I saw somewhere that the average tax savings for someone making $40,000 is $17, and the average savings for a millionaire is $42,000.
The Ukulele Ike voting bloc is much larger than we’ve estimated. 
Actually, a fairly large number of American households are living well beyond their means, so they are apparently well-represented in the Federal government.
IMO, Congress is like a lazy trophy wife, lounging around in a frilly housecoat eating bonbons and declaring that they will buy THIS that costs THIS much, THAT which will THAT much, and who knows what else. It is then left to someone else to run around like crazy and scrounge up all the cash to PAY for this lifestyle. Congress decides that such and such a program will recieve X dollars in funds, without necessarily having any idea where X dollars is going to come from.
In the current state of affairs, i.e. Bush and his GOp congress, the husband is just as much a wastrel as the wife. As long as no one’s cut off the credit cards, he can spend, spend, spend.
You may want to give the TurboTax software a try next year. It really doesn’t get any easier than that.
Because people who would normally vote for them (like the OP), won’t if they feel they are being irresponsible and risking concequences down the line.
Meh. Gas has gone up by more then 50 cents in the last few years with little slack in demand. And it’s hit the poor much harder then the rich. I’m not particularaly conviced that gas taxes work. I think something more tageted like CAFE, where companies (and indirectly their customers) are taxed for buying fuel inefficent cars, is a better solution.
I dunno, it reminds me of a college student witha whole wallet full of credit cards. Spend, spend, spend, and wind up with enough debt to need the rest of your life to pay it off.
Who was it who said that “In a democracy, people usually get the kind of government that they deserve?” Every time I think of that quote I weep with truthiness.
Oh, and I’ve got to agree that raising the taxes on oil seems a bad idea- after all, indirect taxes hurt the poor far more than the rich. Go storm the Capitol and drag the gold-sacks from the bloated claws of its occupants! (Republican and Democrat). Vive la revolution!
Total tax burden? Because around here, the taxes just get passed down the government chain. Bush hasn’t cut much government spending, but the state does get less than it did. Then the state wants to cut taxes too - losing revenue from both ends - and pays for it (ok tries) by cutting support to cities and schools. So now we have 40 4th graders in a class and a property tax bill that is $2000 higher than it was five years ago.
I did say it was proportional, and you will note that you haven’t had to get a job while in school, and you’re now going for your Master’s degree and still don’t have a job, and yet somehow we haven’t gone bankrupt. Wonder why? It’s because we get a hella tax return every year.
Preach it. The Feds love making grand gestures into law but then make face-saving claims of thriftiness by passing the costs right on down to state and local governments. I just got my tax bill for the county, city, schools and a few other things. It tripled in one year. Part of it is for storm water handling; basically overhauling the sewer system, and with hefty financial penalties if not done. So they laid down the mandate but not the money to meet their requirements. But they cut taxes.
This is idiocy. I don’t love paying taxes either but cost-shuffing and overspending is a recipe for disaster.
I’ll certainly be voting Democrat (futile as that may be in exurban Texas), but I doubt the Democrats will really change things. They may reverse some or all of the Bush tax cuts, but I don’t see them trimming back social security and medicare or raising taxes enough to make a substantial difference in our long-term fiscal health.
I pay taxes in two different countries. Next year, three. There are…complications.
Did you look at these particular tax cuts? I don’t think any of them are worth a penny to you:
This is from the analysis of the cut from your link:
Investment Income - $20B. Maintains cuts on dividend income and capital gains. Doubt if it helps you a lot.
AMT: $33B. This is actually necessary, but again I doubt you qualify.
Small Business Investment: $7.3B. Nope.
Roth IRAs: A tax increase in the short run. In the long run, a big revenue loss.
Unearned Minor Income. Increases the age at where minors stop getting taxed at their parents rate from 14 - 18. My youngest is 18 already, so she doesn’t get screwed by this, but lots of older teenagers with after school jobs may pay more.
Overseas Corp Income: Trivial.
These are maintaining the cuts now, but they original cuts were advertised as expiring now. Not that anyone believed the liar-in-chief of course, but the revenue decreases were advertised as if they’d expire now. Bottom line, millionaires making their money from dividends win, hard working teenagers lose.
If a household could walk into a store, take anything they wanted off the shelves, and charge it to some other random person, they’d spend spend spend too.
Better still if they could charge it to some other random person not even born yet
The authors of The Coming Generational Storm call it “financial child abuse”
That’s a very good book, btw.
Very scary, but very good.
ack! that link should be The Coming Generational Storm
No kidding. I’m talking about the ones that came before.
When I was in grad school, my RA salary was tax free. Did Bush reinstate that (my daughter is starting this fall, so it would be good news to her.)
I’ve used TurboTax ever since I started keeping my financial records and business books on Intuit products (Quicken, Quickbooks)- at least since the mid-90s.
It helps, but when you have 3 businesses (1 sole proprietorship, 2 LLCs), investment property (some held in personal name, some in LLC name), 2 regular brokerage accounts, 5 different retirement accounts in 3 different flavors (Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, SEP IRA), self-employment tax, health savings account, etc., all TurboTax does is cut the tens of hours (if not hundreds) of tax prep and paperwork wrangling time down a bit. I still do my own books, so I do my own taxes. If I ever hire an accountant/ bookkeeper, I’ll pass on the tax prep bullshit to that poor soul.
True. Of course, it should also be noted that Bush probably doesn’t know how to veto a bill. He’s got no problem with this tax cut and spend business model either, and voters also deserve a kick in the ass for voting for anyone who promises them money.
Hmm. Borrow-and-spend conservatives. Makes those tax-and-spend liberals seen not so bad, eh?
Dunno how long ago you were in school, but i’ve been in grad school these last few years and all my RA and TA income has been subject to tax.