I was tempted to use the same sneer and tone that Alan Rickman used in Galaxy Quest when a stoned character Tony Shalhoub portrays says something about minors. https://youtu.be/YChWz_oow6g?feature=shared
...and you stopped to type this? TOTALLY screaming! (I'm still high on whatever the hospital put into the IV this morning). Really funny to read this and not be able to laugh yet. But I AM smiling.
OK, still feeling the meds from this morning so I honestly do not know whether I answered. I am ok, on maintenance for a couple of issues that are not terminal. The only reason that I mentioned it was because I thought that I had cancer and I DO NOT. I am not a hysteric but I think you would understand if you knew (not important)… I thought I would return home with even more fear and I lost my dad to it when I was 9 (60 years ago this year)… so I turned into almost a Karen.
Donny reminds me of my nephew, a very bright child who understood some concepts far beyond his years. When he was 5 or 6, he asked my sister questions about taxes. She explained that our government does not live within its means, so it has to borrow money to pay for everything on which it spends money. He asked how the government pays the money back. She told him that we do and that since more money had been borrowed than all the taxpayers could pay back, that his generation would still be paying back the money borrowed. This very bright child became very indignant and said, "That's not fair!! I didn't spend that money! I shouldn't have to pay it back!!" His mother agreed that it is not fair.
I so wish that we had been filming that conversation; I can still see his little indignant face and hear the righteous anger at being forced to pay for something about which he had no choice.
This same nephew started an egg business when he was 7 or 8, and most years he adds to his flock. My mama said to my sister that it must be nice to not have to go to the store for eggs. She said, "He sells all the eggs to the neighbors and people at church! I still have to go to the store for eggs!"
That second meme is spot on! One year I kept waiting and waiting for my refund until I finally called the IRS to see what was going on. They said the amount I listed for the quarterly estimated payments I made throughout the year was not correct. I don’t remember what the exact amounts were but as an example: I put 6200. Which was incorrect. I had actually paid 8400.
So I listed less than what I actually already paid so they held up my refund. They didn’t send me a letter or give me a call or anything.
And while on the phone, they would not tell me how much I had actually paid. What the correct amount was. I had to go through my checking account and figure out what payments were for what year and come up with the correct amount myself. All while I was on the phone with them. They wouldn’t tell me what the correct amount was until I told them.
We found an error of a refund not delivered (2015) in my father's tax records.
Hubbs and I are doing the estate. That was a hectic year for my dad, anyway,. No they will not send it now.... too late, I think you have 5 years to claim refunds. What turds
A few years ago I had a tax prepayment that I was directing the IRS to carry over to the next year. I had sent in a paper 1040, so some dreg in the IRS had to manually enter the info, I'm guessing. That person entered my carryover onto the wrong line and listed it as a refund rather than a carryover, which meant that one day I got the money as a refund check. That would mess up things for the next year, so I called and talked to countless people trying to get them to fix THEIR accounting error. It was really a difficult thing for them, really really difficult, Mount Everest to fix. One person told me he could see the exact error they had made, but he wasn't authorized to fix it and it had to go to some other dreg in the system. This tiny little error took over TWO years and a lot of phone calls from my end to fix.
For most of my life as a (now thank God ex-) Noo Yawkuh I accepted those miserably high local/state plus federal tax rates as at least helping to take care of society's needs and that at least I was lucky enough, struggling to survive as a normal middle-class person, not to require such assistance so I should not begrudge it to anyone who did.
I was intelligent, of course, in those days but I am much much smarter now.
I bought and sold property this year, and am reeling. "Sure picked the wrong week to give up drinking." Sadly, with payments done online, the option of stool samples isn't there.
Tl;dr-version: People used to look at and talk about "the Swedish model" with admiration and disbelief. Well, the below is what she looks like after three decades on the socio-political eq. to crystal meth and bath salts:
First, your employer pay 31.26% of your gross wage. This is called "arbetsgivaravgift"; lit. trans. "work-provider's fee", to mask that it is really you paying tax on you wage.
