I wouldn't mind paying more if it was because I took home a whole lot more. As is and has been I've been getting only tiny pay increases and spending more for health insurance and other things.
I thought I might owe extra money this year. I lucked out. I can still itemize and get extra deductions. I'm not making enough money to get fucked over good like some people.
@Clubber: Since the President and Congress have a vested interest in leaving the IRS alone, what chance do you think those bills will have of actually passing and becoming law?
They lose their political power if they can't take our money and give it to their friends. They aren't going to take any action that would "reign in" that practice. They might act like it, and they might actually enact something, but it won't have any real effect on the underlying problem.
Everybody hates to pay taxes, but everybody loves to get the services. Roads, bridges, homeland security, military, medicare, social security, education, science. We want to reduce or eliminate the cost of services we don't receive or don't agree with. Other people want to reduce the services we like.
Big government is here to stay, unfortunately. Politicians only fight over who will pay the taxes and who will receive the benefits. The rich own the politicians, and the politicians care about power, not principles. We are in the last days of the Roman Republic.
“… Everybody hates to pay taxes, but everybody loves to get the services. …”
I think most people would be less anal about taxes if they saw a good bang for the buck – but government is at best a monopoly and monopolies are often inefficient; corrupt; and offer very poor service.
The government already takes in about 3 f’ing trillion dollars per year and for many the solution to current issues is to take even more $$$ - give me a break.
t-dice- So you had to write the government a big check upon sending in your tax return ? Congratulations, and quit bitching. That means that you had a good cash flow in 2014, and thus an effective interest free loan from Uncle Sam. Those who get a refund after filing taxes effectively gave Uncle Sam an interest free loan in 2014.
So the ideal is to manage your W4 deductions in such a way that you owe govt. the maximum ammount without incurring a penalty. That can be tricky, so just owing them a few hundred $ can be a good thing. Just imagine plowing that few hundred into the next Microsoft or Google just prior to a big runup in price.
Thanks to all of you who financed my nearly $9000 refund! It happened because of my retirement last year and a series of deductions that basically wiped out our income. Won't happen again as we are refinancing our mortgage with a much lower interest rate and principal.
gmd,
The real problem is the tax code itself. Simple to fix, but won't happen. A federal sales tax, PERIOD.
And think of all the cash income (sorry dancers and other under the table earners) that would then be taxed. BILLIONS!
A national sales tax added onto every purchase (except food and medicine) puts the tax in front of your face every day. There would an anti-taxation revolt within week. People have bought into the lie of take home pay and "tax refunds" being extra money you are just given. They forget this is your money that you are forcing the government to give back because they Stole to much!
If you pay any taxes at all (and are not one of the 40% to 50% that pays in nothing) do an honest addition of all the taxes you pay:
Federal income tax = 25% (a round number)
FICA (social security tax) = 6.2%
State income tax = 5% (average number)
State Sales tax = 8%
Gasoline taxes = 5%
Personal property tax = 1% (cars,boat,etc Depends on car and boat value)
Property tax = 2.5% (depends on city and state of residence and house or apartment value)
Misc Taxes = 1% (phone, internet, electricity, cable tv, etc.)
_______________
Total (conservatively) 53.7% of your income goes to the government
Please note that you likely pay more if you live in a larger city and even if you do not own a home you pay property taxes because you landlord adds them into your rent. In actuality most taxpayers pay close to 60% of their income in taxes every year.
The uber wealthy don't pay taxes because they have political whores like Reid, Lugar, Bloomberg, Obama, Bill + Hillary and Pelosi who are willing to give the ultra-rich special breaks for a piece of the action. A national sales tax would make paying taxes for all unavoidable. The very rich do not drive Yugo's, live in a tenement and fly economy. They drive Bugati Verons, live in mansions and take private jets. You also get all the people that are in the underground economy (drug dealers etc that pay no income taxes) because they also buy things. The sales tax would also encourage saving because you would not be taxed on the money you save like you currently are punished for saving anything.
I have also found through bitter experience that those who pay nothing for something do not appreciate what they get. They do not care if taxes put you out of business because they don't pay anything anyway.
Deadline day for personal tax returns in Canada is April 30. I will be sending a wicked huge cheque to CRA (Canada's IRS) this year. I have been doing estate planning the last two years and that has meant crystallizing capital gains as I transfer my personal financial assets into trusts for my heirs. This year's personal tax payment will be the largest personal cheque that I will ever have signed in my entire life. I hope my heart can stand the pain when I affix my signature.
My company, on the other hand, will pay $0 in tax this year. In fact, my company has tax loss carry forwards that will take years to use.
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