Gee, I can't wait to pay my taxes

temeteus82

I think that tax's in th US are going up. Since the US public debt is 8,713,972,160,077.30$ date: 02/12/2007.
Source

Pompey

[COLOR=black]Several countries such as Canada have debts that are larger when measured as a percentage of GDP.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]I personally think that eventually countries will end up having to write off Americas debt. I dont think "im going to be responsible and raise taxes/cut spending to pay debt" will appeal to many voters.[/COLOR]

Rather than imposing taxes to fund specific things, the govt here takes a couple of big bites and then distributes it where it sees fit.

DudeBoyz

In the US, you get nickle and dimed to death.

In fact, they even have a "Death Tax" here. That is where a person has paid all their taxes on the money they earned and it is sitting in the bank. Then they die and whomever in their ends up with that money has to pay an ADDITIONAL income tax on it, even though it was already taxes to begin with.

The US does hide many taxes by calling them "Fees". But these "Fees" are unavoidable - they are not optional. People can argue over the technicalities of the naming, but the bottom line is - the government is taking your money, and that's a tax. And in the US they get you coming and going. It can be stifling. If they start putting a separate "Tax" on internet use and internet purchases, it's only going to get worse.

Some states want you to pay taxes on items you buy in other states even. If you are on vacation in Oregon, for example, and you purchase a digital camera, California wants you to pay sales tax on it because they say that since your residence is there, you should have purchased it there in the state. Just because you "chose" not to, doesn't mean you can avoid the tax.

If you purchase power from another state, say Texas, and the power lines go through Arizona, then California then up to Oregon, California wants to impose a "transmission and usage fee" because of the environmental impact caused by the transmission of that power over their soil and the depreciation of the hardware as a result of that transmission.

It's almost unreal.

Yousaif

IIRC, our "Tax Freedom Date" this year is April 26, 2007. What that means is that ALL of our wages that we earn from January 1, through that date are effectively going to pay taxes. Everything after that date is ours to keep.

temeteus82

Well China has huge share of the bonds that America has released so they might file US federal government to bankruptcy .... That would be interesting to see what will happen ... Remember China has nukes to

Maddogg6

Im sure this is true everywhere we would call civilized.

Actually - most people have been getting away with NOT paying sales tax to out of state vendors if that vendor does not have a presence in the state they ship to - but thats not legal, and govy been turning a blind eye to (mostly because the logistics have made it difficult on vendors as well as enforcement.)

This is how it works:
If I order something on line of via phone/catalog - and the oregon vendor did not collect taxes - but would have otherwise if you were in their state. The vendor in the state of Oregon is supposed to collect the California sales tax and report it to EVERY California county. Here it would be every CITY.
So it has not been enforced and why theres been talks of an internet sales tax. Last I knew was rejected, and most likely will, until the states change the way they collect tax - and many states do it differently. OR they make it so vendors wont need to collect their own states sales tax - but only the internet tax - and is my understanding the arguments against internet sales tax by the states. Because then, they would close their stores turn them into warehouses and sell everything 'online' and pay the more simple 1 fed tax for everything, instead of the current over complicated sate tax of current.
Collecting interstate sales taxes is a huge pain for most business owners - and they also lobby DC too, so while they demand simplicity, the states demand control over how much THEY can charge. Its a pissing contest thats been going on for a LONG time in the case of phone/catalog order, which is what internet sales falls under.
So, Im not too worried about paying an additional tax on internet sales - Ill just call their 800 # and call it over the phone instead. Worst case is we pay our states sales tax on everything. No biggy to me. Its what we would do if/have been doing when the internet didnt exist.

yeah - and a pipe ruptured here a couple of years ago - we live with the mess made as its never completely cleaned up. So there are other more 'unfair' examples IMO

While I understand your frustration - theres the old saying- 'the grass is greener on the other side of the fence'. And well, you ARE free to emigrate to the other side of the fence.

You can also voice your complaints to your reps and tell everyone you know to do so also. Passive America is why its this way. Its impossible to have a civilized society without taxes - so take some of the blame - pick up a pen and complain to the people who can make a difference.

DudeBoyz

I do not mind taxes in general - honestly I don't. A few seem somewhat unjust and excessive, but all things considered, the core of the tax system is quite functional.

