The Tax Man Cometh

Offensive rating: 3/10
Well it is a new year and I am already thinking about taxes. Ah yes, taxes. We pay them all day, every day. We pay gas tax and sales tax on cars in order to keep our roads pot hole free (and a marvelous job we are doing too), we pay income tax, bot state and federal, we pay tax at the grocery store on the food we eat, our phones are taxed, our gadgets and gizmos are taxed, our medicine and beer are taxed, and the final kick in the nuts, we are taxed on the money we have already been taxed on when we die.
Yes we pay taxes and then more taxes. We pay taxes when most don't even realize we are paying them. Yet we still have chasm like pot-holes, sub-standard schools, mediocre police protection, politicians with expense accounts at the Bellagio, crappy cell coverage, and an all intrusive government that would rather try to catch you not paying your taxes than catch a terrorist. I know I know, all those cameras on the streets are to catch red light runners and all the phone taps are to catch "terrorists". We would never use them against Americans just trying to make their way in the world.
So now there is a man and woman in New Hampshire who have holed themselves up in their home in New Hampshire because the Man in is their front yard waiting to arrest them for not paying taxes. "Live free or die!" the man keeps yelling. His gripe, and it's a good one, is that he pays more taxes than the president of the United States and makes less money, because he doesn't know all the write offs like the pres does. Yes, indeed that does suck. However any decent accountant can get the same write offs for you and all the info is available on the net or in books. So that I think should fall on him. LLCs, S-Corps, and other things are set up to allow people who work for their money to keep it. A friend of mine made almost 2 million last year and shelled out around $875,000 to Uncle Scam. To what end? His roads are not better, he has no kids but the kids around him aren't doing any better in school, the cops still take forever to get to a problem... where is his money going?
Many say that we need higher taxes, that more money will allow us to do more things... Poppy-cock I say. Every year more and more money goes into the black hole we call the US treasury never to be seen again. If we were to raise taxes another 10% on the top earners in America would that help? DO you think our daily lives would be greatly or even marginally enhanced? Highly doubtful. In fact I would put money on it.
Here is a little of my own private tax paying history. In 2004, my first full year in real estate I made give or take $32,000. I worked 6 days a week, nights, weekends, early mornings... the whole bit. My expenses? Give or take $40,000. I had more write offs than earnings so I didn't have to pay income tax because I didn't really make anything. And on top of that I was paying interest on the loans I had to take out. I did however have to pay FICA to the tune of 15%. Yes that's a little perk of being self-employed, I don't get to split my FICA with my employer and only pay 7.5%. Nope I paid 15% on the full $32,000. I will never see that money again. Ever.
And when the option came up to the powers that be to even allow me to take a portion of it to invest for myself I was told that the American people weren't capable enough to invest that money. That we NEEDED the government to do it for us. Well let's see, when I turn 65 I will have approximately $0 from social security. Even if I took $1000 of my FICA taxes every year and stuck it in a simple savings account I would have... let's see... carry the 5... a lot more than $0.
So I continue to pay my taxes and my hero in New Hampshire will be arrested and imprissioned when the Waco-ites on his lawn finally get to him. I won't get into the frivolous things our tax money is going to, that's a blog for another time, but I will say congrats to the man who says, "To what end do I pay my taxes?"
Here is a little info courtesy of http://www.taxhistory.org/

In 2003 the Pres "made" $822,126. Riiiiiight. $727,083 of that was taxable. He paid $227,494 in taxes putting him in the 31% bracket. He had $115,661 withheld and had a $173,280 carry over from 2002. So that means he gets back (carries over) $61,451 to 2004. Not bad for making over $800,000
Now the venerable John Kerry, champion of the poor and impoverished "made" $395,338 (riiiiiiiiiiiiight) in 2003, $346,664 taxable. He had $27,277 withheld. He ended up paying a total of $90,575 meaning he paid a whopping 26% in taxes.
Now we all know they made tons more than that but they are smart and know where to put it. They understand that it's not what you make but what you keep and that any money they out into the system is lost. The great part about it is that it is legal. It is available for anybody to do. So I say get educated people. Don't be guilted into betting on a losing horse. Own don't rent, write off things for your works... do what the people in Washington do. Do what they do but make sure you pay what you owe because the IRS can just go into your bank account and take what they want. Not to mention charge "fees and interest" that would make any loan shark in Little Italy giddy. And if you don't think that your favorite political figure from either side cares more about the money than they do about you, remember this. Michael Moore owns or has owned large quantities of Halliburton and Fox news has changed content because the Saudi "royal" family owns stock.

"Live free or die!"