There is a difference based on which state one lives in. Some states are higher tax places with presumably more services and features; others are lower tax places with less services and features.
I think I'm pretty lucky when it comes to taxes. It helps that I don't spend on much or buy much.
Road taxes in the cross hairs? Forest for the trees?
Your legislators have made sure you have MANY, MANY smaller taxes and fees so you won't see what you really pay all in one place, that's why they do it. Kinda like subscriptions, individually they seem cheap, and providers can count on most users never adding them all up - and that's proven to be effective for most consumers and taxpayers. And when you question it, they say you should only pay those applicable to you, which is a largely a dodge. While partially true, many of them apply to all of us, yet they're broken up into smaller chunks so you don't notice.
Agreed.
If your federal income taxes included income plus sin taxes (luxury, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, gambling), fuel taxes, inheritance, FICA-SS-Medicare plus others below where applicable - you'd realize how much Congress is taxing you.
Federal income taxes were $4388 for 2024. Would have been $1264 without the voluntary Roth conversions I did.
I don't do luxury, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, or gamble, so my taxes there are $0. I guess the feds haven't figured out how to tax my particular sins.
I bought about 383 gallons of fuel in the last 12 months, which translates to $70 in federal fuel taxes.
I don't think my estate will pay an inheritance tax, although I have to work to try to dodge it, which I consider a tax on my time and effort.
FICA/SS/Medicare are included in the federal income tax number above. I have SE income but no W-2 wages, so I pay them with my income tax return via Schedule SE.
If your state/local income taxes included income (many states) plus, sin taxes, property, sales tax, license/registration fees, fuel taxes, travel/hotel/restaurant taxes, VAT (some states) plus others below where applicable.
State income taxes for 2024 aren't done yet, but should be less than $2,000.
Property tax on my home is $1,540.
Sales tax is hard to figure. I took my total expenses and subtracted out taxes, college withdrawals, and charity. Assuming the rest was all spent on goods, my state sales tax would be $2,619. This ignores the fact that my state does not tax services, so the real total is less.
I don't view license/registration fees as a tax, but rather the cost of a government provided service. But if you want to, mine was $77 this year.
State fuel taxes are $123.
Travel and hotel taxes are hard to figure. I'm going on a cruise and the taxes are included in the price, which is also pretty typical of hotel taxes. A SWAG of 10% of my vacation costs over the past 12 months would put it at about $710.
I don't know what a restaurant tax is. I pay sales tax at a restaurant, but that's included above.
Same with Corporate taxes and fees.
I have no idea how to calculate this but I think this is actually the largest source of taxes in my life. It reduces my investment returns and I also pay them when I buy anything from a corporation, because they embed their taxes and fees in the price of the good and service.
Not to mention road & bridge tolls, TV/Satellite/Cable fees, telephone fees, utility fees, gift taxes, marriage licenses, hunting licenses, fishing licenses, bike licenses, dog permits, state park permits, watercraft registration and fees, sports stadium taxes, bike/nature trail fees, court case filing fees, retirement account early withdrawal fees, health insurance mandates, plastic surgery surcharges, soda/fatty food taxes, air transportation taxes, eFiling fees, passport fees, luxury/gas guzzler fees, new car surcharges, yacht taxes, jewelry taxes, waste management taxes, state/local school taxes and others...
No road or bridge tolls in my state.
Don't have satellite or cable. TV is not taxed.
Cell phone is taxed at $22 per year.
I checked my top four utility bills and none of them include any additional taxes. However, I'm sure they are embedded in there in the same way corporate taxes are as alluded to above.
I don't pay gift taxes.
Marriage license was $28 in 1991.
I don't hunt, fish, or have a dog. Bikes are not taxed around here (other than sales tax when you buy them, already included above).
Paid a $5 entry fee to visit a state park. Don't own a watercraft. No publicly supported sports stadiums in my state.
No trail fees here. Haven't filed a court case lately so that doesn't apply.
I don't pay any early withdrawal fees, but again that's something like the estate tax that I have to work to avoid.
There is currently no health insurance mandate either at the federal or state level.
No plastic surgery. There are no fatty food or soda taxes here.
Air transportation taxes already included in the travel category SWAG earlier.
I don't pay e-filing fees, but those typically are paid to private companies, not the government.
I got my passport in 2022 and I think the cost was about $200. I view this as a fee for a government provided service, not a tax.
No luxury/gas guzzler taxes here. There is sales tax on a new car, but that's included in sales taxes above, and I haven't bought a new car lately.
No yacht or jewelry taxes here either, again other than sales taxes.
Waste management taxes are included under the utilities discussion above.
State and local school taxes are paid via a combination of state income and state property taxes which have already been calculated.
Go ahead, add them all up!
$11,477 if I did the math right, which includes the full federal income tax bill but excludes the marriage license and the passport and the car registration.
You're right, that's more than I thought. But still only about 17% of my spending, which is probably better than what my taxes would be in Europe.
Also, the big four (federal income, state income, property, and sales tax) are just under 92% of the total taxes and the first three of those are readily identified and obvious. So in my case, the taxes aren't very hidden or dispersed; maybe I'm unusual.
Interesting exercise.
streets.mn
truecostblog.com
