Tax Hell
Rachel Lucas on paying taxes (Hat tip: Instapundit): "I re-worked my return again and got it down to an ass-breaking $10,900. Still want to drink whiskey and blow shit up."
Rachel, like me, is self-employed:
I think there are a number of us who are self-employed out there who feel the same way at this time in April--especially when we write the whopping checks for self-employment taxes--similar to FICA taxes which fund both Social Security and Medicare. I often wish that I could take a deal from the government--they keep the money I have put in thus far into FICA and give me nothing when I retire--and I no longer fund their "Ponzi scheme." But that would mean that I would have control over my money and my life, something the government doesn't take kindly to, it seems.
Rachel, like me, is self-employed:
In case anyone wonders and doesn’t already know it, I’m self employed and thus have to pay that Extra Special Just For Those Who Don’t Work For Someone Else Tax.
I think there are a number of us who are self-employed out there who feel the same way at this time in April--especially when we write the whopping checks for self-employment taxes--similar to FICA taxes which fund both Social Security and Medicare. I often wish that I could take a deal from the government--they keep the money I have put in thus far into FICA and give me nothing when I retire--and I no longer fund their "Ponzi scheme." But that would mean that I would have control over my money and my life, something the government doesn't take kindly to, it seems.
Labels: taxes
posted by Helen at 6:00 AM
21 Comments:
Look upline Helen.
Surely some of you and your family's elderly are benefitting mightily from the "care for the elders" tax. And just think: all that money we're helping save Grandma now surely will come back to be gifted on your personal offspring, right?
It would be nice if people paid to take care of their own. But somehow, until we start seeing the multi-generational family come back in to play at the expense perhaps of dual glamour careers, something tells me those out-patient procedures and durable medical goods the elderly consume are going to have to be paid by someone. "Medical necessity"
I don't want to see poor old people in the gutter either. But I do get resentful that it's not a means-tested program, and there's no shame in pawning off one's own family responsibilities on the government.
But again, the bright side: if you can keep the grandmama's healthy enought to exist and cash the S.S. checks, surely some of that eventually will trickle down to the offspring. And second, you're really not all that young to be predicting you'll get nada that you pay in. Something tells me at your age, you'll get in on a little bit of entitlement (that you paid into of course). It's not the tail end of the Baby Boom that will get screwed so much, as those of us coming up 10 years later. The numbers are just against us -- we've been paying for your parents care for so many years, and your own presence and ill health (speaking generationally) will bankrupt the system. And we won't have much leftover for any bailouts, I suppose, if we keep electing these fiscally loose Republicans or looking for a Messiah-in-Chief instead of finding that on our own spiritual time.
Nevermind me though... I'm just bitter. :-) (Just kidding -- it's actually very freeing from the whole economic system if you start taking responsibility for your own today's and tomorrow's and stop working places/schedules because you think it's best to protect your own economic security.) Pay for your own, be proud that while some might sneer at what you've got, at least you earned it yourself and it's paid for. (No mobster-connected nice guys out there looking to help out a little bit with the loan on the mansion, say. :-) Oh, and no $21 tubes of lip balm needed either to keep your face fresh well into middle age. Liberating, no?
Hi there! My name is Maria and I am a 23 year old, former collegiate cross country runner battling RSD. I am also in love with psychology! In 2 years time, I will be hopefully doing therapy in a pain management center or juvenile detention center (I'm still in school). I hope you will check out my blog. It is my small attempt at creating awareness and inspiring those who are suffering with me.
Your job must be amazing! I was interested in going in that direction before I got sick. I majored in psych and criminology, which is why I still have a place in my heart for juvenile delinquents. My experiences in therapy and my suffering have turned me on to hopefully doing the same for others with chronic illness.
<3 Maria
Also, I'm new to the blogging world. Do you know any other great psychology blogs? I would appreciate the information! Thanks a bunch :-)
Hi Tough Cookie,
This is actually a post about taxes, not psychology blogs--but, one blog that you might like on criminal justice is Crime and Consequences:
http://www.crimeandconsequences.com/
Good luck with your career!
