Taxes, taxes, taxes and LESS TAXES... wait, what?!?!?

[JettaKnight]

Just started, and the initial figures are a 2% income increase, but a 4% tax increase.


Thanks [STRIKE]Obama[/STRIKE] Trump.

EDIT: I completed 90% of Sch. A, that made a big difference. My tax decreased 5%.

 

[Libertarian01]

short summary
in the end uncle sam still wins, just like the house always wins in poker. uncle sam is not in the biz of lossing. ingo member 1 might win but those winnings are offset by ingo member 2 and 3 having lost much more.

I'm going to have to disagree a bit here chief.

In the end we, or rather our children and grandchildren LOSE!

We have a $22 trillion debt. We have about $130 trillion in unfunded liabilities. This is just federal.

The democrats are right that we need to raise revenue. They are wrong about wanting to spend it. The republitards have gone off the reservation of fiscal responsibility. They're wasting as much as the democrats, just on different crap.

Oh, we need to cut spending too, but if you look hard at the numbers we cannot cut our way out of the hole we're in. Raise taxes, do away with rightoffs, I don't care... but both ends of the candle need to burn if we're to avoid cataclysmic economic failure that will make the great depression look like a Sunday outing.

Uncle Sam will lose as well, just not the same uncles that are in office today. This is the horror of being allowed to kick the can when nobody cares, so long as it isn't them.

Regards,

Doug

PS - Still looking for folks to help at the Winimac youth shoot in June!

 

[JettaKnight]

I can't rep you, Doug, but you speak the truth.


PM me about the Winimac shoot. I typically only shoot grown adults, but excepts can be made.

 

[BugI02]

I'm going to have to disagree a bit here chief.

In the end we, or rather our children and grandchildren LOSE!

We have a $22 trillion debt. We have about $130 trillion in unfunded liabilities. This is just federal.

The democrats are right that we need to raise revenue. They are wrong about wanting to spend it. The republitards have gone off the reservation of fiscal responsibility. They're wasting as much as the democrats, just on different crap.

Oh, we need to cut spending too, but if you look hard at the numbers we cannot cut our way out of the hole we're in. Raise taxes, do away with rightoffs, I don't care... but both ends of the candle need to burn if we're to avoid cataclysmic economic failure that will make the great depression look like a Sunday outing.

Uncle Sam will lose as well, just not the same uncles that are in office today. This is the horror of being allowed to kick the can when nobody cares, so long as it isn't them.

Regards,

Doug

PS - Still looking for folks to help at the Winimac youth shoot in June!

Humans are very very bad at dealing with crises that have not already bitten them in the ass

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I can't rep you, Doug, but you speak the truth.


PM me about the Winimac shoot. I typically only shoot grown adults, but excepts can be made.

The young ones are a lot more tender.

 

[T.Lex]

The coincidence that a couple of non-Trump supporters have increased taxes is kinda funny. I mean, if this was by design, it is pretty brilliant!

 

[KLB]

I'm still working through deductions, but I think it is a cumulative effect. And the exemption issue.

Also... and this is purely coincidence... last year I was just under the max of a bracket. This year, I think I'm right in the middle.

ETA:
In thinking about it more, we are over the cap on SALT and mortgage interest for 2018. That's part of it, too. That actually may be the bulk of it, now that I think about it.

Bah. Your just one of the rich people. Probably still not paying your fair share.

 

[BigRed]

Meanwhile, the national debt being loaded to our children and grandchildren has surpassed $22,000,000,000,000.

Thanks federal government. How could we live without you?

 

[jedi]

oh dont worry 1 day we will at this rate of debt.
but its not all that bad.
6t is really debt we owe to ourselves (social security)
so remove that and its down to 16t.
that 16t is about 76% of gdp (q3 2018 numbers) which is still lower then the highest we had back in 1945 when it was 113% of gdp. so that puts us in 43rd highest out of 207 1st world countries.

is it bad. yes. is it real bad. not yet. by 2028 we will be at 100% of gdp at rhe rate we are going.

 

[jamil]

The coincidence that a couple of non-Trump supporters have increased taxes is kinda funny. I mean, if this was by design, it is pretty brilliant!

Well. I don’t know about mine. I’m going from what people have said. Come mid April when I do my taxes, I may be giving y’all the raspberry/neener neener.

 

[BigRed]

oh dont worry 1 day we will at this rate of debt.
but its not all that bad.
6t is really debt we owe to ourselves (social security)
so remove that and its down to 16t.
that 16t is about 76% of gdp (q3 2018 numbers) which is still lower then the highest we had back in 1945 when it was 113% of gdp. so that puts us in 43rd highest out of 207 1st world countries.

is it bad. yes. is it real bad. not yet. by 2028 we will be at 100% of gdp at rhe rate we are going.

Sounds like enough reason to cut that dog's tail off..... right behind its ears.