I do not criticize the country in a hateful way. I may not have chosen my birthplace, but I'm certainly grateful that I was born here.

I vote, I participate, I write letters. I contact my representitives and give input. I do what is reasonable within the system. I'm not an anarchist or anything. I'm simply a loyal citizen with some differences of opinion every now and then.

On balance, I'm darn happy to be here.

Yousaif

They are still levying a tax on gasoline and telephone services in the US that was enacted to pay for the expense of the Spanish American War (1898). What do you want to bet we have paid for that war many times over?

Tax reform is the way to go. Perhaps a national sales tax, sort of like the VAT in the EU. Not only would that remove $251 Billion from the budget for the IRS and tax enforcement, but it would make it so that everyone in the country paid, not just the people that work legally with Social Security numbers and green cards.

DudeBoyz

I think they dropped that.

Did the taxes and got a credit for it, said it was eliminated during the 2006 year and got a refund.

Nice...

Edit - found a link about it:

Telecom tax imposed in 1898 finally ends | CNET News.com

Maddogg6

I dis-agree- accountability is a better way - I DO think our tax system is NOT flawed - just those put in control of it are.

Zelig

Are you serious? I don't claim to know much about the IRS or the US tax system, but that amount seems excessive... either way, I'm interested now, if you can link some sources, that would be great.

Maddogg6

I took his # as an exaggeration... but according to this its ~$6.4B - too much still IMO considering they ALSO collect late fees/penalties too.

Bigger IRS Enforcement Budget Sought (washingtonpost.com)

DudeBoyz

I got my refund already. Cool!

Pompey

[COLOR=black]Some relevant (though dated) charts:[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][COLOR=#800080]http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/18/23/35471773.pdf[/COLOR][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black] [/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]Tax as a percentage of GDP for those countries with members who have posted.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]US: 25.4%[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]Switzerland: 29.4%[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]NZ:35.4%[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]Finland: 44.3%[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black] [/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]And just so we can mock them and their social equality,[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]Sweeden:50.7%[/COLOR]

temeteus82

Well we aren't so far from Sweden. Since our systems are very similar... Since elections are coming every political party is saying they lower taxes. And they've done so but the people who's income is lover than 2000€ haven't got any real benefit from it. Only those who has much higher incomes... And I bet they are going to make rich man ricer and poor man poorer ...

Pompey

[COLOR=black]We had that here during the last elections.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]Employment hit record lows, the economy was booming and it meant that the government was running enormous operating surplus's (AS a percentage of GDP, our surplus was second only to Norway which gets its wealth from fossil fuels). [/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]The opposition focused it campaign on tax cuts (its advertising was appalling by nz standards, its ad is on youtube). They pledged to have 85% of the country paying a tax rate of 19.5% (I dont know how) among other things. Thankfully they lost.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black] [/COLOR]

Yousaif

Whoops I thought that the 9/10 of a cent per gallon of gas was for that too. I actually researched it and found I was wrong.

DudeBoyz

I can totally understand how that could happen. The tax code is so complex it's hard to keep track of what is going on.

What I do know is they take a lot of my money, but I do hope they at least put it to good use.

Speaking of putting money to good use, there is a slice of Pizza just waiting for me to buy it and chomp it down with a swig of Pepsi...

Maddogg6

Yeah - they don't even show that on gas station signs anymore - I remember as as kid - I thought using that was deceptive at some level; I mean - '9/10 of a penny' - talk about accounting nightmares - but I also wonder if THAT was intentional too. ??
"With confusion comes opportunity" - anyone in law enforcement and the military will say that.

Yousaif

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. The figure of $251 Billion comes from the money it costs to run the IRS added to the amount of money that corporations and individuals pay out every year for tax preparation, tax accountants, and tax lawyers every year PLUS the wage effect of payroll taxes.

For example: FairTax.org - Frequently Asked Questions

A person that makes $40,000 per year under the current tax system, pays $2,810 in income taxes and $3,060 in payroll taxes for a total of $5,870 in taxes (14.7 percent). In addition, their employer pays another $3,060 in payroll taxes. Most economists agree that the employer payroll tax is actually borne by employees in the form of lower wages.

Actually, looking at some updated figures, it looks like the number is higher than the original I found.

From FairTax.org - Frequently Asked Questions Answers


Bah sorry, horrible post, but you hopefully get the gist. I just woke up.