It's Tax Time Again....Food for Thought

[Mimi]

Because it's that time of the year!

Taxes

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
Capital Gains Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Court Fines (indirect taxes)
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel permit tax
Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon)
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax Interest expense (tax on the money)
Inventory tax IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Local Income Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Septic Permit Tax
Service Charge Taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Road Toll Booth Taxes
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone federal excise tax
Telephone federal universal service fee tax
Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes
Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax
Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax
Telephone State and local tax
Telephone usage charge tax
Toll Bridge Taxes
Toll Tunnel Taxes
Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)
Trailer registration tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

COMMENTS: Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago and our nation was the most prosperous in the world, had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What the hell happened?

 

[blankpage]

More people, more taxes.

 

[MrMacphisto]

actuallly...

Mimi... We were prosperous 100 years ago, but definitely not the most prosperous nation in the world at that time. England was more prosperous than us before WWII. England also had a proportionately larger middle class (as percentage of their total population). Moms often worked in factories in the first decade of the 20th Century.

Perhaps, you meant to use 50 years ago as an example. In the 50s, we were very prosperous, had a significant middle class, and moms did usually stay at home to raise the kids. We had less taxes then than we do now, but the federal income tax has been around since 1913. Social Security also wasn't a joke back then either, but that's another discussion for another time....

 

[Faramir]

f**k the IRS...they are a goddamn dinosaur that has lived long past it's time of extinction...!!

just my $.02

 

[kis123]

f**k the IRS...they are a goddamn dinosaur that has lived long past it's time of extinction...!!

just my $.02

Although somewhat blunt, I couldn't agree with you more! They suck and they're not a governmental entity, only hired to collect taxes and make our lives miserable. We never should've allowed them to have so much power over us.

Let's form a group to get rid of them. Any names for our new coalition?

 

[the_Baron]

but tax issues keep me employed!

and really, the U.S. does have the lowest marginal income tax rate of any modern industrial nation.

 

[MrMacphisto]

Baron's right

Relatively speaking, we do have low taxes... And good luck trying to collect government revenue without the IRS. I've said it before that I don't like the IRS either, but I understand its purpose... It's one of those "necessary evils"....

 

[Knox The Hatter]

Actually, kis has a good idea...
here's another one: forming our own cartel to counter OPEC. We can call it the Organization of Fuel Using Countries. Makes for a nice acronym...

 

[giantfan121262]

but tax issues keep me employed!

and really, the U.S. does have the lowest marginal income tax rate of any modern industrial nation.

Same here!!

 

[maniactickler]

having close to 50% of our pay used for taxes. thats not a necessary evil to me. blah!

 

[MrMacphisto]

OFUC

Knox... you kill me... lol

 

[kis123]

having close to 50% of our pay used for taxes. thats not a necessary evil to me. blah!

Once again, I concur. If the government digs any further into my pocket, I'll be working for free! I personally think there's got to be a better way.

Oh Knox, I have other plans for the greedy oil barons we know as OPEC, but I couldn't discuss them on this or any other forum. Oh, they really need the money they're stripping us out of right now? I'm tired of getting bent over at the gas pump. If you think of it, the shape of the pump would fit after bending over wouldn't it?

 

[mabus]

Actually! ...and sadly..I know most of you will understand this, but, this is so frustrating...but...everytime someone mentions "government money," that's OUR money! There are so many people today who honestly believe, the government has "money," from somewhere, and it just appears, and they can do things with it and it's great and wonderful and that's it! They have no idea that government money = people's money, your money!

One reason we have so much debt, and so high taxes, is that the government
-wastes so much of it it's ridiculous.
If you were to give a dollar to the government to support welfare, the people who get it will only receive something like 24 cents! So much gets lost in the system, it's best to let the general public stay ignorant, lest they revolt. In Louisiana, for example, there were people who opposed a recent teacher pay raise. Why on Earth would they do THAT! Because earlier, they had already gotten a pay raise, but they never saw it! It got sucked up in the system, so we had to pay more taxes, to give them pay raise they should have received in the first place!
There is so much tax money that goes to education, per child, that if there was no bureaucracy, you could limo each child to a private tutor, and then limo them to lunch at an upscale restaurant every day. But why are some schools still falling apart, teachers paid low salaries, and usually have to get their pupil's school supplies out of their own pocket? Any time a politician wants a tax passed, they say it's for education, they know no one will vote against that, and then the money never goes to education. The reason the lottery and gambling were brought to Louisiana was because the politicians told everybody that all the money would go to education. It didn't. That's why they had to tax us to give the teachers a pay raise.

-There are so many little groups that have their own special interest, and everytime they have some idiotic project, they use tax payers money to fund it. They've spent millions if not billions in all these "awareness" campaigns, which do nothing to deter AIDS, drug use, drunk driving, crime, child abuse or whatever societal ill they wish to fix.

-So many people live off welfare, they became used to it, expect it, and refuse to get off it, and we, the people who work, must pay for them to use drugs, get drunk, annoy us at work, commit crimes, watch daytime talk shows, and fuck any woman or man who comes near them - so they can have children, so we can give them even MORE money to support those children, and they can then go out and use MORE drugs, have MORE sex, break MORE laws, on and on. I've known many, many teachers who have students in their classes who don't give a shit, and when the teacher asks them why, or trys to encourage them, they just say "I'm just going to find some guy to fuck, have a kid, and live off welfare for the rest of my life." And many do. And you and I have to pay for them to do this, we have no choice, and we can't stop them.

