Tax Paid 2004

[gratefuled]

CT, Jarhead, JG, et al...

Sorry if I'm not being clear...yeah, the national park system is wonderful. Don't get me wrong on that one. And that Eagle pass is a good deal too. No, it's the mix of off-the-top and pay-as-you-go tax structures. Here, read the bottom line on my 1040 and get out of my face. I gave at the office.

But I have the same reaction at a toll booth. What, this on top of my gas and wheel taxes? It's pretty clear from both exercises that governments are horrible at allocating funds.

But then again, I can be too...which could explain why I get crabby on April 15th.

Ed

[laurence]

Can't agree with you there, JG. When I was getting my BA in Economics, one of the concepts we learned about was where the market breaks down. Externalities, both positive and negative, are not always captured in the free market. The benefits of these spaces being public land far outweigh the cost and provide more benefit than any private landowner could obtain. Plus, it only takes one greedy short sighted S.O.B. to fall into the inheritance path of Yosemite for it to become a clear cut strip mine. Indeed many of our parks were created to save lands just as the axe blade was swinging down. I empathize with your disdain for the government, but ours is still better than most, and does a lot of good.

[laurence]

gratefuled,

The economist Milton Friedman said one of his greatest regrets was helping set up the Federal tax withholding. By having the tax come out a little at a time in each paycheck, rather than be a big honking bill in April, he helped the government mask just how much they were taking. No way the common man would be down with a five figure bloodletting every April, but take it one pin prick at a time, you don't quite notice....death by a thousand pin pricks.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Laurence...take out the word 'pin' from your last statement and I think you've got a fair assessment of our governmental overseers...

[charlie]

Well I had to pay the feds a total of $1450 in
2004 ..... hope they don't spend it all in one place.!

JG, have you noticed that us neo-cons seem to be
on the wrong side of the income tracks? Maybe
we should switch? Nah .... just kidding.

Cheers,

Charlie

[MRGALT2U]

Hi Charlie! I do not admit to being a "neo-con".
Anarchist, egomaniac, overbearing, opinionated,
anti-establishment PITA, those labels I accept gladly

JG

[laurence]

LOL, Th! To resurrect a previous joke, we all know the difference between the Capital Building and a Porcupine!

[MRGALT2U]

I feel compelled to clarify ("Never complain, never
explain"......Henry Ford II).

The national parks I have visited are fabulous, wonderful. Still I put my faith in free enterprise
and capitalism. The more assets controlled by the Federal Government, the less available to entreprenuers and
free enterprise..........So, while you take a chance
on Yosemite being turned into a giant stripmine or
mall, I will put my money on the profit motive every time
before trusting the "government" to manage our
resources, natural and otherwise. Capitalism can't solve all our problems, but it could come close.

JG

[laurence]

JG, I always appreciate your candid answers. I may not always agree with you, but I always know where you stand.

[charlie]

JG, I'm not sure just what a neo-con is but
seem to have acquired the label. Actually
I detest extremism on the right or left and
am sometimes guilty of reacting to comments
that I consider mean spirited or unfair.
Hopefully, I will be able to hold my tongue in
the future and just let it go. Life is too short
to waste reacting to silly comments.

I have always made an exception in your case
since you are outrageously funny and, I suspect,
are conning us more than a little.

Cheers,

Charlie

[cute fuzzy bunny]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/EH13Aa01.html

Federal this year : $4120.00
State tax : $1074.00

Last time I paid taxes on an individual return before ER, I paid roughly a half mil combined federal and state.

Bet they were saving that up for a new B-1 or something, and now they're going to have to settle for a hammer or a toilet seat.

[MRGALT2U]

My parents (87 and 85) live mostly on their SS checks.
After I moved back here, I started doing their taxes
(they didn't pay any tax - we just filed the returns).
My Dad told me their former tax guy said he didn't
think they even needed to file returns. I looked it up and sure enough............one less chore for me.

JG

[MRGALT2U]

Hello Charlie! Yeah I am sometimes purposely
outrageous and hyperbolic. Adds to the "flavor", kind of like seasoning in your soup.

My understanding of "neo-con" (you could look it up)
is someone who was formerly more left leaning or liberal
then shifting to conservative views. That wouldn't cover me as I have always been on the lunatic fringe of the
political spectrum. More so now than ever.

JG

[Jarhead*]

Quote:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/EH13Aa01.html Federal this year : $4120.00 State tax * * * * * * : $1074.00 Last time I paid taxes on an individual return before ER, I paid roughly a half mil combined federal and state. Bet they were saving that up for a new B-1 or something, and now they're going to have to settle for a hammer or a toilet seat.

TH: Did you at least get a reach-around?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

With Clinton in charge you'd have thought I'd get somethin' in that area...

I've only been able to find a couple of minor pleasures in that last fat tax year...

That I was lucky enough to make that much to have the bejesus taxed out of me. There was a fun 10 minutes there where I envisioned what I would have done with all that money vs what the govt was going to do with it. Bet my ideas would have provided a little more economic stimulation and benefit.

That I had such a great opportunity to write a ridiculously large check. I mean, how many times does the average joe write six figure checks...especially when that isnt even for the full amount of whats owed but just the gap filler ?

And the first, second and third years in ER when I got to send in the returns with big fat goose eggs as the bottom line.

[laurence]

Charlie, you have no reason to hold your tongue. If people can't speak there mind here, where can they? Took a look at the numbers, I guess I am the boat anchor of this board, dragging the average down. $13,000 in Feds, half in state (?), about 9k in SS and Medicare. I better start carrying my load!

[charlie]

I read TH's link on neo-cons in a post above and
it more or less fits me on the hawkish foreign policy
ideas. As for left leaning, I was brought up in a
Roosevelt Democrat family. My sainted 89 year old
mom and my brother Up-Chuck still wave the liberal
flag, but I became disenchanted in college and
started voting Republican after Johnson. What a
horror he was .... and from Texas no less. I am still
a moderate on most social issues but pretty
conservative on fiscal policy. Bush is really tearing
me a new one by not clamping down on spending.
My hope is that he will clamp down soon now that
re-election is not an issue.

Cheers,

Charlie

[JB]

Unfortunately, it's not just Bush. The republican congress' spending is out of control and they are getting involved in too many private matters. The large taxpayer funded delegation who attended the pope's funeral was telling.

Fed: $2401
Fed Payed: 0 (used AMT tax credit)

State: $3248

[MRGALT2U]

So JB, what did the "large taxpayer funded" pope funeral
group "tell"you? Just curious.

JG

[JB]

That the era of big government is here right now. That the gop is insincere... they said they are the party of smaller government and less spending -- yet they do the opposite. That pandering to religious groups is more important than shrinking the size and scope of the federal government. The gop's traits that I once admired --smaller government, less spending, less intervention in citizens personal affairs-- are gone now that they are in power.