Second, you - if you earn more than eq. to $62 500/year (after the above tax) - must pay 20% of whatever above the $62 500 you make.
Third, you pay a county tax on what's left that's - on average - 32.41%.
And don't forget that most goods and services come with a 25% VAT too.
When my grandparents married, the total tax pressure was about 20%.
When mom was born, it was about 50%
Now, it's over 70%.
Is it any wonder we have (officially) over 10% unemployment* (25% youth unemployment**)?
For a family of a man, a woman and three kids that's all on welfare, to make it worth their while for one parent to take a full-time job, they'd have to earn - net per month - in excess of 24 000:- (ca $2 400) to break even compared to the total value of their welfare amount.
Most "simple jobs" pay much less than that; if you work full-time as a temp, say as county kindergarten staff, you earn - net- about 16 000:- a month.
I'm skipping 99% of the details and fine print here, but this is what the welfare-trap looks like when you reach the end of the path of good intentions: the jobs a typical welfare recipient could get, pay so little there's no point working, and lowering the welfare overall means making all those who can't work (cripples f.e.) destitute, homeless and soon-to-be-dead. Meanwhile, there are so many subsidies for employers hiring long-time unemployed for a limited time, there's no incentive to raise wages for simple jobs either.
30% - oh I wish I could complain about a lousy 30%!
*Only people registered with the office of unemployment are counted. If you are an unemployed migrant who attends one hour of Swedish class per week, you count as "employed". Our real unemployment is probably around 15%-17% or so: since all such data is public, they ceased collecting and collating it in any format accessible to the public decades ago. It was such a political embarassment and impossibility, ideology-wise, that they simply stopped looking.
** Youth unemployment means age 18-25 group, with the same caveat as above. A 23-year old with f.e. clinical depression who is not registered as unemployed but is in the health care system as a patient, is not counted, despite being unemployed.
Why this diatribe-essay? Because as Marlowe said:
"It is a comfort in wretchedness, to have companions in woe"
In other words, it you could have it a lot worse - so make damn sure you won't have it any worse than you already got, okay?
Is it a business property? Partially for business? What kind of business? What's the zoning? Forest or farmland or urban industrial lot or storefront? Residential? Are you a landlord or a rentier? Do you use part of your domicile for business? How much? How many hours? Is power, water, sewage, garbage handling included in the rent? How big is the parking lot? Do you own the land the building is on? Do you own the building but pay arrende for the land? What kind of servitut is there? Is the access road public or private?
It goes on like that, and certain changes to the house/building in question will also affect the property fee. That'd what they call the property tax for your house: a fee. It's based on the purchase value of your house and how many people per square kilometer there are in your area. And since your insurance is tied to the value reported to the insurer, you don't want to under-report the value to the tax-cartel, since doing so might lead to expensive problems down the road.
For someone with a cheap small old house, more like a cottage, like me, it's no big sum: $160/year. But it is annoying:
That sum is supposed to cover snow plowing and garbage collection, but they charge separately for that. The local county owns a company that has the county contract on those things, and in turn hire private contractors to the job - that way, they are allowed to charge fees to cover expenses incurred. That loophole was intended for temporary emergency stuff, like a road washing out and needing immediate repairs. It's like the ole' tee-shirt said:
The amounts vary by state and even counties within states, but in my state and county, it's simple for residences. Assessor comes by and decides your house and land are worth x. Then the tax is applied to x. Here they charge the tax on 1/3 of x. If you're lucky, you get lazy assessors who don't come around much and don't update the value of your property. So your house, as determined by them, is worth $180,000. They charge around .03% on $60,000 or $2000/yr. This is very low compared to places like CA or NY. It's your land, your property, you may even have paid it off. For the 2K/yr you're supposed to get good schools, roads, infrastructure. It doesn't happen in my state. Last in education, 6th in overdose deaths.
