Who here among us paid MORE than their FAIR share of taxes. If so, HOW much more?

[Hiraeth]

And how did you determine it?

Did you take every deduction you could find or not?

[onecaliberal]

1. We get stuck paying thousands every year when a large Corp pays nothing. It's the height of bullshit

[Hiraeth]

2. One has to HAVE money in order to HIDE said money. Me, I have none and owe more!

[onecaliberal]

16. It's like me, we adjust our withholding but it never helps. We will be paying the IRS in perpetuity

[mwooldri]

3. Itemized Deduction vs Standard Deduction...

If one is less than the other and one takes the lesser amount it might be a clue... but then again it's not a level playing field. What is a fair share of taxes anyway?

[Hiraeth]

4. I am not sure but, I gather from GD-P that Bernie did NOT pay his.

and Somehow I gather that Hillary did.

It is all very confusing to me.

So. I thought I would ask.

[Skittles]

14. his tax rate is lower than mine

[Hiraeth]

17. did you pay more than your fair share?

do have a Jane/John?

[Skittles]

19. I am single and do not own a home

I pay WAY over my fair share

[Hiraeth]

20. on my but, you ARE a special piece of candy.

[Skittles]

21. LOL

ALRIGHTY THEN

*DONE HERE*

[Hiraeth]

22. toodles, poodles.

[2naSalit]

5. Hmmm

1040EZ user here, but I did overpay and am getting $777.00 back from IRS even after not paying in from my UI pittance.

So I guess I overpaid but am actually getting the overage back.

[Hiraeth]

6. so then, they are making sure you ONLY pay your FAIR share and NO more, right?

you TRIED to give them MORE but, they are MAKING you take it back, amirite?

[2naSalit]

12. Doesn't quite work that way...

a certain amount of my income is taken from my paycheck before I ever see it and is deposited in the general fund or wherever the money goes after they take it from me. I have to file a tax report of income and show why I should get back what was taken after deducting the actual amount of tax for my income level. If I don't file a tax return form with supporting documentation, I can't get that money back that was taken from my paycheck before I received it. This year that came to $777.00, for which I am thankful to have back because it will pay my bills for a month.

That's how low income taxes work. I live below the poverty line so every last penny gets used long before the need for it runs out.

[Hiraeth]

18. what are you claiming? zero deductions?

[2naSalit]

23. 1040EZ

doesn't have deductions other than the personal deduction of $10K, military service deduction and those regarding blindness or caring for someone who is disabled and earned income credit... none of those apply to my situation. I have a job sometimes, I get the W2(s) and fill out the form. You can only use that tax form if you make <$20K. I don't have anything to claim but my job, me and my student loans... which they only matter if being paid or the borrower is in default, in which case you won't get anything back, the treasury takes it and sends you a letter telling you that you paid some of it into your interest for the loans and that's it. No matter how much your tax return might amount to or how little you actually earned, you get nothing but a letter telling you what they did with your money.

The 1040EZ is for poor people who don't have anything, the 1040 form allows for itemized deductions though I don't know what that entails since I don't have anything to claim, I don't use it.

[A HERETIC I AM]

32. I'm a truck driver and I use the 1040

The IRS allows for a Per Diem deduction for transportation workers who have schedules that take them away from home overnight. In 2015 it was $59 per day for each full day away from home (It went up to $63 per day for the last 3 months of the year) and 3/4 of that ($44.25) for each day I depart and each day I return.
So a 3 day trip is;
day 1, the day I leave = $44.25,
day 2 = $59.00
and day 3, the day I get back is again at the 3/4 rate.


For me it averaged about $1000 a month last year, but I have had years where it totaled over $19,000

This is then prorated by the IRS and it comes off my AGI, so I pay a lower rate and hence get a larger refund.

I don't own a home or have much in the way of other deductions, but that is an example of how a working stiff can use the 1040 long form to their advantage.

[2naSalit]

39. I used to be a road warrior too

but I got an accountant to deal with all that for me, but I see your point.

[1939]

30. Payroll Deductions

If they eliminated payroll deductions and every taxpayer had to make quarterly estimated payments, the personal income tax wouldn't last beyond the next election.

Most people's view of taxes is "How much do I get back?" or "Wow, I have to pay something this year!" rather than how much their taxes really are.

[Yupster]

35. That's true

In my job I ask people how much taxes they pay, and the most common answer I get is I usually get a little back. No idea how much they pay.

