Income taxes! I hate them!

[kenshirley]

Well we do have to pay them.
I just filed mine via Turbo Tax and efile.
Once again I owed the Feds almost $400 and got $552 back from the state.
I owed the feds more and got less back from the state this year than last year.
I also put more into withholding for both the state and federal systems this year and had some $4k less int taxable income.
Making less money and paying more is not my idea of fun.
I sure could use a tax stimulus~any kind of reduction would be nice.

[AngelinaCatHub]

You ain't seen nuthin yet. Wait till they put out a trillion pieces of worthless paper into our economy.

Change that's it, CHANGE. So what do we have? Every cabinet officer is same old same old, then two are tax cheats, one being now the head of IRS.

When will people wise up? We are having change all right. 'Hub

P.S. fair tax!!
P.S. two, "there ain't no free lunch."

[justbroke]

Personally, I wouldn't mind a consumption-based tax, but this goes against the "redistribute the wealth" concept.

Funny how when you earn a decent living and in the upper tiers of income earners, that you want tax cuts. When you were just out of college and the working poor, you wanted tax cuts.

Strange... everyone wants tax cuts. Yet, you can't cut everyone's taxes, as you need that revenue to actually run the place.

I'll leave you with this... and this was actually at the bottom of a memo I sent to the U.S. Trustee.

Our democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those that are willing to work and give to those who would not.

Thomas Jefferson

(Please don't read too much into my liking that quote. It sums up several of my friends. )

[fltoo]

Hub, I saw a few things Huckabee said in an internet article. Don't know what the premise was, but he said...........

1. Terms of 12 years only for Congress. Yes.
2. Eliminate the IRS. Yes, yes.
3. Bring on the "fair tax" Yes, yes, yes.

[fltoo]

JB, that quote is so politically incorrect these days, poor Jefferson would have been thrown out of office.

Probably Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you" quote would have caused him issue also.

I have heard people say, "where's my bailout" so many times, I wonder if this country will ever recover.

[justbroke]

Hub, I saw a few things Huckabee said in an internet article. Don't know what the premise was, but he said...........

1. Terms of 12 years only for Congress. Yes.
2. Eliminate the IRS. Yes, yes.
3. Bring on the "fair tax" Yes, yes, yes.

Add one more yes for me.

However, I'm ambivalent about eliminating the IRS. The department of the Treasury costs only $12.1billion to operate (in 2008 budget). This is the same exact budget as the department of transportation (if that is an indicator).

The real money is spent on entitlement programs, to the tune of $1.547trillion (yes, that' trillion with a T). I'm not saying get rid of entitlements ($324billion for unemployment, for example), but the administration of these programs is in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

If I could just see value for dollar spent... closer to 90% than what it is today (60%), then I wouldn't care about the numbers, because we'd have a really great country with great infrastructure, roads, hospitals, medical care, unemployment benefits, disability benefits, etc.

By the way... Where's my bailout.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Personally, I wouldn't mind a consumption-based tax, but this goes against the "redistribute the wealth" concept.

Funny how when you earn a decent living and in the upper tiers of income earners, that you want tax cuts. When you were just out of college and the working poor, you wanted tax cuts.

Strange... everyone wants tax cuts. Yet, you can't cut everyone's taxes, as you need that revenue to actually run the place.

I'll leave you with this... and this was actually at the bottom of a memo I sent to the U.S. Trustee.

(Please don't read too much into my liking that quote. It sums up several of my friends. )

[justbroke]

JB, that quote is so politically incorrect these days, poor Jefferson would have been thrown out of office.

Aha, and why I wrote my disclaimer.

Jefferson wasn't talking about the unemployed. He was talking about the pure lazy folks! Anyone will tell you that there is a certain percentage of the workforce, that just doesn't want to work. They work only enough to qualify for unemployment, then get themselves fired or otherwise quit... in such a way that they qualify for benefits.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Fl, Jb, I have to say that this is very true and unfortunatly, we all may live to see it happen:

Our democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those that are willing to work and give to those who would not.

Thomas Jefferson

[fltoo]

I know exactly whom Jefferson was talking about.

I don't know if scamming unemployment is that much an issue, but scamming welfare is huge.

I never minded paying income taxes and some of my family members are in the 50% tax bracket and they honestly never complain because the alternative?...... Not making good money. They also give steadily to charities.

I have issue with making "welfare" a part of the income tax structure. Child tax credits, earned income credit, etc. Consumption tax would eliminate all this nonsense.

I have nothing against these people getting benefits, BUT get it out of the income tax structure.

England is the best place for welfare, (they call it the council) and has outrageous taxes. I have a friend in London who has two daughters. They have two kids each and will not get married to the children's father because they will lose their checks. They also get a "free" house as does the mother. It becomes generational and does not promote striving for success.

I really do believe that people making a low salary should NOT pay income tax, and that it is the money makers that should support the economy. But, give these people some hope.......education, job fairs, and support them until they can get back on their feet.
The sludge will fall to the bottom and to them I say, "let them eat cake."

I know it its a tall order and we have been trying for years. I just wish we would get some common sense politicians in office.

[justbroke]

I know it its a tall order and we have been trying for years. I just wish we would get some common sense politicians in office.

I think we just voted for that (the collective we)... yet the same people are still holding the key jobs. Matter of facts... that do nothing congress with a lower approval than the last president by a wide margin... ended up getting great positions in the changed executive branch. Okay, enough about my ranting.

As far as the tax system, I agree that government should be able to intervene when you truly need help. I have absolutely no quarrels or concerns about social security, unemployment benefits, medical benefits or even other entitlement programs including temporary aid to families.

I just don't know what will work. I don't know if the flat tax, Fair Tax, or even the consumption tax will work. I haven't seen any of those systems "work" in other countries.

I just think that we, America, can do better. We set the standard, we should deliver as well.

[kenshirley]

Funny how my post got so political.
Such is life today.

[justbroke]

Funny how my post got so political.
Such is life today.

Isn't it though!