And earning over a certain amount doesn't work anymore. I think they got rid of the taxes on the overage. I don't earn over the certain amount, so I don't know. If you earn say $150,000/yr., you might be in the 22% tax bracket. You pay $33,000 unless you can dredge up a bunch of deductions. Even then you pay a lot.
Last week I was told my return had been done and reviewed. I could come pick it up at 10AM. When I got there the return hadn't bee sent yet, but they were out of printer toner and waiting for a delivery. I went grocery shopping drove home. then go a call that they had the return and the toner. The preparer's life ain't easy in the last week either.
With regards to taxation, my view at this point in the exercise is to 1-understand that was MY $$ they forcibly took, and then my duty is to claw back as much as I can, no regrets
Haven't quite got the fam' to get onto my POV, but the "refunds" help some.
I will say the ONE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER that I learned while in the Army, was that, if faced with a "dilemma" that required a decision (Y/N), that I should ALWAYS JUST DO IT and ask for forgiveness later (If required) = NEVER ASK FOR PERMISSION!
It is worse than that....the excess monies that you paid, which were part of your annual salary upon which you overpaid the taxes, is now considered NEW INCOME in the name of a tax refund.
Double taxation.
So we underpay via paycheck and set $$ aside to earn a little interest and pay what is owed at tax return. Not only does a human have to process it because it is mailed in with a paper check, that human has to do a quick look at the return....removing it from the computer's randomly assigned audits. So we understand....
I remember that POV, using your W4 to keep more for now and not "owing" as much later at the EOY............ but I said FK-DAT at some point. I got tired of negotiating MY hard earned $$ for some contrived semblance of safety in the auditing process.
I've been audited a couple of times, first one a win for me and the 2nd a loser, only due to the IRS changing the rules on company expenses.............. apparently, the only way you can claim expenses now is IF YOU WORK IN A GOVT JOB. How convenient.............
And here's what Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars says about paying taxes:
"When the government is able to collect tax and seize private property without just compensation, it is an indication that the public is ripe for surrender and is consenting to enslavement and legal encroachment. A good and easily quantified indicator of harvest time is the number of public citizens who pay income tax despite an obvious lack of reciprocal or honest service from the government."
I think I once read that there were something like 87 different taxes baked into a loaf of bread. Bread has changed over the last 100 years so I am sure that's what I am tasting...toxic taxins.
Stool sample.
Why not.
Government's really big on fecal recognition these days!
Scatology is the new hype !!!
I was tempted to use the same sneer and tone that Alan Rickman used in Galaxy Quest when a stoned character Tony Shalhoub portrays says something about minors. https://youtu.be/YChWz_oow6g?feature=shared
Don't send your own, as they'll get your DNA. Your dog would like to assist.
I was thinking the same thing. Prinnie (cornish rex kitty) has really dry poops most of the time.... anyway, great for mailing
So correct!
I have 3 dogs, so certain that one will comply!
Great idea and prudent thinking
Just when I thought the comments couldn’t get any better… YOU showed up!
{...stool sample...} ...
Carefully wrapped in toilet-paper, not in glass vials please !!!
Or, rolled in the return itself.
Whatever, most important it's fixed where the US Postal Service punches ...
Ask-em for interest on your return
Trust me. You don't want them to be interested in your return.
Yes, why not, because the government is hurling metaphorical stool samples at us when they decide to harass us and audit the tax money we sent!
My contribution:
https://rumble.com/v6s50ad-donny.html
Today we are all Donny.
...and you stopped to type this? TOTALLY screaming! (I'm still high on whatever the hospital put into the IV this morning). Really funny to read this and not be able to laugh yet. But I AM smiling.
I hope you feel better really soon
Thanks, my friend. Already doing better, such a good doctor (yes, there still are a few).
All is OK, just on maintenance and something was found, happily benign. I was a silly woman. I hope that worry was just a one-off, ROFL!
(((((hugs)))))
(((((HUGS))))) matter regardless so back atcha and I’m feeling light headed still and not pain.
