Income Taxes

[tw]

Originally posted by sycamore
...Regarding OASDHI, I just figured mine on my pay stub...and it comes out to 7.65%, which sounds just about right, as I believe the employer picks up the additional 7.xx%. (Unless you're self-employed, then it's the full amount.) So Tom, maybe you can shed some light on why this 7+% is wrong?

You identified the numbers correctly. What is your real income? Then add about 7.xx%. Its a neat little trick to make you feel your SS is only 7.65% while really taxing you for 15+%. Your reported income is lowered so that you don't see the total amount of taxes taken from your income. When you work for someone, estimate your actual income at about 5% higher than what appears on your W-2. This hidden 7.xx% SS tax was just another way for policitans to increase taxes - and have you not know it. It was another way that Reagan could increase taxes but claim your taxes did not increase.

That $126 to HR Block or Jackson Hewitt is really another $150+ tax bill. That $126 may be taxed income. More politicans play these tax games because they have created a monsterous tax structure that only adds taxes we don't see. Too many don't even do 1040EZ - and therefore will believe the politican's political tax lies - because they do not do their own taxes.

In the year of tax simplification, I filed something like 13 forms - my record. In those same tax law simplifications, Carnival Cruise bribed politicians so that Carnival never paid any taxes. Carnival still has massive tax free incomes.

Now Bush is talking tax credits to fix this or that? Just another politican screwing up the tax laws with useless complications while the myopic believe he is 'fixing' the economy. Only addicts need that kind of fix.

Another addiction example. Many government tax breaks provide homeowners with less taxes when owning a home. Therefore all home prices rise accordingly. Now we have this big federal 'tax relief' program - and all these unproductively employed people - to keep housing prices "higher". IOW without the program, then housing prices would be lower - and just as affordable as with the tax programs. Yet if we eliminate this inflation creation program of tax relief to houses, then current homeowners will suffer a depreciation in their home value. We have created an addiction because politicians again play money games.

So how do you make recessions? Employ people in unproductive jobs - maintain the addiction. Make complicated tax laws. Now we need all those unproductive government jobs for housing subsidizes, and all those tax lawyers, and all those tax prepairing services because the tax forms get more complicated. So who does the politician blame? The IRS! Politicians simply blame their victims for the tax mess. And we let it happen. Many don't do our own taxes - and therefore we don't get angry every April 15 and kick some politician butt.

And how simple are taxes? A high school student, without any accounting background or economic training, is doing complicated taxes with all those depreciations. Many actually feel their tax preparers know the 10,000 pages of tax code? We have the politicians and the system we deserve. We actually think this high school student must be more accurate then us - because we pay her employer $125.