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"Unfortunately, buckos, it's time to pay up!": The (Cartoon) Beatles in "Taxman"
The Fab Four's animated counterparts declare the pennies on their eyes in their animated series from the 1960s (and yes, they get around to singing "Taxman" by the end):
Thanks to Maura Flynn for the tip.
This looks better at Rough Cut, reason.tv's video blog. Go there now!
Guy Montag|4.15.08 @ 10:30AM|#
I am still amazed that my fellow Americans wait until the last
moment to file their income tax forms. Well, the ones getting
"refunds" anyway.
Have always been amazed at the popular notion that a refund is
"good". That was one of the most baffling things that folk in my
college discipline of Finance never seem to end writing papers
about too.
Anyway, I did my taxes in January. Still got a refund, but it was a
small one from the feds. Still trying to figure out how to keep VA
from taking so much all year.
|4.15.08 @ 10:45AM|#
And on this most holy of socialist holidays, may I extend to
both our liberal and war-mongering trolls a hale and hearty:
FUCK YOU!
|4.15.08 @ 10:52AM|#
NH, the land of no income and sales taxes, is not tax free if
you're self-employed. Bastards! That was my big surprise of the
year.
What gets rarely talked about in the tax complexity debate is how
tax software has further clouded the issue. I still do my own
taxes, but I wouldn't if not for tax software (I use TaxCut). I
wonder how complex we would have let our tax code get if not for
this time saver?
|4.15.08 @ 10:52AM|#
@Guy Montag
Anyway, I did my taxes in January. Still got a refund, but it
was a small one from the feds. Still trying to figure out how to
keep VA from taking so much all year.
Yeah, well, some of us weren't lucky enough to get a refund, some
of us had to pay extra. In fact, both the feds and the state ate my
lunch for me this year.
@SugarFree
And on this most holy of socialist holidays, may I extend to
both our liberal and war-mongering trolls a hale and hearty:
FUCK YOU!
I'll sure as hell second that!
|4.15.08 @ 10:58AM|#
Guy,
Well, a small refund isn't that bad and preferable to owing a small
amount. I usually end up being owed about $30, which pays for my
tax software. However, the $1-2 in opportunity cost is well worth
the lack worry of owing the government.
Guy Montag|4.15.08 @ 11:04AM|#
PM,
Yeah, well, some of us weren't lucky enough to get a refund,
some of us had to pay extra. In fact, both the feds and the state
ate my lunch for me this year.
I would have rather paid some small amount that get back a $300+
"refund" of my own money that they kept all year.
BTW, the "lucky enough to get a refund" comment is exactly the
thing that is so baffling in Finance and Accounting that I was
talking about. Not sure why you feel "lucky" to have others keep
your money for you, interest free, all year, but if it makes you
feel better then have at it.
|4.15.08 @ 11:04AM|#
Getting a refund means you lent the Government money tax free.
Why in hell would you want to do that?
BTW, NIck seems stuck in Happy Days, what with his leather jacket
and all this "bucko" talk.
George Harrison of the Free Ti|4.15.08 @ 11:07AM|#
"Taxman"
One, two, three, four...
Hrmm!
One, two, (one, two, three, four!)
Let me tell you how it will be;
There's one for you, nineteen for me.
'Cause I'm the taxman,
Yeah, I'm the taxman.
Should five per cent appear too small,
Be thankful I don't take it all.
'Cause I'm the taxman,
Yeah, I'm the taxman.
(if you drive a car, car;) - I'll tax the street;
(if you try to sit, sit;) - I'll tax your seat;
(if you get too cold, cold;) - I'll tax the heat;
(if you take a walk, walk;) - I'll tax your feet.
Taxman!
'Cause I'm the taxman,
Yeah, I'm the taxman.
Don't ask me what I want it for, (ah-ah, mister Wilson)
If you don't want to pay some more. (ah-ah, mister heath)
'Cause I'm the taxman,
Yeah, I'm the taxman.
Now my advice for those who die, (taxman)
Declare the pennies on your eyes. (taxman)
'Cause I'm the taxman,
Yeah, I'm the taxman.
And you're working for no one but me.
Taxman!
squarooticus|4.15.08 @ 11:20AM|#
Yeah, well, some of us weren't lucky enough to get a refund,
some of us had to pay extra. In fact, both the feds and the state
ate my lunch for me this year.
Same here.
And on this most holy of socialist holidays, may I extend to
both our liberal and war-mongering trolls a hale and hearty:
FUCK YOU!
I'll sure as hell second that!
Whenever the subject comes up, just remember to always say, "The
only reason I pay taxes is because the government will throw me in
prison if I don't." If nothing else, it's a good way to start a
conversation about aggression, the use of force, and
government-as-monopoly.
|4.15.08 @ 11:27AM|#
Why are y'all even paying taxes at all? Don't you know Sen. Reid says they's voluntary?