Hope you're okay
OK, still feeling the meds from this morning so I honestly do not know whether I answered. I am ok, on maintenance for a couple of issues that are not terminal. The only reason that I mentioned it was because I thought that I had cancer and I DO NOT. I am not a hysteric but I think you would understand if you knew (not important)… I thought I would return home with even more fear and I lost my dad to it when I was 9 (60 years ago this year)… so I turned into almost a Karen.
Best wishes. Get well soon.
Donny reminds me of my nephew, a very bright child who understood some concepts far beyond his years. When he was 5 or 6, he asked my sister questions about taxes. She explained that our government does not live within its means, so it has to borrow money to pay for everything on which it spends money. He asked how the government pays the money back. She told him that we do and that since more money had been borrowed than all the taxpayers could pay back, that his generation would still be paying back the money borrowed. This very bright child became very indignant and said, "That's not fair!! I didn't spend that money! I shouldn't have to pay it back!!" His mother agreed that it is not fair.
I so wish that we had been filming that conversation; I can still see his little indignant face and hear the righteous anger at being forced to pay for something about which he had no choice.
This same nephew started an egg business when he was 7 or 8, and most years he adds to his flock. My mama said to my sister that it must be nice to not have to go to the store for eggs. She said, "He sells all the eggs to the neighbors and people at church! I still have to go to the store for eggs!"
Mrs. "the Knife"
That is both the saddest and funniest video I've seen in a while.
I was sure this was going to be a Big Lebowski reference.
That kid will be a wreck when he actually has to file and pay.
Poor kid. Poorer all of us.
That second meme is spot on! One year I kept waiting and waiting for my refund until I finally called the IRS to see what was going on. They said the amount I listed for the quarterly estimated payments I made throughout the year was not correct. I don’t remember what the exact amounts were but as an example: I put 6200. Which was incorrect. I had actually paid 8400.
So I listed less than what I actually already paid so they held up my refund. They didn’t send me a letter or give me a call or anything.
And while on the phone, they would not tell me how much I had actually paid. What the correct amount was. I had to go through my checking account and figure out what payments were for what year and come up with the correct amount myself. All while I was on the phone with them. They wouldn’t tell me what the correct amount was until I told them.
So ridiculous!
that is ridiculous.
We found an error of a refund not delivered (2015) in my father's tax records.
Hubbs and I are doing the estate. That was a hectic year for my dad, anyway,. No they will not send it now.... too late, I think you have 5 years to claim refunds. What turds
Oh, edited to add, the amount was $7000
A few years ago I had a tax prepayment that I was directing the IRS to carry over to the next year. I had sent in a paper 1040, so some dreg in the IRS had to manually enter the info, I'm guessing. That person entered my carryover onto the wrong line and listed it as a refund rather than a carryover, which meant that one day I got the money as a refund check. That would mess up things for the next year, so I called and talked to countless people trying to get them to fix THEIR accounting error. It was really a difficult thing for them, really really difficult, Mount Everest to fix. One person told me he could see the exact error they had made, but he wasn't authorized to fix it and it had to go to some other dreg in the system. This tiny little error took over TWO years and a lot of phone calls from my end to fix.
Double ugh...🤕
UGH! 😖
I'm not worried aboout toxoplasmosis. I'm knocked down and suffering from TAXoplasmosis. It's April 15th and the hit is just terrible!
For most of my life as a (now thank God ex-) Noo Yawkuh I accepted those miserably high local/state plus federal tax rates as at least helping to take care of society's needs and that at least I was lucky enough, struggling to survive as a normal middle-class person, not to require such assistance so I should not begrudge it to anyone who did.
I was intelligent, of course, in those days but I am much much smarter now.
I bought and sold property this year, and am reeling. "Sure picked the wrong week to give up drinking." Sadly, with payments done online, the option of stool samples isn't there.
"Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue." https://youtu.be/hd1ciPnTGKg?si=QEgxvFXXcLDK3-9p
I LOVE that movie! I wish I could see it again.
I'm sorry, LAST YEAR. Still stings, though.
30%?! I /wish/ the tax was as low as that!
