Ice Cube Weighs in With His Own Stimulus Plan, and Fans Quickly Got on Board

Rapper and actor Ice Cube offered his own idea for the next stimulus relief plan, telling his fans [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Rapper and actor Ice Cube offered his own idea for the next stimulus relief plan, telling his fans that it might be "time to fight against paying taxes." The Ride Along star was responding to a new TIME Magazine report that most of the money in the $2.2 trillion CARES Act signed into law went to wealthy Americans and institutions. The law did include a one-time stimulus check sent directly to Americans, but that only made up a small part of it. Ice Cube's followers embraced his idea.

"They always steal our money. Maybe it's time to fight against paying taxes at all," Ice Cube, born O'Shea Jackson, tweeted Saturday afternoon. The N.W.A. rapper included a link to the TIME report on the CARES Act's impact three months after it passed. According to the magazine, many of the measures lawmakers put in place to make sure the help went to those in need have not been put into effect. While there was oversight on the $500 billion Federal Reserve program, the rest of the $1.7 trillion was not put under the same scrutiny.

One part of the CARES Act that came under the most scrutiny is the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was meant to help small businesses. The law defined a "small business" as a company with up to 500 employees, which led to controversial reports like Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and Shake Shack receiving loans and both returning them. In April, the Los Angeles Lakers received a $4.6 million loan, but returned it. When PPP first launched, the $350 billion fund was used up in two weeks.

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The Treasury Department has refused to release a list of recipients of the program, but independent studies have shown that minority-owned businesses have struggled to receive funding. An Arensmeyer survey found that 63% of Black and Latino small business owners received financing, but three in 10 did not get the amount they asked for.

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Ice Cube has not given further details on his idea of skipping taxes. The IRS has postponed Tax Day 2020 already due to the coronavirus pandemic, but they are due on July 15. Taxpayers will have to pay their 2019 taxes or 2020 estimated taxes originally due in April by then. You can file for an extension using forms available at IRS.gov.

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There has been talk of another coronavirus stimulus package passing in Washington, although the window is closing. House Democrats passed the HEROES Act, which includes a second stimulus check, but that is not likely to pass the Senate. The Senate has a two-week July 4 recess coming up, then starts an August recess on Aug. 8. Sen. John Thune said earlier this month that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was looking at a "July time frame" to consider the next bill.

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