The Whine Commonsewer|4.15.08 @ 11:33AM|#
113 Days of 2008 You Ain't Getting Back. George Harrison & Eric Clapton do Tax Man here.
Guy Montag|4.15.08 @ 11:34AM|#
Over at American Prospect they are
already celebrating tax rebates and
deriding tax simplification as another "tax dodge" for the
rich!
BTW, I am too "rich" to get that "extra" rebate check coming in a
month or so.
I wonder why they are not encouraging folks to donate their rebates
back to the government? It is really easy to donate money directly
to the government activity that you support and keep it away from
the stuff you don't like.
Even the Rev. William Jefferson Clinton (C-AR) tells his tax people
to resolve questions in favor of the government, according to one
of his press chats anyway.
Oh wait, sorry, I forgot. Over at Prospect, WE are the ones who
need to give our tax dollars to THEM and if we don't want to do it
willingly, the people they support having guns will be ordered to
help them. MY BAD!
Guy Montag|4.15.08 @ 11:35AM|#
BB,
Being successful does not make me like people, but I always thought
you were a hottie.
|4.15.08 @ 11:38AM|#
How about the scam, which is the quarterly tax estimated
payments on your expected income based on last year's income?
After a year of struggling to start my own company, I saved back
enough to pay last year's tax and the first quarter of this
year.
My first income tax payment estimate for this year was more than I
made in income. My accountant told me I should pay it anyway or I
would incur penalties from the IRS. He said that things may get
better as the year goes on and I couldn't make additional payments
as I made more money.
How's that for fair and equitable? Paying more tax than you make
for yourself?
/If paying taxes requires more than 15 minutes and a few
calculations then we're doing it wrong.
//My grandfather had a name for the IRS greedy
bastards.
///What happened to figuring out what you make at the end of the
year and settling up at that time?
Neil|4.15.08 @ 11:39AM|#
If you dont want more tax hikes, vote McCain!
Hes just praposed a gas tax holiday for the summer! More tax cuts,
NO to liberal Democrat elitist economics!
Kolohe|4.15.08 @ 11:40AM|#
Last night, some $7.00 in "unrecaptured section 1250 gains" on
my brokerage account doubled the length of time that it normally
takes to do them.
Yes, I still do it on paper with the worksheets and a pocket
calculator. I should probably be in a Smithsonian exhibit.
|4.15.08 @ 11:42AM|#
"I wonder why they are not encouraging folks to donate their
rebates back to the government?"
Hopefully, my largesse from the government will be immediately
returned to them in the form of my second quarterly estimated
payment.
squarooticus|4.15.08 @ 11:49AM|#
///What happened to figuring out what you make at the end of
the year and settling up at that time?
You are asking the wrong question. What happened to paying for
goods and services at a price agreed upon by the two participants
in the exchange? You know, that whole "free market" thing?
I'd say the government is like that unscrupulous mechanic who, in
response to the question, "How much will it cost?", answers, "Well,
how much you got?"... but in fact, it's like a mechanic who charges
you what he wants, holds a gun to your head to make you pay, and
then actually makes your car more broken.
Government is nothing more than a criminal gang. Repeat it often
and it will sink in.
Neil|4.15.08 @ 11:49AM|#
Episiarch are you going to tell me that the Democrat Party
doesn't support a massive tax hike?
Do you support McCain's gas tax holiday?
Episiarch|4.15.08 @ 11:51AM|#
Government is nothing more than a criminal gang. Repeat it
often and it will sink in.
Oh, I have tried. But people who watch the government rape them tax
wise--and complain!--will still defend it.
Battered Taxpayer Syndrome.
Barbara Bach|4.15.08 @ 11:53AM|#
I measure the relative success of the Beatles in units of, well, me.
Guy Montag|4.15.08 @ 11:53AM|#
///What happened to figuring out what you make at the end of
the year and settling up at that time?
Too late to check with FDR, but you might want to check some of
those mental wards FDR revering 'bloggers who think
that FDR was some sort of political messiah. Sean Hannity seems to
be one of them, but there are plenty of others.
|4.15.08 @ 11:54AM|#
Anyone yet see the Hillary ad where she says it is wrong that a
Wall Street money guy making $50 million a year pays a smaller
percentage of his income in taxes than a nurse or truck driver
making $50,000? This is a blatant attempt at stirring up class
resentment, and she is right, it is wrong!
Using the 1040 tax tables, a single nurse making $50,000, with
standard deduction, will pay 13.46% of her pay in federal tax; a
single Wall Street master of the universe making $50,000,000, with
standard deduction, will pay 34.95%.
TallDave|4.15.08 @ 11:54AM|#
Todd Flanders: Daddy, what do taxes pay for?
Ned Flanders: Why, everything! Policeman, trees, sunshine, and
let's not forget the folks who just don't feel like workin', God
bless 'em!
Episiarch|4.15.08 @ 11:54AM|#
Neil, I am telling everyone that your posts are super amusing. I
don't think you would agree with my definition of amusing.
"Tax holidays" are bullshit where politicians briefly stop stealing
from you and then get the money back later in stealthier ways. If
McCain wants to impress me he can call for permanent reductions in
gas taxes.