 

[jedi]

not going to happen.
even trump does NOT have the willpower to do it.

look at greece. they went thru this mess and are still up to no good in it after a full reset. its human nature to be this way.

 

[jamil]

not going to happen.
even trump does NOT have the willpower to do it.

look at greece. they went thru this mess and are still up to no good in it after a full reset. its human nature to be this way.

Uh, “even Trump” doesn’t haave the will? As if he’s a fiscal conservative? He’s on record saying he doesn’t care about the debt.

 

[jedi]

what i meant by that statement is no one has the willpower do cut the debt as president. yes trump loves debt. trump is about as crazy as we can get in the office in terms of not giving a damb about the consequences. he is on the same level as n.k. guy willing to nuke the world. so even with that level of not giving a d... that person is not willing to cut the debt.

its not an easy fix nor a quick one.
it took me 6 years to get fully out of debt minus the mortage and it was a painful 6 years of doing it and everyone made fun of me including family as to how i did it and why i was doing it.

short summary ate just about nothing, worked 2 jobs, bought nothing, everything went to extra cc payments, sold personal belongings, no vacations, no tv cable, no internet, etc..
it hurt big time physcially, emotionally and mentality but now im free and money/stuff is seen very differently.

on a national level we as a country are not willing to do it. nor are we setup .gov wise to do it. 1 politician alone cant do it. we are not a dictatorship. nor would the level of hurt over time can this nation endure. we are too spoiled to do that

 

[JettaKnight]

yes trump loves debt.

Of course! As a business man he's leveraged debt and then filed bankruptcy when it became too much.

The coincidence that a couple of non-Trump supporters have increased taxes is kinda funny. I mean, if this was by design, it is pretty brilliant!

I updated my post - I'm getting a fat refund, which while disappointing that I wasn't earning interest, is still a pleasant surprise.

 

[HoughMade]

A lot of people, Trump included, believe that with enough growth, we have turn a deficit into a surplus. After all, it happened during the Clinton years.

Then, if you have enough revenue to service the debt, who cares if there is debt? Heck a lot of people live that way making half what I do and living in a $300,000 house and owning 2 newish cars.

It's all well and good, at home and federally, until something happens that either raises costs or reduces income- then everything collapses, but much faster at home then in Washington.

I suppose I'm a little cruel when I chuckle to myself when people who have financed a fairly luxurious lifestyle rather than living modestly start complaining about their kids having to go deep into debt for college.

 

[T.Lex]

I updated my post - I'm getting a fat refund, which while disappointing that I wasn't earning interest, is still a pleasant surprise.

Ah, right. I've only scratched the surface of my schedule A, so you've given me some hope.

Well. I know I'm not getting a refund, but that's ok. I'd rather keep my money (and small amount of interest) than let .fed have it.

 

[Hohn]

Hi. I'm here in Indiana. I kinda preferred not having to pay taxes to the feds on income that was taken from me by my state and county.

Who wouldn't?

And it does seem consistent since the states let you deduct your fed taxes, right?

There is an inherent tension between tax amounts and tax distribution. I'm willing to pay a small bit more in fed tax to make others (further Left and in more urban areas) pay even more still. I'm patriotic like that, lol.

As it is now, the SALT cap lets most of us fully deduct, you have to be living in a pretty expensive area not to get full deductibility.

In which case, I probably think you deserve the higher taxes.

 

[MarkC]

Who wouldn't?

And it does seem consistent since the states let you deduct your fed taxes, right?

There is an inherent tension between tax amounts and tax distribution. I'm willing to pay a small bit more in fed tax to make others (further Left and in more urban areas) pay even more still. I'm patriotic like that, lol.

As it is now, the SALT cap lets most of us fully deduct, you have to be living in a pretty expensive area not to get full deductibility.

In which case, I probably think you deserve the higher taxes.

My wife's brother and his wife, strongly devoted liberals, moved to Massachusetts to be closer to performance opportunities (both are voice musicians).

After a year they came back, complaining about the cost of living there, especially the taxes.

Seems like they support everyone else paying their "fair share," but when it came to be their turn, not so much for them.

 

[T.Lex]

Who wouldn't?

And it does seem consistent since the states let you deduct your fed taxes, right?

There is an inherent tension between tax amounts and tax distribution. I'm willing to pay a small bit more in fed tax to make others (further Left and in more urban areas) pay even more still. I'm patriotic like that, lol.

As it is now, the SALT cap lets most of us fully deduct, you have to be living in a pretty expensive area not to get full deductibility.

In which case, I probably think you deserve the higher taxes.

Interesting. I'm curious about this "deserve to pay higher taxes" idea.

I'm not conceptually opposed to a progressive tax rate. And if that's what you're getting at, I can understand it. My sense is that there may be more to it.

Are there other criteria that should require someone to pay higher income taxes?