Tax Day
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LOL... I'm going to see if I can get a government grant to support development of my 'silly walk'.
My hovercraft is full of eels.
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"Look, that rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide! It's a killer! "
"What's he do? Nibble your bum?"
"He's got huge, sharp... er... He can leap about. Look at the bones!"
Death and Taxes, death and taxes. I'd rather pay money to a democratic government than to a dictatorship. Point is that I'm going to be paying someone.
I just filed taxes online (now free if linking from irs.gov!). Took all of 15 minutes for them to tell me I still owe 300 bills. Sigh....now I can give my money away with even more convenience. Yah!
cl
Signature is NULL
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You're lucky to get 50% after tax. In Britain a decent wage earner loses 40% to the government in tax, then another 10% in national insurance (health service etc) before we even get our pay packets. After that the local government takes a fortune depending on the value of the home we live in (owned OR rented) and there's the tax on owning a car, having insurance and putting petrol in it (£3.50 a gallon and £2.50 of that goes to government). If we smoke or drink, most of the price goes to the government and buying anything but basic food means paying VAT at 17.5%
There's very little left from our pound and not a lot to show for it!
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Too funny. The Democrats ran the show for 40 years - no dictatorship there.... And isn't everyone happy with the results?
My silly walk needs work too..., where do you apply?
(I had my bands name tatooed on my forehead..., but I didn't know how to spell 'maroon'...)
I wasn't born stupid - I had to study.
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Well I agree with paying taxes, I disagree with the way the goverment spends it.
If I waste my money, cool, if someone else does !!!
The goverment has gotten way off track, in my mind, it's job is to protect us and provide services (needed services, read twice) that the private sector cannot or will not.
SET Rant MODE ON
Not the best example, but representative.
Seat belt laws, I wear my religiously (and I'm not religious), but I really object to my tax dollars being spent for enforcement, advertising ... for this. Hand out stupid tickets ok, but you wearing your seatbelts doesn't make me any safer. Okay, I'll give the Liberals the cost of insurance line, but !!
Another example :
In Chicago the city has created a rental agency for cars for city dwellers that only need them once in a while. Gee doesn't Hertz do that !!
Here they added a new gas tax, to "improve" the roads. Just under 100k went to Schaumburg for the "Entering Schaumburg" sign on ONE roadway. How much else was spent beautifying, not improving.
Look at the new capitol viewing center, original budget 265mil, current cost 480, current estimate over 500. Was that you Frank building a barn(Just checked, it was Steve, same still applies), let's see what you do to the contractor when the cost is a shade under double the estimate. I'd accept 20 or 25%, not happily but ok.
SET Rant MODE OFF ( I Like that one !!)
KlK, MCSE
KlK -
Oh man P. Jones, that is pathetic. I knew it was far worse over the pond in Europe, but that is ridiculous. Well, I guess that's where America is headed too. Life confiscation. Xfer of 80% of my earned money to slobs who sit around and expect a handout from the govt. Everywhere you look, people are trading in their freedom for security.
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Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
Benjamin Franklin
I wasn't born stupid - I had to study.
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Tales from up north! Not a DBA, and I live in Canada, so our tax deadline is April 30th.
And while there are some things about the US that are better (I used to think tax rates, etc were one of them), I might revising that opinion after some of the posts I’ve seen here
And while I still wish the founders of Canada had been bright enough to include a nice piece of beach, and some warmer climate when they were staking their claim out (or at least accept that tropical island that I’ve heard keeps trying to join us
), I think we have it relatively good up here in the north! However, I’m at the end of my tolerance for cold, so I am still leaning towards San Diego someday and working towards education (& language) credits/degrees that will help with that process. Although, I am interested in waiting until the current US governmental regime goes away, and I keep watching the changes they have made to visas, etc and it gets harder and harder to get in, even from Canada.
Not to make anyone jealous, but it is possible to get $ back, at least in Canada! Went to see my accountant last week and I’m getting back +$3000.00 (and then some) this year. The reason for this is mostly b/c I worked for 2 different companies last year, and both took off too much for CPP, etc. And I still haven’t found my last years return yet to verify the education credits I also have to carry over from 2003, so it may be more!
Perhaps I am just lucky, but I’ve never had to pay taxes yet. Maybe that is mostly due to either having been in school and/or having education credits to apply against an "average" income (but that's now changed), or having done some contracting work in addition to my day job, which means I can write a lot of things off.
Next year will be interesting though, as I am now making a lot more than last year, and if I keep moving up through the tax brackets, perhaps things will change and I may have to eventually pay. But, that is what I pay my accountant for, to help me figure out what I need to do to ensure that I don't. So, I am still doing school/some courses, which seems to make a huge difference on your return. Not sure if that would help anyone out there, but here if the courses are through a recognized college/university, you are almost guaranteed to get some $ back if you do a couple evening/weekend courses a year that you can claim.
Cheers.
Michelle/Dolphin.
"Work like you don't need the money;
dance like no one is watching;
sing like no one is listening;
love like you've never been hurt;
and live every day as if it were your last."