And if McCain is for reducing taxes, where the fuck is he going to
get the money for his perpetual war? Riddle me that, Bat-Neil.
|4.15.08 @ 11:56AM|#
Excessive taxes have a solution, but the GovGang will never let
it happen:
Abolish withholding and make Tax Day and Election Day the same
thing. Write a huge fucking check right before you go vote. Maybe
then it would start to sink in.
TallDave|4.15.08 @ 11:58AM|#
Anyone yet see the Hillary ad where she says it is wrong
that a Wall Street money guy making $50 million a year pays a
smaller percentage of his income in taxes than a nurse or truck
driver making $50,000?
I assume they are referring to the payroll tax cap, but they're
still wrong.
I doubt the payroll tax cap will survive the combination of a Dem
WH and Congress. But at least we'll finally be able to shed the
notion that Social Security is anything but massive wealth
redistribution -- especially when they put in means testing to
boot.
squarooticus|4.15.08 @ 11:58AM|#
Episiarch are you going to tell me that the Democrat Party
doesn't support a massive tax hike?
Neil, are you going to tell me that either party actually supports
a solvent government? Let's see, we have two options:
Democrats: inflated currency (which is a hidden tax on both
dollar-denominated savings *and* on capital "gains" when the dollar
value of your asset goes up while its purchasing power remains
constant), higher taxes, and more spending.
Republicans: even more inflated currency (to make up for not
raising taxes) and more spending.
Where's the "keep your grubby hands off my property, you greedy,
conniving, criminal gangster twats!" option?
Do you support McCain's gas tax holiday?
My 2007 income tax was approximately 500 *times* what I pay in gas
taxes each year. Ask me if this is the biggest complaint I
have.
|4.15.08 @ 11:58AM|#
Episiarch,
He'll pay for the war and any new wars the old fashioned way:
pillage. What the hell, the rest of the world's going to condemn
anything we do while we're still on top. Might as well enjoy the
ride.
Neil|4.15.08 @ 11:59AM|#
"And if McCain is for reducing taxes, where the fuck is he going
to get the money for his perpetual war? Riddle me that,
Bat-Neil."
Hes going to cut wasteful Washington spending like earmarks and
welfare. He'll reform social security with private accounts. He'll
STOP socialized medicene and roll back Medicare Part D by making
the wealth pay for their own prescriptions.
Mad Max|4.15.08 @ 12:01PM|#
"Even . . . William Jefferson Clinton (C-AR) tells his tax
people to resolve questions in favor of the government, according
to one of his press chats anyway."
Now *there's* a credible source - President
disbarred-for-dishonesty himself.
"If you dont want more tax hikes, vote McCain!"
(a) Yeah, *that's* credible.
(b) We need rollback, not containment. If McCain supports the
current tax structure (as you imply), then he's already screwing
the people.
TallDave|4.15.08 @ 12:01PM|#
Neil, are you going to tell me that either party actually
supports a solvent government?
Well, it's worth remembering the GOP was a couple votes away from
passing a Balanced Budget Amendement. The Dems managed to kill
it.
The scary thing for minarchists is that as bad as Republicans have
been, Dems are absolutely guaranteeing they will be worse.
Neil|4.15.08 @ 12:03PM|#
Mad Max Mccain promised to reform and simplify the tax code. Do
you think B. Hussein would be able to do that? No!
And he supports a balanced budget amendment.
|4.15.08 @ 12:03PM|#
a single Wall Street master of the universe making
$50,000,000, with standard deduction, will pay 34.95%.
Hildebeast's statement was a reference to Capital Gains tax rates
paid by investment bankers. I never bought into the Hall/Rabushka
argument that Capital Gains shouldn't be taxed like income. Their
technical analysis didn't stand up to the practical reality that
people who make money trading assets have a lower tax rate than
everyone else.
Do you support McCain's gas tax holiday?
No. It's a joke. Gas taxes are (supposed to be) use taxes. They're
one of the few legitimate taxes on the books.
TallDave|4.15.08 @ 12:04PM|#
And if McCain is for reducing taxes, where the fuck is he
going to get the money for his perpetual war?
We're going to have to pay for perpetual war as long as terrorists
are determined to attack us. We can spend a trillion attacking them
or two trillion on cleaning up after they attack us.
TallDave|4.15.08 @ 12:07PM|#
Of course, that's in addition to the trillion in new socialist spending Obama has promised us.
|4.15.08 @ 12:07PM|#
Hes going to cut wasteful Washington spending like earmarks
and welfare.
We can spend a trillion attacking them or two trillion on
cleaning up after they attack us.
Is Neil a savage parody of TallDave?
Either way, those two comments may the dumbest comments we have all
day. Savor them as you would a fine Islay Scotch.
TallDave|4.15.08 @ 12:10PM|#
Either way, those two comments may the dumbest comments we
have all day. Savor them as you would a fine Islay
Scotch
Hey, if you can't deal with reality, just call it dumb.
|4.15.08 @ 12:10PM|#
"If McCain wants to impress me he can call for permanent
reductions in gas taxes."
