I got my first paycheck today, at least first official taxed paycheck, and egads, about 20% of it is gone! 10% of that is rebatable at the end of the year, but wow, does that take a lot of the joy of making money. It's not as if I'm getting paid a lot, and it's not particularly enjoyable work, and to -- at the end of it all -- only get 4/5 of what I expected is...well, stinky.
Egads, bad taxes! ^_^
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
If you'll get half what is taken out back maybe you should adjust your withholding.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Oh, to only see 20% of my paycheck gone...
Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
Oh, to be making enough that the government would feel justified in taking more than 20% of my paycheck .
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: Oh, to only see 20% of my paycheck gone...
No freakin' kidding.
Posted by Launchywiggin (Member # 9116) on :
The thing about taxes...
Everyone complains about them as if the government is "taking away our money", but the fact is--because we live in America, that percentage of our income is no longer our money--it was never ours. So instead of considering 20% of your paycheck "gone", consider it your rent for living in the U.S. for another year. I'm so tired of hearing people complain about taxes--what they should be complaining about is how they're being spent.
Posted by anti_maven (Member # 9789) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka:
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: Oh, to only see 20% of my paycheck gone...
No freakin' kidding.
I third that
*wipes tear*
Posted by J_84 (Member # 10351) on :
Will people stop complaining about taxes, for crying out loud? The taxes you pay go to the roads you drive on, the public schools you attend, the public libraries where you go to read books, the health care of soldiers who become emotionally or physically disabled because they fight for this country, protective gear for the troops, they allow our federal agencies to be able to effectively gather intel to prevent terrorist attacks, relief from natural disasters, maintenance of parks you visit, departments which ensure that children are brought up in abuse-free homes and ensure that our workplaces are safe for their employees, help for the destitute, financial aid for poorer students etc. Everyone should pay for these things, especially since everyone enjoys the full benefit of them. The only way to ensure that someone is not paying for the benefit of something (for example, national defense applies to everyone in the country), is to levy taxes on everyone. Sometimes I think people want certain services that the government provides, but are unwilling to pay for them. For example, people like going to the park for a picnic with their family and not having it littered with trash, going to the library for a wide selection of books, being able to attend high school and college, etc. Seriously, these things take money.
The only problem I have with taxes is the way they are spent, especially when they are done inefficiently, like when contracts go to companies rebuilding disaster areas and Iraq are not awarded through merit and a fair bidding process and instances when the government panics when a disaster recovery plan is not well thought out, for example, buying millions of dollars worth of food and housing for victims of Katrina that remain unused, when those in Congress insert pork into bills that allocate millions to something completely ridiculous. I'm sure there are others, I just can't think of them right now.
Posted by anti_maven (Member # 9789) on :
quote:Will people stop complaining about taxes, for crying out loud?
Nope. As a tax payer and a voter it's my god-given right to bitch and moan about the government (of whatever colour) and whinge like a two-year old about the money they extract from my pay packet.
Posted by anti_maven (Member # 9789) on :
PS - No taxation without reperesentation wasn't it?
Well I pay my taxes, what about paying a little attention to what I think should be done with the cash...
*climbs down from soapbox *
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Our problem is that we have representatives that don't so much care about what we really want, they care about getting reelected.
And our problem is that citizens are unwilling to punish a lack of progress, we just keep reelected unproductive fools.
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
The day my taxes stop going to grossly inflated government salaries is the day I stop complaining about them.
Posted by Mr. Stryker (Member # 10517) on :
Just for the record, I love being a full time student and a full time employee... At the end of the year, I get everything except my Social Security back... this year i received a tax refund check for almost 3 grand...
Phanto, I'm assuming since this is your first check, that you are still a student. As long as your enrolled in an academic institution as a full time student, assuming you file your taxes correctly, you should get ALL of your federal taxes (minus Social Security), and (in Indiana at least) all of your state and local taxes back. I even get money back when i file my property taxes...
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Government salaries are the least of government's problems, and at most levels they're less than for comparable levels in business (so it is not too surprising that sometimes it is hard to fill such positions with competent people).
Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
<-- Thinks fugu is right.
Continuing with the rest of the thread...Oh, to be making enough that the government feels justified in taking more than 20% of my paycheck. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I'm jumping on the, "Oh that I imade enough to be taxed 20%" bandwagon. Hey that sounds like a good blues song.
My only complaints are that, 1: Salaries to not follow inflation fast enough, especially minimum wage. People get all bent out of shape when they try to increase it by around a dollar and yet plenty of things go up by far more then just one dollar before we increase it.
2: I hate paying into a social security fund that I have no confidence in, and in which I doubt Ill see a dollar because of mismanagement.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
No kidding. I loathe the payroll taxes - they regressive, are never refunded, the funds are mismanaged, and I pay more for Medicare than I do for my own insurance, yet I am not covered and doubt I will be covered by Medicare.
Taxing taxes out automoatically and breaking up into different categories was the biggest trick Congress ever came up with - I think we should write one check a year, and we have to write it personally. See how that affects feelings about policy.
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
kat, I would imagine that large percentage of Americans all seemed to misplace their checkbooks at the same time if a one check per year system were introduced.
Also, I prefer to have the buckets more clearly separated. It helps accounting for the efficacy of the different programs. I'd be more inclined to find ways to stop Congress from sloshing money around between the funds, robbing Peter to pay Paul and all that.
-Bok
Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :
quote:As long as your enrolled in an academic institution as a full time student, assuming you file your taxes correctly, you should get ALL of your federal taxes (minus Social Security)
This is not true. There are several tax benefits involved in education- such as the ability to deduct tuition and related expenses, being able to deduct interest paid on student loans, and a few others. Here's the list of Tax Benefits for Education. Not having to pay taxes is not on the list and is not factually accurate. Why would you think that?
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
Note his use of should, not would. If you are full-time as a student (ie not working, or working a little) you should get your taxes back, unless your part-time work is REALLY lucrative
-Bok
Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :
But he said he was also a full-time employee. My understanding of his statement was that being a full-time student automatically exempts you from taxes. Perhaps I misunderstood him though.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
No, he said that being a full-time student means you should probably get all your taxes back when you get your refund.
Which holds true for us. We have 2 kids, my husband is a full-time student and works full time, we're in a fairly low income bracket; some years we get back more than we actually paid in, I think. o_0
Posted by orlox (Member # 2392) on :
Just set yourself up as a private equity firm and move into the 15% bracket.
Of course, unlike a salary, private equity investors freqently lose money. Furthermore, the average private equity income is only about that of stock market index fund investment, which is open to everyone.
That is, you can earn as much as a typical private equity partner by putting your money in the stock market. You will also pay exactly the same tax rate, as stock market gains are capital gains in the same way private equity is.
Now imagine if, as Reich suggests, private equity profits were taxed at the same rate as personal income. Suddenly it would be far more advantageous for most private equity investors to invest in the stock market instead of directly buying up poorly performing companies and improving their performance. Average corporate performance would drop minorly, and the number of companies entering bankruptcy would significantly increase (as those marginal companies are the sort private equity firms target), creating a large societal cost.
And of course, it wouldn't really be righting even the perceived wrong, because private equity firms, on the whole, aren't making absurd sums of money. They're making typical returns on typical investments, overall.
It is easy to knock people who earn lots of money, but the picture is substantially more complicated.
Posted by Battler03 (Member # 10453) on :
quote:Originally posted by Javert: The day my taxes stop going to grossly inflated government salaries is the day I stop complaining about them.
Grossly inflated?!
I work for the government, as do probably 99% of the people I know. We get pretty good benefits, but the pay is abysmal. Every job I can think of, we'd get more money in the civilian world--some of us, MUCH more.
There are many problems with taxes. Too much of them going to fund too many "social programs;" inefficient collection and auditing systems; an incomprehensible to laypersons tax code; etcetera. However, the image of honest citizens paying for a fat, lazy government employee to drink margaritas on the deck of the QE2 is just silly.
Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
Agreed, grossly inflated is not the phrase I'd use to describe a government paycheck (which, incidentally, is taxable).
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)