Happy National Extortion Day - 04/15

That's how buying votes works...

 

Curious... why an advocate for highly regressive consumption taxes?

 

Small detail, only citizens can vote in state and federal elections.

 

I guess getting a driver's license isn't enough to vote in elections, in some western states, any more?

 

Or bring it in house. Most companies that would need this much help would have an in-house accounting and tax team. That’s for large companies of course, most small business don’t have that type of complexity (why would they?).

Must have been exaggerating a wee bit anyway. 100 tax attorneys? But it “only” cost $32k? Did each attorney work for like 1 hour? What’s going on there lol. Your general advice is probably still correct, whatever is going on could probably be made less confusing having 1 good CPA spend 100 hours rather than 100 different “tax attorneys” barely look at it.

 

Thats why I mention some sort of hybrid combo. Slide the scale to protect lower earners.

I'm a tax the rich liberal when it comes to this stuff.

 

Voter fraud is illegal and you go to jail for it.

 

I just was having trouble thinking what that would look like. Sales taxes are super regressive and some kind of income adjustment for sales tax seems harder than just an income tax. Dont know.

 

only in some local elections where the local gubmt allows it. no statewide or federal elections anywhere, in spite of everything seen on FB, tiktok, youtube, and those other historically great sources of accurate journalism

 

If you can find it, "We, the People" by Jack C. Haldeman plays with this idea. Originally published in Analog in the early 80s, it also found it's way into an anthology call There Won't Be War in the early 90s. Both kind of hard to find. I couldn't find a link to it anywhere online.

Edit: The internet is amazing. There was a link to it, but it was old and no longer worked. The WayBack Machine has it archived.

https://web.archive.org/web/20110607002418/http://www.sff.net/people/jack.haldeman/people.htm

 

For everyone that filed …. what software did you use of did you file via a paid preparer?

I use Intuit’s ProConnect, have been for the last 7 years. Not bad and runs $90 or $95.

 

Chose a random free provider from the IRS website. Took about five minutes and they also took care of the state return. Had our money in a week or so. The IRS was faster at getting our refund to us this year.

 

BS. A 10%-15% effective tax rate is plenty. Do you have any idea how much government waste there is smart guy? Why don't you pipe down on the "bragging" non-sense, as I was making an honest comment not grandstanding. I pay my taxes every year and have for over 45 years so stop it with the "very selfish" remark. I realize the government needs tax revenue and I am happy to pay my fair share, but in my opinion anything over 15%(ETF) is ridiculous.

 

Increased funding of the IRS due to the Inflation Reduction Act.

 

And this kind sir is why I have hesitated going into Roth IRAs. Sooner or later, folks are going to start going for a consumption tax. So my Roth will have been taxed going in, and taxed when spent.

 

You were bragging about your income and complaining about having to pay your fair share. Your reaction to my post says you know that.

 

As opposed to other retirement accounts or standard brokerages which are also taxed coming out in addition to when spent? Not sure how much sense that makes.

 

Conventional IRAs are not taxed going in.

Edit: Ah, I see what you are saying... hmmm. So yes, for new savings that would make sense, but I see a lot of "Converting to a Roth" discussion. Not sure it would make sense then.

 

Roth conversions make sense if:

1) You’re over the income limit and want to “backdoor” a Roth IRA contribution
2) You can take advantage of a significantly lower AGI for a specific tax year, in which case the earnings on converted funds get taxed less than average.
3) You’re pursuing FIRE and are setting up your Roth conversion ladder

 

No sir. Never complained about paying. I just think we disagree on what that "fair share" number looks like. My number is lower because I know there is plenty of tax revenue collected, and yet plenty of it is wasted. My reaction was based on this idea that we all should pay more in tax simply because the government needs more money due to its uncontrollable desire to spend, as opposed to operating within its means. Check out OpentheBooks. Lastly, I was not bragging, I was simply giving an example based on my situation and my feelings about it. But since you are so sure of telling me what I was doing, I will do the same. I have always thought most of your posts were thoughtful and level-headed... I think you missed the mark on this one.