Actually, I have less of a problem with the gas tax, which is a use
tax, ostensibly used for roads. I believe that the gas tax is a
fraud because all of our federal roads are crap and the money from
the gas tax is being directed to other more important
uses.
The income tax is a tax on our labor and should be
repealed as quickly as possible. Ron Paul was the only candidate to
propose the elimination of the IRS.
/John McCain is FAIL incarnate.
TallDave|4.15.08 @ 12:12PM|#
Do you support McCain's gas tax holiday?
Yes, I try not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Any time a politician talks about taking less of my money for any
period of time I count my blessings.
Neil|4.15.08 @ 12:12PM|#
"The income tax is a tax on our labor and should be repealed as
quickly as possible. Ron Paul was the only candidate to propose the
elimination of the IRS. "
Mike Huckabee (my firstchoice) did too so thats not true.
|4.15.08 @ 12:14PM|#
"Abolish withholding and make Tax Day and Election Day the
same thing. Write a huge fucking check right before you go vote.
Maybe then it would start to sink in."
Absofuckinlutely right!
|4.15.08 @ 12:18PM|#
Hey, if you can't deal with reality, just call it
dumb.
God, stop, both of you. This comedy routine is killing me.
The Democratic Republican|4.15.08 @ 12:20PM|#
First of all: I agree with the SugarFree/zig zag proposition of
Tax/Election Day.
Second: I'm voting Libertarian (for the first time ever), but let
me just say this: if being anti-war is your priority, and you
believe the things that Obama says, then vote Obama. But if you
believe that intervention is going to continue regardless, why NOT
vote for the guy who is at least not as much of a socialist
domestically?
The Democratic Republican|4.15.08 @ 12:21PM|#
Neil: Ron Paul wanted to get rid of the income tax. Mike Hucksterbee just wanted a stupid "Fair Tax" and never really explained what he meant.
Neil|4.15.08 @ 12:22PM|#
You're right Democratic Republican.
This choice is between a maverick, pro-defense Conservative war
hero John McCain and a Marxist, out of touch, elitist,
pro-surrender B. Hussein Obama.
Barack Obama|4.15.08 @ 12:23PM|#
God, stop, both of you. This comedy routine is killing
me.
LOL Then you'll love this punch line: those are the actual costs of
the GWOT and 9/11.
|4.15.08 @ 12:28PM|#
I've been watching the HBO series "John Adams" and in one of the first episodes a tax collector was tarred and feathered. I think that great old tradition should be reinstituted and applied liberally to our IRS public servants.
|4.15.08 @ 12:31PM|#
I think most people agree that SOME taxes are necessary to
support public goods like national defense, police, etc. that would
not be funded by a free market system (I realize some people argue
that these things could be funded voluntarily, but not many).
The problem with the current tax system it isn't based on any kind
of principle that would guide us in how much a person should pay
for these public goods. It's utterly arbitrary. Politicians spout
some vague notion of fairness, but make no real attempt to define
or implement it. I think a prerequisite for any tax reform idea
taking hold is the articulation of some principles that can be
broadly applied in figuring out what the system should look
like.
The Democratic Republican|4.15.08 @ 12:31PM|#
Well, Neil, that's not really what I said.
I said that all 3 of the remaining candidates are going to continue
the war in Iraq, attack Iran, and continue a general policy of
intervention. So, under that scenario, a person might at least
consider the person who is not quite as terrible on domestic
policy.
I still don't exactly understand what makes McCain a
"conservative", anyway.
Dr. Hibbert|4.15.08 @ 12:32PM|#
Mike Huckabee (my firstchoice)
Whoever is behind Neil, you are brilliant. I love it.
I'm not getting into the same endless joe/TallDave circle jerk
about Iraq. NutraSweet, if you want to, it's your choice.
|4.15.08 @ 12:33PM|#
@Guy Montag
I would have rather paid some small amount that get back a
$300+ "refund" of my own money that they kept all year.
Well, that depends on what you call a "small amount". In this case
I got whacked for several grand. Some of it was due to capital
gains, but my accountant also told me a number her clients also got
burned because, for whatever reason, companies appear to be doing
withholding differently this year. Got burned on that, too. Also,
my mortgage is nearly paid off, so I'm not really seeing much of an
interest deduction any more.
BTW, the "lucky enough to get a refund" comment is exactly the
thing that is so baffling in Finance and Accounting that I was
talking about. Not sure why you feel "lucky" to have others keep
your money for you, interest free, all year, but if it makes you
feel better then have at it.
Let's put it this way: I'm not happy that the government is holding
my money interest free, but I'd still rather get a refund than get
whacked for several grand I'd had other plans for....
|4.15.08 @ 12:33PM|#
Hes going to cut wasteful Washington spending like earmarks
and welfare. He'll reform social security with private accounts.
