": "2013-01-23",
      "retrieved": "2014-12-05T09:57:41",
      "title": "Receipt of Unemployment Insurance by Higher-Income Unemployed Workers (\"Millionaires\")",
      "summary": "This report provides information relevant to proposals that would restrict the payment of unemployment benefits to individuals with high incomes.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20130123_R42643_29630b91d5f51bfec16ef01a98b8496d9ab56935.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20130123_R42643_29630b91d5f51bfec16ef01a98b8496d9ab56935.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Unemployment",
          "name": "Unemployment"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Unemployment insurance",
          "name": "Unemployment insurance"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Income maintenance programs",
          "name": "Income maintenance programs"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc822085/",
      "id": "R42643_2012Aug02",
      "date": "2012-08-02",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "Receipt of Unemployment Insurance by Higher-Income Unemployed Workers (\u201cMillionaires\u201d)",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20120802_R42643_87f5d558c5a1ec831162638d4609e30a6a9b872c.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20120802_R42643_87f5d558c5a1ec831162638d4609e30a6a9b872c.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Domestic Social Policy",
    "Economic Policy"
  ]
}