$10,900? Yeah, would that I only had to pay that much. Last year I paid $6000. This year I'm looking at $25,000.
It was those two commercial buildings I sold. Good thing I left that money in the bank and lived off my other commissions, because tomorrow I'm going to drain my cash reserves to pay the government. And for what? A fraudulent retirement scheme that will never pay me back what I put into it?
The entire federal government needs to be reworked and placed back into its constitutional framework. Not that any of the politicians today are capable of doing that. Too many people are making too much money off the system the way it is, and the vast majority of them are leeches.
I really feel for young people today. Just wait until they get out into the job market, the real world, and find out how much the failed programs the baby boomers instituted actually cost. When it comes out of their pockets, we could very well see a second American revolution.
But I also fear for them, because they have been deprived of the conceptual framework this country was built on by the increasingly disingenuous education system. I'm afraid the second revolution won't work out nearly as well as the first. Just, as they say, if the disease doesn't kill you, the cure will.
I have been witness to the complete dissolution of America within my lifetime. And it sucks.
Helen
If they let you do it, millions would follow, and all you'd have left were the "takers."
I often wish that I could take a deal from the government--they keep the money I have put in thus far into FICA and give me nothing when I retire--and I no longer fund their "Ponzi scheme."
I have been saying the exact same thing for years.
I think rdkraus has the right of it, though. The socialists cannot implement their brave new world without our funding it for them.
Well, if you are complaining about the social-security tax, we know what side of the income scale you are on. That drops away in importance (it gets dwarfed) by the income tax as you go up the scale.
Just be glad that you married up (as most women do). The flow from your husband more than equals out the taxes you pay. Men are on the paying side, so they not only pay taxes, they have to pay the women.
Lucky, Lucky!
I still remember the self employment tax well (but not fondly).
I first encountered it when I was 17. I'd set up a little computer consultancy. I'd made a comfortable sum at it for a teenager, but not enough that I'd have had to file... except for self employment tax...
Trust me, being told that you made so little we wouldn't normally tax you, but because you did it by entrepreneurial means, you have to come up with 15% off the top will really curb your enthusiasm for government right quick. Makes you ask uncomfortable questions like:
What am I getting for these taxes?
Once you ask that question with any seriousness the games over, because you quickly discover that if you are paying taxes you get almost nothing for them from the feds, and if you get stuff from the feds you are paying almost no taxes.
mary, you said:
Surely some of you and your family's elderly are benefitting mightily from the "care for the elders" tax. And just think: all that money we're helping save Grandma now surely will come back to be gifted on your personal offspring, right?
Not really... first, my family has a long tradition of our elders spending a lifetime planning to be able to support themselves. My parents and grandparents would have been fine without social security. I have the forgone family vacations and other things not done in my youth that paid for that responsibility to show for it. So when I look at social security I see the irresponsible parents of my peers charging their vacations to Florida and saving nothing for their retirements... that's what I'm paying for: other peoples family vacations, jet skis, etc.
Want more fun? Start a small corporation and discover all the other payroll taxes you don't deal with when self-employed. Then there's all the paperwork you have to fill out. I've long said that if the government really wanted to stimulate the economy, they'd reduce the government imposed bureaucracy of running a company. Will never happen.
There is a social security/ medicare wavier. It is form 4029.
This allows you to stop paying social security and medicare in exchange for waiving rights to both. However, it is some weird religious waiver. You have to get it signed by a clergyman from a certain religion. If only it was open to everyone!!!!
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4029.pdf
SS is predicted to go bankrupt in 2040 when I will be close to 60. I was born in 84 so I am close to being one of the ones that will pay in the most for ZERO benefit. I could do a much better job taking care of myself with that money.
I was unemployed for a good portion of last year while looking for a new job. Made only 9000 or so dollars. I got a payment of 1500 from the government. This year I will make close to 50000. I got a feeling I will pay in more than 1500 come tax time.