He'll STOP socialized medicene and roll back Medicare Part D by
making the wealth pay for their own prescriptions.
Episiarch's right!
Neil|4.15.08 @ 12:36PM|#
Your wrong Democratic Republican..
B. Hussein Obama like his buddy Jimmy "Iran Hostages" Carter will
bend over for the Islamofascists and talk to them nicely. Our
enemies will laugh in our face and in a few decades well have to
convert to Islam.
The Whine Commonsewer|4.15.08 @ 12:37PM|#
Zig Zag, on estimated tax payments for 2008: you are required to
pay in 95% of 2007's tax liability (more if you are rich like
Montag).
BTW, there IS a way to account for when the income was earned
during the year that avoids penalties like you describe.
If you had less income in first quarter than your estimated tax
payment due today, you should NOT have paid it (or you should have
paid a reduced amount).
|4.15.08 @ 12:38PM|#
@The Democratic Republican
but let me just say this: if being anti-war is your priority,
and you believe the things that Obama says, then vote Obama. But if
you believe that intervention is going to continue regardless, why
NOT vote for the guy who is at least not as much of a socialist
domestically?
Um, because he's probably lying too?
I have no idea what I'm gonna do when I step into the voting booth
this year. But given the choices, I'm pretty damn certain whatever
it is, I'm gonna regret it....
The Democratic Republican|4.15.08 @ 12:40PM|#
Epi: so you're telling me that i'm not the first to suggest that
there's no difference between the "Big 3" on Iraq?
This may be the first time where someone has made that argument in
the context of defending someone who is defending McCain -- only to
be attacked by that same person for not hating Obama enough. What
an odd world.
The Democratic Republican|4.15.08 @ 12:42PM|#
Pig M.:
Well, I'm voting Libertarian. If I lived in a state where I
couldn't, I would just leave it blank. It's the best alternative to
"None of the Above"
Episiarch|4.15.08 @ 12:44PM|#
Uh, Dem Repub, P Brooks is referring to my comment that Neil is
super amusing. What he quoted is from Neil, not me.
Read the whole thread next time, please.
|4.15.08 @ 12:46PM|#
The first time I read the "estimated tax"
pre-payment form, I nearly had a stroke.
They want you to pay taxes on money you haven't even made
yet!
The Whine Commonsewer|4.15.08 @ 12:50PM|#
DR, you are on the money. I keep buying these guys books and
they keep eating the covers.
It isn't a game, and if, as Pig says, you are going to regret it
anyway, you should vote for someone who comes closest to your own
deeply held libertarian style beliefs. That certainly wouldn't be
any of the Big Three.
|4.15.08 @ 12:59PM|#
Zig Zag, on estimated tax payments for 2008: you are
required to pay in 95% of 2007's tax liability (more if you are
rich like Montag).
I don't believe that's correct. For 2008 estimates, you're required
to pay 100% of 2007 or 90% of your 2008 actual. I pay 100% of 2007
since I don't have a good idea what 2008 actual will be.
kinnath|4.15.08 @ 1:00PM|#
I think that great old tradition should be reinstituted and
applied liberally to our IRS public
servants.
The IRS is not the problem. The Congress is the problem.
|4.15.08 @ 1:06PM|#
"I pay 100% of 2007 since I don't have a good idea what 2008
actual will be."
That's how my accountant explained it to me. I'm hoping that the
rest of the year will be better.
squarooticus|4.15.08 @ 1:07PM|#
The IRS is not the problem. The Congress is the
problem.
I strongly disagree. Congresscritters are elected by an ignorant
populace. (In a larger sense, this entire government is permitted
to exist only through the ignorance and apathy of the populace, as
no government is legitimate without the support, misguided as it
may be, of the people.) If you aren't part of the solution,
you're part of the problem.
Guy Montag|4.15.08 @ 1:15PM|#
Pig M.,
Sounds like you need a new Accountant to get your payments in
line.
MP,
Using the 1040 tax tables, a single nurse making $50,000, with
standard deduction, will pay 13.46% of her pay in federal tax; a
single Wall Street master of the universe making $50,000,000, with
standard deduction, will pay 34.95%.
I suspect we are missing some information in this case. Someone who
posted after you had a good theory.
TWC,
Zig Zag, on estimated tax payments for 2008: you are required
to pay in 95% of 2007's tax liability (more if you are rich like
Montag).
I am one of those "rich" people who get federal witholding taken
from every pay check, but yet I am still too "rich" to get that
extra check in a few weeks.
Apparently, I finally make more than a Nurse.
The Democratic Republican|4.15.08 @ 1:15PM|#
Episiarch: You misunderstood me more than I misunderstood you. Try making sure you know what you're talking about before you act like a dick next time, please.
Ska|4.15.08 @ 1:16PM|#
Just to clarify, to avoid underpayment penalties you have to pay
either -
90% of current year's tax
or
100% (110% if AGI > 150K) of prior year's tax.
Your estimates were most likely prepared on the safe harbor method
(prior year's tax), but if you see you're making less income, you
can adjust your estimates down to reflect the current year's
expected tax.
