ITT we talk TAXES!
 

So the Gov claims that I have a $10,750 tax liability for 2010. I could use a dependent or two right about now :D Seriously though, the fleecing of single people is bullshyte. I'm glad the income tax break extension was passed, I really can't imagine what my tax bill would look like next year if it didn't go through.

I'm ready to get my refund. I want it NOW!

Get married to a woman who doesn't want to work, buy a house so you have mortgage interest to claim, go back to school so you can claim tuition and have twin babies and send them to day care. You'll hardly owe a penny then.

My favorite subject! LOL

E-filing opened up to the IRS yesterday. It was a crazy day in my office, with the police coming in looking for wanted fugitives, and then trying to handcuff a client, who wasn't the person they were looking for!

Let the insanity of tax season begin.:D

Would he have a penny to owe?

Extrapolating backward from what my total tax liability would be if I were single with no deductions... he'd have more than what I have :)

I'll probably get everything back. Even next year if I have my job all year I suspect I'll do ok. Now, state taxes are iffier, I may get some back this year, but none next. I'm glad they upped the state income tax here though so we may have our budget balanced without gutting more mental health services.

No thanks, that's spending $30,000 just to save $5,000. Bad investment. I'm not a fan of our progressive tax structure, it's such a hot mess. I wish we had to a flat 12% across all income levels with no refunds, credits, deductions, or bloated IRS.

I'm still waiting on my W2s...

My brother (the CPA) is going to have a hell of a time doing my taxes this year. Three different employers, three different municipalities, three different states, and deductions for my moving expenses for moving to Oklahoma. It's a good thing he loves me.

The year I lived part time in Scotland and part time in the US, he wanted to kill me. I actually got a refund from both governments that year, though!

Flat taxes are the most regressive taxes. It's true.

I'm halfway done. I've got one W-2 and my student loan interest statement entered into TurboTax... and about DYING waiting for my other two W-2s to come in.

Yep, 3 W-2s last year... I was working two jobs 'til November when I finally got ONE job that pays all the bills (only 18 months after I graduated.)

I already made a spreadsheet to prioritize what I'll spend my anticipated refund on. I made it in, like, September. How sad is that?

Absolutely not. A FIXED tax is regressive, i.e. Every citizen pays $5,000 in taxes per year regardless of their income as are various consumption taxes such as sin taxes or value-added taxes. An across the board percentage tax is more middle of the road between progressive and regressive.

Ok a fixed tax is MORE regressive, but a percentage tax is still regressive because poorer people use a greater percentage of their income to live on than wealthier people do. Even 1% of taxes is a much bigger deal to people who make less per month. It's the same reason that eliminating an income tax and replacing it purely with a sales tax is not ideal either. I've read up on it a lot because the flat tax sounded like a great idea to me too, until it didn't anymore.

Note to self: Estimated taxes due now.

Frak.

For the record, the marriage tax penalty sucks big fat hairy rocks the size of Pittsburgh. I had always gotten a nice refund. Then I got married, and suddenly had to pay. A LOT. :mad:

Then we bought a house, and the mortgage deduction made it all better. :)

Wth a flat tax the less you make, the less you pay. A 12% rate on someone who makes $23,000 would only come to around $200 a month as opposed to someone making $230,000 would be paying over $2,000 a month. The rich will still be paying significantly higher taxes. There are people making 6 figures that are living paycheck to paycheck so I don't think you can say that only lower income earners are the only owns spending all of their income on living expenses. I think if all working Americans were contributing to the income tax burden politicians and government officials would become better stewards of tax revenues, as well as ending the class warfare involving taxation that I've seen all my life.

The point is, for someone making only $23000 a year, that $200 is probably the difference between eating or not, or buying their medication or not. You can only get living expenses down so low. The belt will only tighten so far. Additionally, you said "per person". So does a single mom with two kids making $23K pay 12% for each person?

No, I'm talking income tax and unless the kid has a job and payroll taxes are being deducted from his check, he wouldn't be liable.

AFAIK The progressive tax rates currently in use has nothing to do with lower wage earners having zero to little tax liability, it's the tax credits in place that are saving some from the 10% bracket ( was 15% before GWB). If you believe that an across the board tax will hinder lower wage earner than what is the income to start taxing people at? 25k, 30k, 40k?

The government WILL tax the poor, trust me. It may not always be out in the open like income taxes but lottery, sin taxes, proposed "fat" taxes, sales taxes, and VAT taxes are all designed to get money from the people who are able to slink past paying income taxes.

They're not designed to get money from people who slink by, they're designed to get money from everyone. Adding another flat % tax only hurts the poor more and makes life easier on the rich. I trust Warren Buffett when he says that people like him need to be taxed more, not less.

Yes but they ( VAT, fat tax, sin tax) unfairly target the poor more so than the middle class or rich. Why would you be opposed to getting rid of all the secret back door nickel and dime taxes and only having one type of federal tax that is a flat percentage that you can actually budget for? A flat tax on the rich may actually end up making them pay more in taxes since all deductions would pretty much axed.

Also, I sincerely hope that you are opposed to the idea of fat taxes or value added taxes being implemented.

The only place I know with VAT - UK - provides way more in services not just to the poor but to the average person. So yes, I'm anti-VAT just the same way I'm anti flat tax in the US. Change up our entire system and I might feel differently. Arguing that other things are ALSO BAD doesn't change the fact that the flat tax is BAD.

And again I'll trust Warren on the rich people's taxes.

Your flat tax idea would double my income tax liability.. so, no thanks :) Now once my kids are grown and out of the house and I can go rent an apartment, sure! I believe that if mortgage interest was not deductible, it would further hurt the housing industry. There would be no incentive whatsoever to own a house. I would also have no incentive, nor would I be financially able to, donate as much to charity as I do. I would also be less inclined to invest for retirement with pre-tax dollars into the stock market. I believe the flat tax would hurt the middle class the most.

