Jus' sayin'...

[ceagle]

Finished my income taxes... at last!

Now, I paid about $3,000 for a)current use of the country b)future use of medicare and c)future use of social security. Looking at it that way, it doesn't seem like too much.

If anything, the taxes which seem too high are Property Taxes, Sales Taxes, and some other Excise taxes and such.
I'd prefer if it was about half the current rates. In fact I think Property Taxes are part of the major barriers to home ownership and part of the housing crisis.
And in Sales Tax, I wouldn't mind if it was sorta like Hawaii and Louisiana (4%) ... but floating around 10% seems a bit high for sales tax ... I remember when it *was* around 5% .. :/

Comments

[expandranon.livejournal.com]

Wait 'til the bill comes for 'Obamacare'. I keep hearing the VAT and NST bandied about, so a few years from now, we'll probably be paying those, too. Don't worry, though, they'll probably start out at only 1%, kinda like how a tumor starts with a single cell, and more exactly like how So-So Security started out at 1% (now 15%). Hide yer wallet, birdy! ;)

[gremy.livejournal.com]

Texas has a higher-than-average sales tax (8.75% I believe), but then again, we've no state income tax.

[mortonfox.livejournal.com]

Philadelphia hiked their sales tax to 8% last year. (State tax remains at 6% but the city tax went from 1% to 2%.) They say it's temporary but we'll see.

[atkelar.livejournal.com]

Now if this is a large sum depends somewhat on: a.: is this the annual rate? and b.: how much did you have to begin with.

As a rule of thumb in Austria you have to factor in about 50% of what you make for taxes and social security. If you are employed, you usually don't *see* these sums because the employer has to pay most of them and even then some of it comes from what the employer pays you. Being self employed I see the full amount and it ain't funny... VAT 20%, Income Tax as high as 50% (it's a stacked concept so everything below a certain amount is much lower or even tax free but I don't have those numbers at hand) and social security with a percentage up to a "maximum amount". As far as I remember best would be to make a bit below 70000 EUR a year so that social security is maxed out and income tax is still below 50%. It's a complicated system and the only ones liking it are the accountants...

[orv.livejournal.com]

The way we're doing it now isn't cheap, either. I once added up my total compensation and figured out what my tax rate would be if I counted my health insurance premiums as taxes. It came out to nearly 30%, and my effective income tax rate back then was only 15%. People just don't think of it that way because it doesn't have the "t-word" associated with it.

I'm not sure how I feel about a VAT. It would depend on how it was implemented. Realistically I don't think it's going to fly, though. Politically it's hard to do major changes to the tax system, so it's more likely we'll end up tinkering around the edges. Personally, one item that still sticks in my craw is the special 15% tax rate on capital gains; I think they should be taxed as regular income. I mean, why should someone who makes money by moving money around pay less in taxes than someone who does actual labor for a living?

[orv.livejournal.com]

Washington is the same way. The current state tax rate is 6.5%, but local governments can tack some on too, so it can be as high as 9.5% depending on where you are.

[expandranon.livejournal.com]

I'm reminded of http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/19/AR2009091900112.html which states that a lot of what might have been wage increases over the last 30 years has been 'taxed' away to pay for health benefits.

I can understand the idea of giving people a lower tax rate on capital gains, since that encourages people to put their money to work. There is risk involved in investment, and the reasoning behind a lower capital gains rate is that high earners aren't as likely to take investment risk if they know they're going to lose 50% of their profits.

The down side to a low capital gains tax, as I see it, is that it also encourages speculation. I'd like to see a two-tiered capital gains tax, with one rate for speculative investment, another for entrepreneurial investment. I know that's not really feasible, given the hundreds of thousands of different kinds of investments, but it sounds good in pixels. :P

[orv.livejournal.com]

I think it's split long-term vs. short-term, which probably helps some, but I suspect there are plenty of ways to make speculative investments look like long term investments.

Looking at what happened over the last few years I'm not convinced investment as it's currently carried out by the big players is a net benefit to society. Investing in actual stocks and bonds I can see the social benefits of, but by the time you get to things like CDOs it's so far removed from reality that it's hard to see how it benefits anyone but the investment banks that dream these things up.

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

Except that, for me, by time I am old enough to get to use Medicare and Social Security, it won't be there anymore. That's the only reason I resent paying those particular taxes.

-=TK

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Ours started at 10%

But they did a stupid thing and changed it for certain items, An uncooked chicken gets less GST on it than a BBQ'd one. o.O

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

"Hide yer wallet, birdy" so cracked me up! *hugs* Srsly though, I hope the bill won't be too intimidating.. yipe!

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping they see it as an ongoing project that can be made *better* as they find out what works and what doesn't.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

That almost sounds great, since we have BOTH here, AND the sales tax is even Higher (9.25 %).

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

eeesh! Yeah, isn't it great how history is filled with "temporary" taxes that are still around...? ;P

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

50% ????
That really sounds HUGE.
darned accountants... ;/
I sure hope there's some good benefits out there for all that...

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Wow.. that sucks. Wish it could stick around for ya.. :/

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Why is it governmintz are allowed to git away with those 'stupid things'.. ? grrrr!

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

*peep!*
I don't have any withheld, bcuz I pay my taxes quarterly as a part of my business, so yep... throughout the year :>
The tax form found my main tax debt to be 0, but then you put in the business tax and that was $2,910. I'd only paid in $2,800 so I had to send in $110.

This was significantly better than last year, when I unsuspectingly underpaid about $1,900 .. 8|

It's still weird to fill out the forms, see yer tax debt come up zero, and then have to put in that 3 grand... heh!

I did find out this year though (by reading some more of the fine print) that one doesn't have to send in estimated quarterly checks to the state if you don't expect your obligation to be over $500. I think I owed around $80 or so this year, but I paid in $100, so if it's the same next year I'll just have to send in $20 next April.

*huggeth!*

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

It's not so great in Washington; the sales tax does not provide enough revenue. Washington has had money issues ever since I came here in '97. The way they get things done is through exorbitant gas taxes, but they can only levy those temporarily. Our previous governor actually managed to leave behind a surplus, though-- but the current governor spent more than twice the amount in her first term, so we went from having $5B extra to being $5B in the hole. I would not object to a state income tax, even for a short time, to fix the issues created by our spendthrift government.

-=TK