Recently in Taxes Category

Procrastination is my middle name. Well, actually it's Harrison but that's Latin or Greek for Tomorrow. or Something like that. Anyway, the point is I stayed up late and finished my taxes last night. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, eh?

I probably would have filed an extension first but dammit that rebate will be needed now. I only owe the State of Georgia a little over $200. Heck, that's a little less than I paid them last year. I had to pay them $281 last year. I also made $32,000 more this year. Fucking weird. Too bad that's only about 10% of what I owe the federal government. I feel like someone just stuck a big dildo up my ass with the words Internal Revenue Service written on the side of it. Yeah, that long. $2232. After my $1800 rebate I end up only owing a little over $400, which is right around where I prefer to keep it anyway. Christ, $2200 used to be about 11 weeks pay back when I started with my company. 11 fucking weeks! Hey, I think I just heard a truck drive up there. Didja hear that?

Tax Rebate - Money you earned that the government took forcefully that you should feel good about getting back from them in a case of largess.

I think I want to throw up now. Too bad they won't let me apply the rebate toward my tax payments. That would be cool. But, no. They want me to spend it and help the economy. I'll spend it alright. On the bills that I won't be able to pay when I write them a $2200 check later this afternoon. Bwahaha.

Actually the check may be a few days later. I need to wait until the last day of the month before I send it in. Wonder if they will take a post-dated check...

So things aren't going to be any less stressful around the Miles casa the rest of the month. If I can quit losing so much damned money out of one of my stores perhaps I can recoup some of it before summer vacation gets here.

You know what really sucks about this whole thing? I took an 85% increase in pay, maybe close to 80, but now that I have sent in a new W-4 to take more out of my pay in conjunction with the fact that I have doubled my retirement deductions I will be bringing home the same or less than I was as a store manager. That's fucked up.

Tax Day! Time for your once a year reaming at the hands of an overgrown government bureaucracy. And do you think all of the rhetoric from Shrillary and Obama is for real? Fuck no, they don't care. They say they care but just like George Bush, Ted Kennedy and all the rest of the assholes on both sides of the aisle, they think that it's a drop in the bucket for the sacrifices they make to 'serve' the American public. Now I really want to puke. Fucking assholes.

I worked out again for the fifth day in a row. Although it burned a bit I am starting to have a much easier time of it than I was the first day or two. In a few more days I am going to add the elliptical or treadmill to it as well, at least for 20 minutes or so.

I also checked out the tanning bed as well. That was just weird. I've never used a tanning bed and for the most part have considered it pretty stupid. If you want a tan go hang in the sun. I tan very easily but the problem is that I get the one-armed tan from driving so much, or the farmer's tan when I am working in the yard. It's not as if I am going to cut the yard in my speedos, although I wouldn't mind checking out some of my neighbors cutting grass in their lingerie. SOME of them, mind you. The others just need to keep their pants on. Anyhow, I lay in the tanning bed for seven minutes. The dude didn't want me to stay in any longer since I had never used one. I felt like I was getting in an oven and except for the loud buzzing I probably could have taken a nap. I guess you get used to the sound because at least once or twice a year one of my waitresses comes in burned to a crisp because they fell asleep. The ones at the gym I go to are on a timer, I guess that maybe all of them aren't or something.

Anyhow, a couple of the guys up there use the tanning bed after they work out, so I didn't feel so self-conscious about it anymore. Besides, with quitting smoking and working out I have to have something to kill me. Skin cancer is as good as anything :)

Speaking of smoking, I've now gone about 26 hours without one. I know I have been working on it for a couple of months now, but this is the first time I have gone over an entire day without a cigarette. Darn hard too. I an a bit snappy tonight, so am just keeping to myself. I have a bunch of stuff to write about anyway and if I finish that I need to work on taxes.

I am not looking forward to filing this year. I don't know how much but I will end up owing probably several thousand. I though about filing an extension, but the only people that are going to be receiving the rebates are the ones that file. If anything I can file and then work out a payment plan with the IRS. I took about a $20k increase in pay myself this year, not counting the $10k I made online, and none of it taxed. Hopefully with working out of the house more some of my office expenses will cover a bit of it. I think maybe I should move my office back down into the basement. The back room is a MUCH larger area than I have set up right now, and thus the percentage that I can claim of the utilities and mortgage is more. I hate taxes. The IRS is going to own my last month's pay for this year on top of what they already keep. I wish that our politicians would take things seriously and fix the darned tax system.