Tl;dr-version: People used to look at and talk about "the Swedish model" with admiration and disbelief. Well, the below is what she looks like after three decades on the socio-political eq. to crystal meth and bath salts:
First, your employer pay 31.26% of your gross wage. This is called "arbetsgivaravgift"; lit. trans. "work-provider's fee", to mask that it is really you paying tax on you wage.
Second, you - if you earn more than eq. to $62 500/year (after the above tax) - must pay 20% of whatever above the $62 500 you make.
Third, you pay a county tax on what's left that's - on average - 32.41%.
And don't forget that most goods and services come with a 25% VAT too.
When my grandparents married, the total tax pressure was about 20%.
When mom was born, it was about 50%
Now, it's over 70%.
Is it any wonder we have (officially) over 10% unemployment* (25% youth unemployment**)?
For a family of a man, a woman and three kids that's all on welfare, to make it worth their while for one parent to take a full-time job, they'd have to earn - net per month - in excess of 24 000:- (ca $2 400) to break even compared to the total value of their welfare amount.
Most "simple jobs" pay much less than that; if you work full-time as a temp, say as county kindergarten staff, you earn - net- about 16 000:- a month.
I'm skipping 99% of the details and fine print here, but this is what the welfare-trap looks like when you reach the end of the path of good intentions: the jobs a typical welfare recipient could get, pay so little there's no point working, and lowering the welfare overall means making all those who can't work (cripples f.e.) destitute, homeless and soon-to-be-dead. Meanwhile, there are so many subsidies for employers hiring long-time unemployed for a limited time, there's no incentive to raise wages for simple jobs either.
30% - oh I wish I could complain about a lousy 30%!
*Only people registered with the office of unemployment are counted. If you are an unemployed migrant who attends one hour of Swedish class per week, you count as "employed". Our real unemployment is probably around 15%-17% or so: since all such data is public, they ceased collecting and collating it in any format accessible to the public decades ago. It was such a political embarassment and impossibility, ideology-wise, that they simply stopped looking.
** Youth unemployment means age 18-25 group, with the same caveat as above. A 23-year old with f.e. clinical depression who is not registered as unemployed but is in the health care system as a patient, is not counted, despite being unemployed.
Why this diatribe-essay? Because as Marlowe said:
"It is a comfort in wretchedness, to have companions in woe"
In other words, it you could have it a lot worse - so make damn sure you won't have it any worse than you already got, okay?
Was property tax in that litany of taxes? That's a fun one.
That's a ball of snakes in its own right.
Is it a business property? Partially for business? What kind of business? What's the zoning? Forest or farmland or urban industrial lot or storefront? Residential? Are you a landlord or a rentier? Do you use part of your domicile for business? How much? How many hours? Is power, water, sewage, garbage handling included in the rent? How big is the parking lot? Do you own the land the building is on? Do you own the building but pay arrende for the land? What kind of servitut is there? Is the access road public or private?
It goes on like that, and certain changes to the house/building in question will also affect the property fee. That'd what they call the property tax for your house: a fee. It's based on the purchase value of your house and how many people per square kilometer there are in your area. And since your insurance is tied to the value reported to the insurer, you don't want to under-report the value to the tax-cartel, since doing so might lead to expensive problems down the road.
For someone with a cheap small old house, more like a cottage, like me, it's no big sum: $160/year. But it is annoying:
That sum is supposed to cover snow plowing and garbage collection, but they charge separately for that. The local county owns a company that has the county contract on those things, and in turn hire private contractors to the job - that way, they are allowed to charge fees to cover expenses incurred. That loophole was intended for temporary emergency stuff, like a road washing out and needing immediate repairs. It's like the ole' tee-shirt said:
"Born free - taxed to death"
The amounts vary by state and even counties within states, but in my state and county, it's simple for residences. Assessor comes by and decides your house and land are worth x. Then the tax is applied to x. Here they charge the tax on 1/3 of x. If you're lucky, you get lazy assessors who don't come around much and don't update the value of your property. So your house, as determined by them, is worth $180,000. They charge around .03% on $60,000 or $2000/yr. This is very low compared to places like CA or NY. It's your land, your property, you may even have paid it off. For the 2K/yr you're supposed to get good schools, roads, infrastructure. It doesn't happen in my state. Last in education, 6th in overdose deaths.
