Comments on: Taxes are gettin' me down

By: The Rant: how Gub’ment scams us on the income tax. « The Sagamore Journal

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:51:28 +0000

[...] dollars that Americans must pay (or file extension on) by Tuesday, less than 10% will go to pay for services one typically expects from government. Income taxes go almost exclusively to putting a dent in [...]

By: Addy

Addy — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:25:19 +0000

I had to PAY the government almost $2000 in taxes this year… and while the hit to my bank account kind of smarts, I’m actually HAPPY about it. Why? Well, as you’re probably aware, you’re not just paying taxes at the end of the year… you pay them out of every paycheck. A refund at the end of the year just means you overpaid and the government has some money they want to give you back. A payment means you underpaid and you have money to give to the government.

Now let’s consider, if you underpaid, you had extra money at your disposal. You (being the smart financial manipulator that you are) probably saved or invested it, meaning you earned something (let’s call it interest, for simplicity’s sake) on it. That’s great! You earned interest on the money you were borrowing from the government, and at tax time you gave the money back (but got to keep the interest). Yay!

Now let’s consider the flip side. The government took too much from you, and they return it at tax time. Did they pay you any interest? No. You just gave the government a free loan. So while it certainly feels nicer to get money at tax time than to pay it, in reality, owing the government money is actually the smarter financial move.

By: Little Miss Moneybags

Little Miss Moneybags — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:10:23 +0000

I had to PAY taxes (again) this year. This is my biggest justification for using the library like my own personal bookshelf. I paid for it!

By: Meg

Meg — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:22:13 +0000

If you filed your own taxes and took the standard deduction for yourself, your parents can’t claim you as a dependent – the IRS won’t give you the deduction AND give it to your parents on your behalf, so when your social security number goes into the system twice, they will automatically credit you and reject your parents’ classification of you.

I learned this in a tax acct class and promptly told my parents I was filing my own taxes that year (I had to; I had income) AND taking my own standard deduction (to lessen my taxes owed), so they might as well not try to use me as a deduction. They weren’t supporting me that year anyway, so I didn’t feel that bad (though I’m sure they needed the deduction more than I did; oh well).

By: Doris

Doris — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:14:56 +0000

I know it’s hard to think of it this way – but just be grateful that you are getting $800!! M and I are only getting a little over $100 back this year, thanks to shenanigans related to filing as married peeps. We still have to finish our taxes…I can’t believe it’s April already!!!

By: Britt

Britt — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:01:25 +0000

Agreed. I lose over $1000 in tax to the government each paycheque. And it makes me want to cry.

By: spillingbuckets

spillingbuckets — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:24:35 +0000

I agree with you… I don’t mind some taxes, but when R got a bonus check that was taxed a TON – almost 50% – it really bothered me. That was our money, and the government took half! I know this isn’t uncommon but it’s hard not to have a negative reaction when you see the numbers.

I can’t even imagine the people who make enough to be “upper middle class” who get taxed this much every time!