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'cause i'm the taxman, yeah, i'm the taxman
Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful i don't take it all
'cause i'm the taxman, yeah i'm the taxman
If you drive a car, i'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, i'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold i'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, i'll tax your feet.
Don't ask me what i want it for
If you don't want to pay some more
'cause i'm the taxman, yeah, i'm the taxman
Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
'cause i'm the taxman, yeah, i'm the taxman
And you're working for no one but me

 

Five percent, yeah right.

The Beatles had it right though.

...prior to leaving office next January.

President George Bush has proposed a temporary tax package designed to spur the nation's slowing economy. During a White House press conference President Bush and his economic advisers said that the U.S. economy is at risk for a downturn and Congress must act to head off trouble.

By passing a growth package quickly, we can provide a shot in the arm to keep a fundamentally strong economy healthy, and it will help keep economic sectors that are going through adjustments, such as the housing market, from adversely affecting other parts of our economy.

The president did not offer any kind of specific details of the proposed package but did insist that it include tax incentives for business.

Two Democratic leadership aides made it clear that the growth package wouldn't win support from the Democrats unless it includes relief for low and middle income earners.

I am all for tax cuts and spurring the economy but personally think that we should all just suck it up right now and pitch in to do our share. Cutting taxes is a great thing, I would just as soon get rid of the federal income tax entirely but it has to be replaced by something else, preferably a sales tax.

The Wall Street Journal interviewed folks in New York, Chicago and San Francisco to see how people would spend their rebate. These are some of the interviews.

Technorati: Taxes,President Bush,Recession,Rebate,Tax Relief

Car Angel is a site that I came across that allows you to make tax deductible car donations (as well as other donations) that  they turn around and sell in order to make positive videos for teens and children such as anti-drug DVDs. They have given away almost two and a half million videos through this program.

Donkey Ollie is one of the characters used in some of their videos. He is a Christian children's animation used to send a message to kids.

No matter what you think about religion or different companies, donating  a car to a good cause such as anything anti-drug is a good deal. I myself donated my custom van a few months ago to the Alzheimer's Association. I wanted to get rid of it because of the expense and and it gave me a tax deduction along with the satisfaction of knowing that it would be used for a good cause.

In theory I would love to see a Libertarian elected. With exception to the last couple of elections in which I voted mostly Republican I have always voted Libertarian straight down the board (with one guilty exception, I voted for Clinton the 1st time around). Ron Paul, no matter that he is running as a Republican is and always will be a Libertarian. Some of his ideas are pretty far-fetched but in general they are good.

Facts are facts. He won't get nominated, nor will he get elected, but like Ross Perot many of his ideas will find fruition later on. Although it seems like our politicians don't listen, they do, it just takes a while and the losers in the 2008 election (most likely the Republicans) will be listening and scratching their heads wondering what the fuck happened. THAT is the point at which they might start listening and asking questions.

The below are some of Dr. Paul's responses from one of the republican debates that aired. I agree with him 100% that we need to cut spending on the Federal Government level but I also believe that some of the stuff we fund should remain. Completely doing away with the Federal Income Tax is a great idea in principle, but we cannot cut spending enough to completely get rid of it without some other way to bring in income, which is one of the reasons I am behind the Fairtax.

There is a pretty interesting discussion going on at the Fact Checker blog at the Washington Post blogs, which is where I found the link to the above video.

I was very interested in listening to what Mike Huckabee had to say about scrapping the tax cod. I can't imbed it but you can find a link to the video here.