Guy Montag|4.15.08 @ 1:19PM|#
I wish people would stop calling Sen. McCain a "maverick". That vocational school graduate never spent one day in the Enlisted ranks.
Guy Montag|4.15.08 @ 1:22PM|#
Oh, and I do want to be on record for the "gas tax holiday" but would prefer gas taxes be reduced a bunch, like down to less than what the producer of the gasoline makes off of it.
|4.15.08 @ 1:27PM|#
Democratic Republican,
After the Florida 2000 mess I would be chary of leaving any spaces
blank. In a close race people would argue over who you
meant to vote for, based on other choices you made.
Episiarch|4.15.08 @ 1:28PM|#
Episiarch: You misunderstood me more than I misunderstood
you. Try making sure you know what you're talking about before you
act like a dick next time, please.
Please explain to me what you meant, because obviously it went over
my head. I is confused.
The Whine Commonsewer|4.15.08 @ 1:35PM|#
Ziggy
That's how my accountant explained it to me.
You are legally permitted to alter your quarterly payments based on
your actual quarterly earnings without penalty so long as you pay
100% of your current year tax liability or 95% of the prior year's
tax liability. More or less, exceptions apply.
Your accountant is just being safe and maybe that's all he/she can
do unless you are doing monthly or quarterly financial
statements.
But, again, if your first quarter net was less than your 04-15
estimated tax payment, you should have skipped it, or paid a
reduced amount.
For the record, the underpayment of estimated tax penalties are
pretty cheap compared to other penalties. Not saying to skip all
your estimates, the penalties aren't that cheap, but they're not
bad.
For example: One return I did yesterday had a $7,000.00 balance due
and the underpayment of estimated tax penalty was $280.00. Less
than the interest one could earn in a 5% CD for the year.
The Whine Commonsewer|4.15.08 @ 1:39PM|#
Ska is right, succinct as well. Don't know why I can't type 90%.
The Whine Commonsewer|4.15.08 @ 1:42PM|#
Apparently, I finally make more than a Nurse.
I dunno, I have several RN clients, they all do pretty well
(90-110k). At least IMO. The hours suck but the pay is dang
good.
The Whine Commonsewer|4.15.08 @ 1:45PM|#
I actually think Congress is a big part of the problem.
For instance, Congress doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to
abolish the deduction for medical expense so they jury rigged the
system to ensure that nobody qualifies for the deduction, thus
giving the general ignorant populace (thank you SqRootEcuss) the
impression that medical expenses are deductible.
For the most part, for most people, they are not deductible.
|4.15.08 @ 1:51PM|#
For the most part, for most people, they are not
deductible.
I believe using a health savings account or a flex account to pay
for them is the functional equivalent, though.
Guy Montag|4.15.08 @ 1:57PM|#
TWC,
You can't fool me, they can only make $50,000, that is what Mrs.
Clinton was saying. She implied that nurse was doing as good as she
will ever do and she was "subsidizing" the rich guy!
BTW, from your numbers I still make better than a nurse and the
ones you are talking about ain't gettin' the extra check either,
unless they are married to deadbeats.
The Whine Commonsewer|4.15.08 @ 2:05PM|#
Good Point Mr RC, HSA's can work well. But not many people take
advantage of them.
Also a perfect example of why we have 46,000 pages of regs.
Congress takes away the deduction for medical expenses but then
gives it back, but not in a way that makes any sense.
Why have HSA's when you could just repeal the 7.5% floor on medical
expense deductions? So much easier and so much less admin costs all
the way around.
The Whine Commonsewer|4.15.08 @ 2:06PM|#
Well, Guy, if St Hill said it, it has to be true. I'm sorry, I recant.
TallDave|4.15.08 @ 2:31PM|#
I love the unbridled glee in the taxman's eyes. He looks like he's imagining about all the hope and change the taxes going to bring to the working class people.
kinnath|4.15.08 @ 2:41PM|#
I am one of those "rich" people who get federal witholding
taken from every pay check, but yet I am still too "rich" to get
that extra check in a few weeks.
Good thing my wife is a slacker. I make well over the limit for a
single, but out joint income just a smidgen under the limit. I'll
be thinking of you when that check shows up in May.
|4.15.08 @ 5:58PM|#
Why have HSA's when you could just repeal the 7.5% floor on
medical expense deductions? So much easier and so much less admin
costs all the way around.
Why have all these fucking deductions when you could just lower and
flatten rates?
|4.15.08 @ 7:38PM|#
# Barbara Bach | April 15, 2008, 11:22am | #
# In hindsight, Ringo was the most
# successful Beatle.
He is also, I believe, still the only one of the two remaining
Beatles who continues to entertain people in a live show for
anything close to reasonable ticket prices (which those of us who
were bled dry today must certainly appreciate). Go Ringo!
You can check out Mr. Starr and his All Starr Band this summer at a
number of venues, including one close to me: The Mountain Winery,
in Saratoga CA, on July 23rd. I don't know who is playing with him
this year, but he always manages to go onstage with am
exceptionally talented group.
