“Federal tax data shows that millionaires and other high income earners have been collecting tax benefits just like the rest of the world.

For the most recent year available, 2011, the IRS reports that 189 millionaires had received unemployment benefits, accounting for $2.4 million. 49,302 people who had made $100,000 or more in the same year accounted for $532.6 million in unemployment benefits, accounting for 15-percent of all unemployment cases.

‘Unemployment insurance is not an entitlement program so earnings, race, gender, etc. are not factors for eligibility,’ said Ann Dufresne, the Communications Director for the Massachusetts Department of Labor and Workforce Development. ‘Anyone who has lost their job through no fault of their own can apply for unemployment benefits.’”

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