What are your views on taxes?

bobcat

bobcat

Well-known Member
Location
Northern Calif
*** Please resist the urge to make this political.

Tax season is upon us, and most people dread the experience we all go through reporting and paying them.
I think we can all agree that they are complicated.
They may be necessary for defense, disasters, social programs, etc..., but do you feel they are fair?
Could there be a better way of implementing them (Perhaps a flat tax, or like a sales tax, or less loopholes or tiers)
Could they be a bit simpler to understand?
If you could change the tax system, what would you change.
 

Personally, I don't mind the progressive tax, but some rules just make no sense to me, for instance .....
If I have 24,999 in combined income, then none of my social security is taxable, but if I make $1 more ($25,000 combined income), then 50% of my social security is now taxable.

In addition, if I don't pay any estimated tax payments during the year, but I pay what I owe when it's due, then there is an underestimated tax penalty. However, if I overpay, they don't pay me any interest on the money while they held onto it.

It also bugs me when I pay tax twice on the same money. If I earn interest on an investment, I pay tax on that (Both federal and state). Then if I use that money to go buy a car, I pay tax again on what I used the money for. That seems unfair to me.
 

bobcat said:
Personally, I don't mind the progressive tax, but some rules just make no sense to me, for instance .....
If I have 24,999 in combined income, then none of my social security is taxable, but if I make $1 more ($25,000 combined income), then 50% of my social security is now taxable.

In addition, if I don't pay any estimated tax payments during the year, but I pay what I owe when it's due, then there is an underestimated tax penalty. However, if I overpay, they don't pay me any interest on the money while they held onto it.

It also bugs me when I pay tax twice on the same money. If I earn interest on an investment, I pay tax on that (Both federal and state). Then if I use that money to go buy a car, I pay tax again on what I used the money for. That seems unfair to me.
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I agree with all that - especially the first 2 paragraphs.
The $25,000 threshold in your first paragraph hasn't been raised since 1980, which translates into higher taxes, and/or more people paying taxes now than in the 1980s. It does not seem our legislators are doing anything about this long overlooked unfairness, but it's one of my biggest gripes.
The 2nd paragraph is also well stated and right on.
 
I don’t mind paying my share but I do resent having to pay my taxes a year before they are due.

This year I paid to ‘top up’ my estimated tax for last year and then paid the estimated amount for next year.

I favor a simple flat tax where you list all income, deduct an amount based on family size, for a basic income, and pay a flat percentage on any remaining income.

A federal sales tax, with exemptions on food and other basic items, would be my second choice.

Federal tariffs are actually a subtle form of a federal sales tax.
 
Aunt Bea said:
Federal tariffs are actually a subtle form of a federal sales tax.
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If this were true we wouldn't see tariffs cause fits in the exporting country, much less raising their own tariffs on imports above existing levels in retaliation.

A flat tax is more likely to pinch the lower income groups of working people.

I'd like to see something changed about the way we give taxation preference to "joint filers" so that the benefits go strictly to those supporting minor children. That's why they exist in the first place, but right now "couples" get the benefit whether they are raising kids or not. A divorced parent paying child support gets no tax relief at all, while DINKs are off on vacation spending the largesse of the tax system.
 
You have to wonder about the fairness of tax laws when $billion corps., and $billionaires pay "0" taxes. And let's face it, a lot of tax law was enacted by congressmen to satisfy the big political doners from back home in their districts.

BTW, the first recorded & "convicted" tax cheat was a guy, named Mery, over 4,500 years ago in Egypt.
 
bobcat said:
Personally, I don't mind the progressive tax, but some rules just make no sense to me, for instance .....
If I have 24,999 in combined income, then none of my social security is taxable, but if I make $1 more ($25,000 combined income), then 50% of my social security is now taxable.
Click to expand...
The same goes for the IRMAA Medicare fee some of us pay. If you are just $1 over a certain amount you can be hit by hundreds of dollars more in in your yearly cost of Medicare Part B.

FWIW, that amount of non taxable SS has never been even adjusted for inflation. I’ve seen estimates that in real terms the amount should have been raised to over $50,000 to account for inflation.
 
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dilettante said:
If this were true we wouldn't see tariffs cause fits in the exporting country, much less raising their own tariffs on imports above existing levels in retaliation.

A flat tax is more likely to pinch the lower income groups of working people.

I'd like to see something changed about the way we give taxation preference to "joint filers" so that the benefits go strictly to those supporting minor children. That's why they exist in the first place, but right now "couples" get the benefit whether they are raising kids or not. A divorced parent paying child support gets no tax relief at all, while DINKs are off on vacation spending the largesse of the tax system.
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Well, maybe parents should think twice about divorcing while they still have children to raise. As a DINK senior couple, who didn't have children because we weren't physically able and could NOT afford to adopt and then realized it was for the best, We ARE NOW senior homeowners who never had children in the public school system, I would like to NOT have to pay school taxes anymore. Maybe if I didn't have to pay so much in school taxes I could take a week vacation, which I haven't in years.

Best not to be too judgmental about who does NOT procreate because you never know peoples' personal situations.
 
UpstateGal said:
Well, maybe parents should think twice about divorcing while they still have children to raise. As a DINK senior couple, who didn't have children because we weren't physically able and could NOT afford to adopt and then realized it was for the best, We ARE NOW senior homeowners who never had children in the public school system, I would like to NOT have to pay school taxes anymore. Maybe if I didn't have to pay so much in school taxes I could take a week vacation, which I haven't in years.