Apaulogist|4.15.08 @ 7:39PM|#
Quit yer gripin'! Without tax revenue, the gubmint couldn't fund the war on terra, the war on drugs or the war on poverty!
|4.15.08 @ 7:49PM|#
# P Brooks | April 15, 2008, 12:46pm | #
# The first time I read the "estimated tax"
# pre-payment form, I nearly had a stroke.
# They want you to pay taxes on money you
# haven't even made yet!
I had an interesting conversation on that topic with an IRS rep via
their toll-free tax assistance phone line a few weeks ago.
Basically, I asked whether I was actually required to make those
additional 1040-ES payments in the amount and by the deadlines
specified. She said that if I did not, I would be subject to a
penalty, which would be based on whatever percentage rate they are
charging this year, vs. the time elapsing between when the payment
was supposed to be made and when I actually made it (if ever). The
outrageous thing: The penalties would be due EVEN if, when all was
said and done, I ended up not owing any tax or getting a refund.
"It's a pay as you go system," she said, by way of apology.
Really? Is it? And how is being liable for a penalty for not making
an ESTIMATED payment evidence of the much-vaunted VOLUNTARY tax
system that the IRS poobahs insist we have? This does not sound
voluntary at all, to me.
Incidentally, the reason I contacted the IRS was because our
household income is taking a huge hit this year, and I doubt that I
will end up owing ANY taxes, much less the amount paid in 2007. I
was stupefied to learn that I could still owe PENALTIES based on
not paying enough in advance to earn a refund next year. This is
Alice in Wonderland logic which we really need to eliminate from
the tax code. In my mind, if you owe nothing or are due a refund
when the counting is done, your obligation to Uncle Sam should be
satisfied, period; end of story. But then, that would simply be
common sense, and we all know that the powers in Washington have a
deficit of that resource, too.
|4.15.08 @ 7:59PM|#
# The Whine Commonsewer | April 15, 2008, 1:35pm | #
# You are legally permitted to alter
# your quarterly payments based on your
# actual quarterly earnings without
# penalty so long as you pay 100% of your
# current year tax liability or 95% of the
# prior year's tax liability. More or less,
# exceptions apply.
That is pretty much what I got from the IRS help-line rep when I
called a few weeks ago. But you had to justify your "alterations"
by filing additional forms. That's just wrong-headed: requiring
taxpayers to explain in detail why the IRS shouldn't pound them.
Are we slaves?
# For the record, the underpayment of
# estimated tax penalties are pretty cheap
# compared to other penalties. ...
# For example: One return I did yesterday
# had a $7,000.00 balance due and the
# underpayment of estimated tax penalty
# was $280.00. Less than the interest one
# could earn in a 5% CD for the year.
This is also consistent with the information I received from the
IRS rep. I looked at it as running up a tab on a credit card. The
finance charge was pretty good. But still, it rankles me to realize
that, unless you file additional forms to explain and excuse your
underpayment, you'll be subject to even such a minor fee if found
owing at all by April of next year. This just goes to illustrate
who is master and who is servant, and why our tax system is not
nearly so "voluntary" as the powers-that-be would like to paint it.
It's well past time that we rebalance the power equation. Please
keep that in mind when you go to the polls in November. Don't vote
for any big spenders; vote to put big-spenders out of office; favor
candidates who are pledged to bringing common sense back into
government, simplifying things such as the tax code, and generally
respecting the citizens and taxpayers.
|4.15.08 @ 8:04PM|#
Just learned about this year's All Starr Band lineup from a
February Rolling Stone article:
"Colin Hay (Men at Work), Edgar Winter, Hamish Stuart (Average
White Band), Billy Squier and the Dream Weaver himself, Gary
Wright."
From prior experience with his live shows, I would pay good money
to see Colin Hay at the Mountain Winery as a solo act. Tossing in
Ringo (whom I have seen before) and all of these other luminaries
(whom I have not seen live previously) sweetens the pot
immenesly.
|4.15.08 @ 8:21PM|#
Ringo is still my favorite Beatle, if only because alone of the four of them, he never checked his sense of humor at the door...
|4.15.08 @ 8:30PM|#
I recently found a Google video of a talk that the late Robert
Bussard, physicist and proponent of "fusor-approach" nuclear fusion
(as opposed to "tokamak-approach") gave at the Google campus in
2006, a little more than a year before his death. (It's a little
more than 90 minutes. You can see it here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1996321846673788606)
Bussard, inventor of the Bussard ramjet interstellar drive concept,
former assistant director of the Atomic Energy Commission, and
former head of the Los Alamos National Labs, talked about the
"Polywell" fusor that he and his team developed on a shoestring
budget over the past couple of decades. His basic claim was that
all the key physics had been worked out as a result of his
research, but that realization of a practical Polywell-based fusion
reactor faced numerous challenges in engineering, which would cost
around $200M to address.