~ an old Irish proverb -
Micehelle, I'm having a hard time believing that you pay absolutely no taxes. Do you not get taxed by the goverment (central/federal Canadian) each pay check? If not, maybe you have a national sales tax? -Vic
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Vic,
OF COURSE I pay taxes, they come off my paycheque automatically every month. I pay at the minimum, CIT ~1000/paycheque right now (and EI ~ 90.00/paycheque and CPP ~ 200.00/paycheque)... oh and I have union dues that come off as well. Unless you are being paid under the table and the employer/employee isn't reporting, you pay taxes in Canada!
So... I think you totally read my message wrong. I pay taxes, but I haven't ever owed and had to pay anything at tax time (EVER), and I have always gotten $ back... min of $1000.00 at the very least!
All I was commenting on is everyone in the US that was posting here seemed to owe $ (taxes) and were sending cheques with their return, which I've never done, as I've never had to pay. I've always received $ back. Maybe those people either need to get a good accountant, or the tax stuff in the US isn't really as good as they make it out to be.
Maybe you should read up on Canadian tax laws/information (or actually read the post you are responding to few more times) before jumping the gun
Oh, and not sure where you are from, but Canada also has a national sales tax called the GST, and most provinces have provincial sales tax. I live in one out of the only 4 provinces (last I heard) that doesn't have a provincial one.
Cheers.
And it's Michelle (not Micehelle).
Thanks.
Michelle/Dolphin.
"Work like you don't need the money;
dance like no one is watching;
sing like no one is listening;
love like you've never been hurt;
and live every day as if it were your last."
~ an old Irish proverb -
Sorry Michelle, I spelled your name wrong, my bad. The reason I said what I said is because you specifically said "Perhaps I am just lucky, but I’ve never had to pay taxes yet". Somehow, that kind of led me to believe that you've paid no taxes.
Actually, I am receiving a very large check back from the federal government for 2004 taxes, but I am complaining because throughout the year I pay too much out of my paycheck. In the end, about 40% of my gross income is confiscated by the govt. Some of it is used in good ways: military defense, police, road / utility improvement, take care of people who are down & out because of mental disorders, etc, but most is used in ways that I personally believe is redistribution of wealth to people who are 1) lazier than I have been throughout my hard-working life, & 2) made poor choices in their life (quiting school, doing drugs, buying an HDTV instead of going to night school, etc). This is what freedom is all about. People are not poor because they are "unfortunate", they are poor because of the choices (or no choices) they have made in their life.
Oh, and Bush is the best president we have had since Reagan, so come on down. Now, he spends too much money to suit my fancy, but hey, at least he is willing to defend our nation. I love Canada and it's people, just not it's liberal government. From what I hear, the govt is collapsing and the conservatives are gaining in the vote underground. Maybe an election coming up soon. A liberal society only survives so long before it collapses on itself. Look at the USSR for an example. How long is the wait to see a doctor there in Canada with your universal government healthcare? 3 months?
-Vic
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Government waste is bad enough. But you would think that at least the confidential information that we submit to the IRS (Internal Revenue Service in the US) is secure, right?
Think again: http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,101166,00.html
It's not enough that we have to worry about LexisNexis or others leaking our personal info to unauthorized people. Now it's our own government? If any of us were responsible for a security hole like this, we'd be fired on the spot. What's wrong with this picture?
My hovercraft is full of eels.
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"Actually, I am receiving a very large check back from the federal government for 2004 taxes, but I am complaining because throughout the year I pay too much out of my paycheck. In the end, about 40% of my gross income is confiscated by the govt."
This is what refund/owe boils down to. Its just another choice that WE make. Those who value cutting expenses in order to increase the bottom line will pay in as little as possible and owe the greatest amount come April 15. They gain the use of the "government's" money for the interim. Those of us (yeah, I said "us") who value getting something back come tax day put more in during the year, and give the government use of "OUR" money in the interim. But it IS a choice. You can make adjustments to your withholding to support whichever camp you belong to.
That being said, I live in the U.S., and will receive about $2700 back from the federal government, and about $700 from the state. While I would no doubt be smarter to decrease my withholding, and invest the extra $$$ wisely, I know that I'm not disciplined enough to do that, and would "waste" it myself. So, for me, the refund works quite well.
THAT being said, I WOULD like for the government to spend MY $$$ more wisely, so that my withholding could be smaller, and my refund larger!
Steve
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The government's money?!?! That was one of the main points; its YOUR money.
On April 17th of this year, you finally paid off the Government for 2005. Think of all those hours - worth it?
Once you buy into the belief that its the "Government's" money, you have lost perspective of what Government is and what it is for...
I wasn't born stupid - I had to study.
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Farrell,
"Those who value cutting expenses in order to increase the bottom line will pay in as little as possible and owe the greatest amount come April 15. They gain the use of the "government's" money for the interim."
"government's" money was used for perspective, not to show ownership. That's why its in quotes.
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THAT being said, I WOULD like for the government to spend MY $$$ more wisely, so that my withholding could be smaller, and my refund larger!
Steve
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