Best not to be too judgmental about who does NOT procreate because you never know peoples' personal situations.
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BTW, not all DINK couples are financially well off.
 
Brookswood said:
The same goes for the IRMAA Medicare fee most of us pay. If you are just $1 over a certain amount you can be hit by hundreds of dollars more in in your yearly cost of Medicare Part B.

FWIW, that amount of non taxable SS has never been even adjusted for inflation. I’ve seen estimates that in real terms the amount should have been raised to over $50,000 to account for inflation.
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IRMAA pushed quarterly for one of us past annual for both of us.
 
UpstateGal said:
Well, maybe parents should think twice about divorcing while they still have children to raise. As a DINK senior couple, who didn't have children because we weren't physically able and could NOT afford to adopt and then realized it was for the best, We ARE NOW senior homeowners who never had children in the public school system, I would like to NOT have to pay school taxes anymore. Maybe if I didn't have to pay so much in school taxes I could take a week vacation, which I haven't in years.

Best not to be too judgmental about who does NOT procreate because you never know peoples' personal situations.
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Real estate plus school for our place in Texas were painful. Unfortunately could not enroll the furries in the public school system.
 
bobcat said:
*** Please resist the urge to make this political.

Tax season is upon us, and most people dread the experience we all go through reporting and paying them.
I think we can all agree that they are complicated.
They may be necessary for defense, disasters, social programs, etc..., but do you feel they are fair?
Could there be a better way of implementing them (Perhaps a flat tax, or like a sales tax, or less loopholes or tiers)
Could they be a bit simpler to understand?
If you could change the tax system, what would you change.
Click to expand...
Are you serious? Everything in life can be tied back to politics. You should know this will turn political at some point. :)
 
If I made the tax laws, I think I would make taxes a percentage of net worth, with a capped exclusion for the amount for primary home (such as, exclude the property value of home but capped at no more than 10 million to be excluded from net worth). And ditto for cars, such as, if a couple has 5 cars, only 2 of the cars value could be excluded from net worth.

I'm not sure if it would be a fair system for people who rent, maybe they would get an exclusion of some value.

Also, I'm not sure what percentage of net worth would be fair, and whether it would be on a sliding scale. I think really rich people have access to more profitable investments, so if their money can grow up to say 9% a year, as long as taxes were less than that they could still get more and more rich.
 
I thought I paid my fair share through the year, but every year for the last at least 30 years, I have had to pay in more to the IRS, even though I file quarterly and send in a check according to my estimated tax payments.

I have a very good accounting firm that files my quarterly returns. I am thankful for that. Three years ago, the IRS sent me a letter stating that I underpaid my taxes for the current year because I failed to report an income that I received. After my accountant and I investigated their claim, we wrote and told them they had the wrong guy. The SS number on the letter did not match my number.

The income was $127,000 for the sale of some stock that I never owned. About 5 months later, I received a letter stating it was their mistake and apologized. I was just happy it was over.
 
Taxes are a necessary fact of life, they are needed to allow the
Government to keep things repaired, this is the idea, but it seems
that they are first used to give themselves, salary increases, these
days.

When I was still working, for many years I was taxed at 40%, this
is a large figure, but I didn't mind because at the time I was well
paid.

Today I live off my pension, now I dislike taxes, after getting many
thousands of ££££££, when I could afford it, they are now taking
20% off the pension, this is a smaller number, but taken from a
smaller gross, it is bigger than desired, plus they don't seem to be
looking after us, the way they are supposed to.

Mike.
 
bobcat said:
Could they be a bit simpler to understand?
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^This. I use Turbo Tax thinking it will finally be easier than doing it the old way with forms and a pen, but it doesn't seem easier, and in the interest of simplicity they ask me questions that tell them what to put where on the form, but about a quarter of the questions I would need a tax specialist to answer the questions for me. I just wing it, guess at some. Sometimes I leave a thing blank. Later the IRS may make corrections. Sometimes they decide I needed to pay them more, and the other times, they send me some kind of refund.

But are taxes fair? I don't know. Most people are convinced they are not, and lean that way, but what I think changes nothing.
 
I tried pulling a fast one, by not paying taxes, nor even filing, some years ago. I wasn't living at home, so my lawyer father and his many judge pals were unaware of this. Of course, they caught up with me and sent a young treasury agent to have a word with me about all this.

The upshot of it all was simple. We are entitled to know where every red cent we pay in taxes goes, and I wanted an itemized statement for this. My dad went ballistic to say the very least and the dressing down I received, even made the agent upset. Finally, one a dad's judge friends had a lovely talk with me and I wound up paying off at 3% interest.

Of course, I was audited for years thereafter. Nevertheless, I am still right and it is written in the Constitution.
 
bobcat said:
*** Please resist the urge to make this political.

Tax season is upon us, and most people dread the experience we all go through reporting and paying them.
I think we can all agree that they are complicated.
They may be necessary for defense, disasters, social programs, etc..., but do you feel they are fair?
Could there be a better way of implementing them (Perhaps a flat tax, or like a sales tax, or less loopholes or tiers)
Could they be a bit simpler to understand?
If you could change the tax system, what would you change.
Click to expand...
As much as I hate taxes I think everyone should pay some taxes for the privledge of living in the greatest country on earth. The federal government should spend our tax dollars wisely by restricting expendatures on the three responsibilities assigned to it via the constitution. All else belonge to the state.
 

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