And earning over a certain amount doesn't work anymore. I think they got rid of the taxes on the overage. I don't earn over the certain amount, so I don't know. If you earn say $150,000/yr., you might be in the 22% tax bracket. You pay $33,000 unless you can dredge up a bunch of deductions. Even then you pay a lot.
You make me want to convert to Islam, grab a few wives, and move to Sweden.
You have grasped the essence of tax season for us preparers....and payers!
Last week I was told my return had been done and reviewed. I could come pick it up at 10AM. When I got there the return hadn't bee sent yet, but they were out of printer toner and waiting for a delivery. I went grocery shopping drove home. then go a call that they had the return and the toner. The preparer's life ain't easy in the last week either.
With regards to taxation, my view at this point in the exercise is to 1-understand that was MY $$ they forcibly took, and then my duty is to claw back as much as I can, no regrets
Haven't quite got the fam' to get onto my POV, but the "refunds" help some.
I will say the ONE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER that I learned while in the Army, was that, if faced with a "dilemma" that required a decision (Y/N), that I should ALWAYS JUST DO IT and ask for forgiveness later (If required) = NEVER ASK FOR PERMISSION!
we usually keep as much as we can all year and pay on tax day. Otherwise they are earning interest on your money, that is shitty right there!
It is worse than that....the excess monies that you paid, which were part of your annual salary upon which you overpaid the taxes, is now considered NEW INCOME in the name of a tax refund.
Double taxation.
So we underpay via paycheck and set $$ aside to earn a little interest and pay what is owed at tax return. Not only does a human have to process it because it is mailed in with a paper check, that human has to do a quick look at the return....removing it from the computer's randomly assigned audits. So we understand....
I remember that POV, using your W4 to keep more for now and not "owing" as much later at the EOY............ but I said FK-DAT at some point. I got tired of negotiating MY hard earned $$ for some contrived semblance of safety in the auditing process.
I've been audited a couple of times, first one a win for me and the 2nd a loser, only due to the IRS changing the rules on company expenses.............. apparently, the only way you can claim expenses now is IF YOU WORK IN A GOVT JOB. How convenient.............
I like the concept of “just do it,” but what if… it is an “either or” decision? Should I pick the more active of the two options? —asking for a friend
I couldn't pay my taxes, Mr. IRS man, but I said a lot of nice things about you on the internet!
how can "enforcement" be legal if income tax is voluntary? 🤔https://x.com/freedomconvoy_/status/1876721521189691752
And here's what Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars says about paying taxes:
"When the government is able to collect tax and seize private property without just compensation, it is an indication that the public is ripe for surrender and is consenting to enslavement and legal encroachment. A good and easily quantified indicator of harvest time is the number of public citizens who pay income tax despite an obvious lack of reciprocal or honest service from the government."
To be fair, the intentional under-education over decades in this country has created the Trust the Gov mindset.
IF people knew the true boundaries, there just might be pushback....afterall...this is about money.
Let us not forget the CDC, IATA, DOT, and USPS regs and shipping/packaging requirements on biological samples....
Love the Jeff Bridges meme. Thank you
Do you mean Lloyd?7
I believe Loyd is his father
Sorry, I was actually commenting on Pi Guy's comment: " I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue".
Scene from Airplane!
No worries! I’m glad you stopped sniffing glue 🤣
It's for the common good.
Ugggh...
The worst 5 words in the history of mankind
Goes well with "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help".
Or telling a child:
"To be yourself, you must change yourself "
Bob Ross is back!! 🤣🤣
I think I once read that there were something like 87 different taxes baked into a loaf of bread. Bread has changed over the last 100 years so I am sure that's what I am tasting...toxic taxins.