The difference with sin taxes is that I have a choice in those. However, most of those are state taxes anyway and wouldn't be affected by your flat rate tax.

Keep in mind that you won't always be single with no kids and no house and whether it would really be to your advantage then.

No financial incentive to own a house? Umm, I can think of a few reasons why owning is more attractive than renting, especially if you go with a short term (15 yr or less) mortgage. Do people really buy a house just to write off the mortgage interest? I don't think they do. The sin tax was mentioned as an example of a regressive tax that targets the poor. I still believe that a flat tax ISN'T regressive. The fact is, we need major tax reform and just getting money from the Daddy Warbucks of America isn't going to cut it. Ive read that only half of the people who file with the IRS actually have a tax liability, the other half get a full refund +. We can't sustain that. We need to collect more revenue from more Americans.

I manage a tax office, and while a flat tax would end my industry, I'm a big fan of it. Someone can come into my office, make $17000, pay no income tax in during the year, and leave with a check for over $10K. That is not a fair tax system. Granted they have 3 children, but I, nor any other taxpayer made them have those kids.

Earned income credit + the refundable additional child tax credit are the bane of my existence. My hubby and I both work, and have paid a small fortune in taxes this year, and will be fortunate to not owe. And yes we own a home, and itemize. But because we choose not to have children, we pay more in taxes. :rolleyes:

While I've filed taxes since I was 16, and filed with dependents, etc for the last 6 years, I feel like this will be my first year filing "Big Girl Taxes" with dependents, mortgage writeoffs, business writeoffs, and charitable contributions.

Although, it's bittersweet, since I found out recently that I owe a chunk from a mistake I made in 2008... last time I will ever use Quickbooks reports instead of waiting for my W-2. My refund is pretty much all going to that.

I just go to HR Block. A friend works there so no mistakes.....plus I'm lazy.

I did. I would never buy another house again if it weren't for the tax write-off. Too much trouble to get rid of when I want to move, and too much trouble to take care of. I much prefer to rent. If there is something wrong, I just call my landlord, and he takes care of it. Home ownership is not the end all be all of life.

Precisely. I have poured so much money into my house and it needs so much more poured into it. I've had a very reasonable mortgage interest rate (no crazy rates, etc.) and have been paying on it consistently for almost 11 years and still have an upside mortgage. I'm stuck in this house for God knows how long and I would have happily rented if I didn't want the mortgage interest tax break. Someone else would be shoveling my snow and mowing my lawn too. I can't wait to get rid of the house.

After requesting an extension, I made a mistake on my '09 tax return and I am just now hearing back on what forms I need to submit. Praying I get two refund checks at once this year :D

Super rich see federal taxes drop dramatically
 

I get so mad when I read bullshit like this, we need tax REFORM! No wonder we are in the financial shit-storm that we are currently in. Half the country doesn't pay taxes and the other half that does can write off everything from breast pumps (health spending) to handjobs (business entertainment). I'd like to see an end to credits and deductions save for people who make under $20,000 and medical and education costs.








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Nope, we need to keep the mortgage interest deduction. It's saving my butt. :p

The thing is, the wealthiest of the wealthy know all the tricks (or their CPAs do) and end up paying far less than their share in income taxes. The lowest-income people are entitled to certain deductions and credits, so they pay little to nothing in taxes (and may even get money back from the IRS) - and this is appropriate, as they're already having enough trouble making ends meet. But the middle and upper-middle classes get screwed.

And while we're on the subject of tax reform, can we get rid of the damn marriage tax penalty? Seriously, my husband and I would be paying a lot less in taxes if we'd just continued living in sin.

Yeah, this was our first year as Married Filing Jointly, and we're getting back a lot less than we were hoping.

I hate the estate tax with a passion.

I paid $10,200 (and some change) between state and federal. fml

Above and beyond what you had withheld? or Total?

Which is why we have a CPA.

One of the best ways is do you all actually donate money to a church/non-profit org consistently.

That's one thing the rich does that a lot of middle class people with high tax bills seem to not do.

The second (if you are an employee) is actually play around with your withholdings.

Not saying it is the be all end all, but you will start seeing the results of not owing soo much at the end of the year.

Additional.

...because I was stupid and effed up taxes in previous years.

:( x1 million

Single, out of school full time, no kids, no property definitely does suck though. Most of the people I know rake in the $$$ in refunds, but not I.

While I do get a refund, it is usually under $400 in total (federal and state). It's depressing :(

I got bumped into a new tax bracket last year, so $400 would have been a blessing lol

I guess I can't complain, though.

Depends on your mentality.

A lot of people have the mentality that a refund is pretty much giving the government an interest free loan.

I say if you are an employee this is true.

As a business owner on the other hand, if you getting a refund, it means you had a lot of write offs and really need that extra money to make up for that shortfall.

Mortgage interest deduction is a total joke. If you have a $200,000 balance on your house at an interest rate of 5%, that’s $10,000 a year that you pay to the bank in interest. If your income puts you into a 25% tax bracket, then not having a mortgage (or interest to go with it) means you pay $2,500 to the government on that extra $10,000 in the form of taxes. So..... buying a house when you'd rather rent simply to claim a mortgage interest deduction is stupid, as is not paying off your home because you'd lose the deduction. Yeah, let's pay the bank $10,000 so I don’t have to pay the government $2,500.... :rolleyes:

If you dont have a mortgage and want to "save" that $2500 that you would owe to the irs, donate $10K to your church or a charity, and be done with it.