Self-Employment tax is not money the government can spend willy-nilly.... at least not legally. The self-employment tax is the employer side contributions to "your' medicare and social security. Basically, with the self-employment tax you are paying your future self. At least, that's how it's supposed to be while we all know that congress has been basically stealing from the SS fund since it's inception. But that's not a subject of discussion proper for this particular forum.
Rental income is passive, as you don't really "do" anything on a continuing basis to actually "earn" that money. All you do is "sit there" and collect it every month.... and unfortunately, walking to the mailbox to collect that rent check doesn't count for earning it - and I'm gonna stop there as there's no need really to repeat what I'm confident you already know. Though I would not get upset at all if congress were to change the laws on that. 🙂