One of the other big issues of the election will be immigration reform. Here's what Dr. Paul has to say about Immigration:

• Physically secure our borders and coastlines. We must do whatever it takes to control entry into our country before we undertake complicated immigration reform proposals.
• Enforce visa rules.  Immigration officials must track visa holders and deport anyone who overstays their visa or otherwise violates U.S. law.  This is especially important when we recall that a number of 9/11 terrorists had expired visas.
• No amnesty.  Estimates suggest that 10 to 20 million people are in our country illegally. That’s a lot of people to reward for breaking our laws.
• No welfare for illegal aliens.  Americans have welcomed immigrants who seek opportunity, work hard, and play by the rules.  But taxpayers should not pay for illegal immigrants who use hospitals, clinics, schools, roads, and social services.
• End birthright citizenship.  As long as illegal immigrants know their children born here will be citizens, the incentive to enter the U.S. illegally will remain strong. 
• Pass true immigration reform.  The current system is incoherent and unfair.  But current reform proposals would allow up to 60 million more immigrants into our country, according to the Heritage Foundation.  This is insanity.  Legal immigrants from all countries should face the same rules and waiting periods.

This certainly isn't meant to be an ad for Dr. Paul and I am still undecided as to whom I will vote for but both taxes and immigration are two of the important topics that are going to have to be addressed sooner or later.

I don't guess I have a huge point to make here, I have been up far too long and am not even making much sense to myself.

This is probably old news but I haven't been to Representative Westmoreland's homepage in quite some time. The last time I visited there was nothing definite at all concerning the Fairtax but now his statement on taxes is thus:

The Congressman has pursued the issue of lower taxes throughout his time in the state legislature and in Congress. But despite reducing tax rates, the tax system is so complicated that most people don't even try to do their own taxes. When it takes additional help to comply with our own laws, something is seriously wrong.

He strongly supports future reductions in the tax and regulatory burden on the people of the United States, and also support efforts at eliminating the income tax completely and replacing it with a national retail sales tax, also known as the FairTax. By implementing a consumption-based tax, we will catch elements of the underground economy that currently pay no taxes, while significantly reducing overhead costs to companies, which will result in lower prices

Most importantly, no one will have to fill out tax forms each year, or have money withheld from their paycheck each month. Eliminating the Internal Revenue Service will be a huge step forward toward a fair system, and the elimination of all of the various loopholes will guarantee uniformity across the board. We must have a tax system that everyone can understand, and that is as little burden as possible.

You've got my vote again dude.

We already know from his record as Mayor of New York that he supports illegal aliens, why should I be surprised at that?

I don't get to RedState very often. Like the seriously left wing sites such as KOS 90% of the stuff there is bullshit and extremely one-sided. I can judge the issues for myself without having it spoon fed to me like most of the extremely political sites like to do. Just watch. 90% of the people that hang out on a regular basis at Daily KOS, Redstate or Michelle Malkin's site for instance will just regurgitate verbatim what they have read and hear without bothering to listen to opposing arguments. That's cool, but arguing with those people is useless and pointless.

Anyway, the article I came across wasn't even about Rudy Giuliani. It was really just a short blurb stating the fact that the Flat Tax has four sponsors in congress, whereas the Fairtax has 57. That makes sense to me because the Fairtax taxes everyone including illegal income generated by drug dealers, criminals, and illegal aliens. The Flat Tax only taxes those that are already paying taxes which includes none of the above.

What I found more interesting that the article itself is the comments. They are very polarized on the issue but there are some really good points made. Go check them out and if you are sick of paying taxes visit Fairtax.org as well.

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Taxes are a bitch. I haven't ranted about them recently so it's due for one. That last post about being in the two got me to thinking about it. Did you know that the top 5% of wage earners in the United States pays 55% of the federal income tax? The top 5% earns 31% of the income in the U.S. but pays over half the taxes. That ain't right. Now I am not particularly for increasing anyone's tax burden, least of all the people that can ill afford it but I am for doing away with the federal income tax completely and putting in a consumption tax such as the Fairtax. It wouldn't apply to the purchase of used property, cars, clothing from consignment stores, etc...which is where most of the folks that work for me do their shopping for autos and clothing so it wouldn't hurt them as bad as opponents of the bill like to mouth off. Not only that but everyone in the U.S. would get a prebate check to cover the amount of sales tax they would be paying up to the poverty level, so people in the bottom 5-10% would actually be making MORE money than they are now.

Think about it. If you make $40-60k a year right now you are bringing home considerably less than that. Wouldn't it be nice to bring it ALL home and do with it what you want rather than having the federal government make those choices for you?