I am both encouraged and depressed by Bussard's talk and the
supplementary material I found to go with it. Encouraged, because
before he died, Bussard was successful in getting funding for his
company, EMCC, to go ahead with at least the part of the program
that would confirm earlier results, and in putting a team together
to carry on his work. I was happy to read that the government will
green-light the follow-on project to create a full-scale (100MW)
Polywell fusor, apparently footing the $200M bill, if the results
of the confirmation project are positive.
But I am discouraged that the relatively paltry sum of $200M is
such a political football, and that Bussard and his team have had
such difficulties in raising it (and, with economic problems and
shifting political will, may have difficulties in keeping it), in
comparison with the billions that have been tossed down the
bottomless pit of Tokamak and similar approaches.
So why am I posting this in reply to an item about Tax Day? On the
tax forms, you are asked whether you want to donate a couple of
bucks to the Presidential election fund. Money spent in this way
will go toward electing a President who is almost guaranteed to
keep us in Iraq for at least a few years more, at the cost of
billions of dollars and many deaths and horrendous injuries on all
sides. Moreover, the thousands of dollars that each person pays in
taxes will go primarily to paying interest on the national debt and
running this crazy war, with the largest remaining part going to
social security and healthcare entitlements, with some left over to
fund the government bureaucracy and various discretionary social
programs - the combined annual cost being well over a TRILLION
dollars per year. Finally, tens (perhaps hundreds) of millions of
people willingly part with many dollars per day to buy government
lottery tickets, which offer infinitesimal odds of winning a huge
personal fortune.
I can't help but wonder: What would happen if, in disgust at how
the government has squandered the resources and the full faith and
credit of the American people, everyone who filed a 2007 tax return
and everyone who bought a lottery ticket in 2007 would send JUST
ONE DOLLAR to the foundation that Bussard set up to collect private
funding for his experiments? Maybe the Polywell approach is flawed,
a dead-end. But the ideas are worthy and the people working on the
project are credible scientists, who have shown promising results
already and received international recognition (and prizes!) for
their work, so a buck or two would certainly seem to be money as
well spent as on lottery tickets, the Presidential campaign fund,
or business-as-usual in the Federal government. If we lose our
money on this gamble, the individual loss will be almost
negligible. But if the full-scale Polywell works as the late
physicist hoped and predicted, then we can look forward to getting
100MW of power (enough to run 100,000 homes) or more from reactors
as small as eight feet square - smaller than most people's living
rooms - without a fuel shortage risk, without residual radiation or
waste-product disposal problems, and without greenhouse gas
emissions. That's a huge, world-changing upside.
Today, I donated $5 to Bussard's foundation here:
http://www.emc2fusion.org/ (link at bottom of page takes you to a
page where you can donate via PayPal). I ask all my fellow
taxpayers to make a similar donation. This kind of research seems
to be too important to leave to our government. And as just a
matter of national pride: I think it needs to be the United States
who leads us into a world where people never again have to go to
war over access to energy. I believe that, if the people lead, the
leaders will follow. So let's lead, already. If you donate, please
pass this article along to someone else. Thanks.
|4.15.08 @ 10:07PM|#
James Anderson Merritt -- brevity is the soul of wit. Try being more witty, mmm-kay?
The Wine Commonsewer|4.15.08 @ 10:51PM|#
Why have all these fucking deductions when you could just
lower and flatten rates?
Why have all those deductions when you could just abolish income
tax?
Guy Montag|4.16.08 @ 6:31AM|#
Is there going to be a musical of the featured bug song? Any of you show-tunes guys onow?
|4.16.08 @ 8:51AM|#
I'm trying to figure out if the guy with the malevolent grin at
4:18 is supposed to be a caricature of Harold Wilson, and the woman
at 4:21 is supposed to be Ted Heath in drag (not that there's
anything wrong with that).
Also, is it just me, or did that entire cartoon have the look and
feel of "Fractured Fairy Tales"?
(Finally, why would the Beatles be paying taxes at the "Bureau of
Internal Revenue"? The name of the agency was changed to "Internal
Revenue Service" in 1953. Come to think of it, why would they pay
taxes to a U.S. agency at all, rather than to the Inland
Revenue?
|4.16.08 @ 12:38PM|#
# Prolefeed | April 15, 2008, 10:07pm | #
James Anderson Merritt -- brevity is the soul of wit. Try being
more witty, mmm-kay?
Jackass - Try skipping past things if they are too long to suit
you. I write short things when that makes sense, long things when I
have more to say. There are examples of both in this very thread.
Your complaint makes sense only if you found something worthwhile
in my piece that you thought could have been expressed more
concisely, or if you wasted time reading something of no value, in
the mistaken belief that value might be there. If the latter, I'm
sorry about that, but you should probably complain about lack of
value rather than lack of brevity. If there is no value, brevity
will not create it, and in the case of no value, you can skip
longer pieces as easily as shorter ones. It's not as if anyone
forces anyone else to stand at attention while reciting chapters of
War and Peace.
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