And this just goes on and on...

 

[kis123]

Whoa Maaaaaaaaaaabus!!!!!!!!!!

That's one heck of a post, but I have to agree with you on most points. That money is ours and we should have more input into how it's spent. I sometimes wish our whole system of government could be bombed away with a SCUD missile. It would be more humane to do that than to let things go as they are.

As far as the welfare system is concerned, I'm with you about 75%. Being a former recipient, I can say that I knew this wasn't going to be a lifestyle choice for me. Unfortunately, the system is so pervasive that there are many "lifers" and generations of welfare folk that the system makes it easy for them to be that way. Then Clinton changed things by saying "Three years and out", but really gave no out. You can't raise a bunch of kids on 7.00 and 8.00/hr jobs. It simply doesn't work. If a person tries to go to school, they're penalized and scrutinized. And, don't make 1.00 outside of the parameters, you'll be boiled in oil!!!!!!!

I can only imagine the frustration teachers go through on a daily basis. We have a middle school in my city that was on the news recently. The teachers were going to walk out if someone didn't provide security. Security from middle school children? If I were a teacher, I'd be in jail right now for killing one of those brats! And the fruit does not fall far from the tree, either. If you try to get some (if not most) of these parents involved, they treat you like a glorified babysitter, or are too lazy to get of of their butts and parent their monsters! One of the TMF members mentioned on another post that many people shouldn't have kids. I disagreed with him based upon the content and spirit of that particular post. But, if he said the same thing here, I'd have to agree. If I were God, I would've sterilized a lot of these folks in advance and did the world and themselves a favor!

There is such a thing as a "welfare mentality" that always holds out hands and waits for others to provide their needs as opposed to trying to figure out how to take care of your own business on your own. Not everyone on welfare is like that, but many are. The only way a system can be changed is to change the mindset of the people who are in it. And the government isn't going to change that because on the surface they say they want to help, but on the inside, it's easier to keep people needy and ignorant in order to keep them under control. Just think of it this way: what if people came to the truth about their governmental system and what's really going on? People would make the L. A. Riots look like a campfire! No, just keep everyone ignorant, needy, and Just Over Broke and they can just keep working to keep folks under control.

This is kis123 turning you back to the spirit of the original post....😉

 

[MrMacphisto]

Actually! ...and sadly..I know most of you will understand this, but, this is so frustrating...but...everytime someone mentions "government money," that's OUR money! There are so many people today who honestly believe, the government has "money," from somewhere, and it just appears, and they can do things with it and it's great and wonderful and that's it! They have no idea that government money = people's money, your money!

One reason we have so much debt, and so high taxes, is that the government
-wastes so much of it it's ridiculous.
If you were to give a dollar to the government to support welfare, the people who get it will only receive something like 24 cents! So much gets lost in the system, it's best to let the general public stay ignorant, lest they revolt.... -There are so many little groups that have their own special interest, and everytime they have some idiotic project, they use tax payers money to fund it. They've spent millions if not billions in all these "awareness" campaigns, which do nothing to deter AIDS, drug use, drunk driving, crime, child abuse or whatever societal ill they wish to fix.

Well, Mabus... perhaps you'd agree with me that this country is simply too large to be efficient. In order for Americans to ever have a hope of being truly equally represented, our country would have to split into at least 6 pieces. Even with our level of technology, it is simply not feasible for a country that extends 3000 miles wide (not including Alaska and Hawaii) and consists of 300 million people (including illegal immigrants) to be run efficiently and not be dominated by special interests. It surely is a sign that we are too large when 1st World countries with a fraction of our population (like England) have their own troubles with efficiency.

Of course, the irony of all of this is that people simultaneously love and hate our government. Every time we go to war, we get patriotic in our support of attacking whatever nation has pissed us off, but when tax time comes around, we bitch and moan about the IRS and tax rates. Sometimes, I wonder if this whole nation is made up of bratty children....

 

[kis123]

Of course, the irony of all of this is that people simultaneously love and hate our government. Every time we go to war, we get patriotic in our support of attacking whatever nation has pissed us off, but when tax time comes around, we bitch and moan about the IRS and tax rates. Sometimes, I wonder if this whole nation is made up of bratty children....

Then there are those of us who don't think these wars are patriotic at all! Without using this thread to open the patriotic can of worms, I'll just leave this as enough said!

But you are right, it can't work both ways and some of us tend to act bratty. But the IRS still sucks and it penalizes the wrong people for making money. It protects the rich, kills the middle class, and increases the poor daily.

I've said my piece. I'm getting better at it everyday!😀

 

[General Zod]

I don't know if we have any Bob and Tom radio show fans here besides myself I love Tom's view on taxes and voting He proposes that voting day be moved the first Tuesday after April 15th That way any poloticians that voted for a tax increase would probably be voted out of office while what they did was still fresh in the minds of the voters Sounds good to me