It really ticks me off that as a drain on society I get more money then when I am a working member of society. But that is the nature of the current beast. Wealth re-distribution to buy votes for political rentseekers.
my family has a long tradition of our elders spending a lifetime planning to be able to support themselves. My parents and grandparents would have been fine without social security. I
Most would, I suspect. The point is, and I do believe you missed mine entirely, is that without a means-tested way of distributing the money to needy elderly, not everyone's Social Security tax is going to put groceries on the shelves, pay the heating bill, and put gas in the tank. No, the "elderly" are accepting those checks (and tell me yours are turning them down??) and using them for vacations and to pad their so-called nest eggs. Which, if they are as smart at saving and investing as you suggest, will eventually be passed on to their own offspring.
Soooooo, think of it that way. If you have offspring and elderly in the family, and you're working and paying taxes into Soc Security, at least your kids may inherit some of the grandparent's money one day. Get it?
For the record, I don't think there are too many folks turning away those Soc Security checks -- "no thanks, we don't need this money and wish it to go to some of those needy elderly who do." Nope, which is exactly why the Boomers are lining up to feed off the gravy train... which they paid into sure, but which will definitely not be there for the less populous numbers coming up immediately behind.
Nope, which is exactly why the Boomers are lining up to feed off the gravy train... which they paid into sure, but which will definitely not be there for the less populous numbers coming up immediately behind.
Just wait until the boomers "revisit" social-security and medicare. You can damn well guarantee that they'll drain the system at an astonishing speed. The AARP hasn't even tasted just how powerful it will become.
Tell us something we don't know, Joe...
Which might explain why the "young" in America today are putting emphasis on things that are real today -- not banking on the pensions, the government systems, the tax code, etc.
In fact, I think what's being missed in the guns n' God brouhaha is that hunting provides -- today. If you're in a good area (deer running freely, drinking clean water and feeding off corn rows) and a good shot, you really can fill your freezer for the winter during gun-deer season. Feed yourself, with meat you've processed and not had to pay for at the grocery which includes transportation costs.
America was built by independents. Farmers, hunters, family people. No matter how the economic system might fail, plenty in those "small towns" know they won't go down so hard because they can take care of their own, no government help needed. Sure, maybe you miss out on some of life's toys, hot travel spots, and elitist pleasures (take care! there's always a price for those rich goodies, it seems...), but hey, we can live without gadgets, if necessary and the status displays really do fall away once you're out of the rat race.
In short, don't cry for me Argentina. Some types will survive, quite nicely, as they have for generations. I wouldn't expect everyone to "get" this, but if you've got property bought and paid for, and an honest plan for taking care of your own, the rest kind of falls away, no? If you take care of your health now, all those pills and procedures you might be missing out on in the future really aren't missed too much. And if you've got a good eye, heck I know guys hunting well into their 80s.
Who can go the distance? We'll find out... in the long run
Our Federal and State governments are hopelessly depressing.
Don't tell Obama!
I think a national sales tax (with exemptions for many necessities) would have many benefits, such as:
1. Increased taxpayers. Tourists, illegal aliens, those who work under the table for cash, even drug dealers and prostitutes would all have to pay tax on consumption.
2. Quit wasting so much money on the IRS, and they would no longer be able to destroy lives (only go after business that don't pay).
3. Best of all, the government would no longer be able to buy votes by promising one group that another would have to pay for it. It would not discriminate. If everyone knew the price of their entertainment and goodies would go up for a new government program, they'd be less inclined to vote for the politician that promised the most.
Of course, it would be painted as at "tax cut for the rich" and never happen.
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4029.pdf
Equal protection of the laws? Never heard of it.
A friend of mine works for the railroad. They have their own (very successful, I might add) plan, paying into that, and do not pay into social security.
The government has been trying to get their hands on that money for a very long time.
Lydia sez:
"Well, if you are complaining about the social-security tax, we know what side of the income scale you are on. That drops away in importance (it gets dwarfed) by the income tax as you go up the scale.
Just be glad that you married up (as most women do). The flow from your husband more than equals out the taxes you pay. Men are on the paying side, so they not only pay taxes, they have to pay the women."
----
That's usually how it works.
The men just think this is normal - you have to pay for a woman, money has to flow to a woman. Maybe these men don't want to let the possibility that they are high-paying johns enter into their consciousness.
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