[2naSalit]

36. I simply accept

that a certain percentage of my income will be taken in taxes and maybe I'll get something back, maybe not... usually I get some back and I'm thankful for it. There are so many things that require quarterly and monthly attention, taxes for businesses are assessed on a quarterly basis.

[1939]

43. High wage earners and dividend/interst recipients not just businesses

If enough isn't getting withheld and you come up short, you have to start paying quarterly.

[2naSalit]

45. Ah.

haven't been proprietor of a business since the 70s. We had to do quarterly reporting especially regarding road use and fuel taxes for each state I drove through. But that was a long time ago, no doubt a lot has changed since then.

[1939]

46. If you makes $80,000 a year

in salary plus maybe $2,000 a year in bank interest, and $4,000 a year in stock/mutual fund dividends, you are probably paying quarterly estimates (over and above your withholding) in order to break even. I believe that if you don't come to within 90% of tax owed, you have to pay a penalty for underpayment unless your payments were equal to the prior year (hen there is no penalty, you just owe the extra on April 15 plus your first quarterly estimated payment for the following year).

[Kalidurga]

7. It's not just about taxes though...

Poor people get hit harder by things like fines and fees. They also get hit harder every pay check that doesn't give them enough to live on without getting some kind of assistance. They also get hit harder by living in substandard housing. Also by living in more dangerous neighborhoods. And by not having the same access to government funded resources like parks, libraries, and elections. So in other words poor people pay more for less.

[Hiraeth]

8. so true. but TAXES. Kalidurga.

[Kalidurga]

11. I explained it so even my SO gets it he hates hates hates taxes...

I said if you pay more than 200 a month for insurance but your taxes go up 500 dollars a year are you going to be upset about that? He was all like um no. Plus he has to pay 160 for a doctors visit to treat the spur in his right foot. I told him that would go away if there was real universal health care. If he was one to vote he would vote for Bernie, but that's been the case for a while now it's just he gets the copay thing now.

[2naSalit]

24. TAXES!

Do you have a problem with taxes or something? If we don't pay taxes, the government has no money to do things like build roads and infrastructure and fund humanitarian projects and policies...

[Iggo]

9. Tax the rich. Feed the poor. (n/t)

[Warren DeMontague]

10. I think the politicians like DWS who support our policies of putting pot smokers in prison

Ought to pay extra for the privilege.

[2naSalit]

13. I would be more inclined to

feel like I was paying for something worthwhile if over 60% of each $ didn't go to feeding the war machine.

[Hiraeth]

26. agree with that.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

31. Well, it doesn't

So you can feel better now.

[2naSalit]

37. Gee thanks...

So it actually turns out that it's 53.71%... I feel sooooo much better now that it only turns out to be nearly $600 Billion instead of $700 billion. Should have been $15 billion less snark in my comment then, right?

[SickOfTheOnePct]

40. I don't disagree that military spending is too high

But why exaggerate? Income tax revenue for FY 2015 will be ~$1.48, so $600 billion in military spending comes out to ~41% of income tax revenue, or ~16% of the total federal budget ($3.8 trillion).

There is a big difference between less than half and closer to 2/3, as you initially claimed.

[2naSalit]

42. When you figure in

some of the other items like international affairs, some of that becomes military based and adds to the mix. There are also those unmentioned fungibles that we never hear about but end up in military operations, like much of the aid we give to Israel and others.

Whatever the amount (%) of our income gets spent on military stuff, it needs to be cut back to at least half if not more. The "exaggeration" was just a guess at the time, for which I apologize though I think that in some of the past 15 years - particularly during W's reign - it was actually more which is what was sticking in my head.

[Fumesucker]

15. There are legitimate deductions that are more likely to trigger an audit

If you don't make enough to keep a tax lawyer on retainer you are well advised to be careful what deductions you take.

[Ms. Toad]

25. Thousands of dollars more. Don't really want to guestimate.

My marriage was not recognized federally until the 2012 tax year (via amended returns), or in my home state until the 2014 tax year. Our refunds based on amended returns for the 2 years we were permitted to amend were ~$2000/year. Our marriage has been recognized at law since 2004 (although not within most of the US), so that makes about $14,0000 overpaid in the years we weren't permitted to amend. The real date of our marriage is in 1981, but no one was recognizing our marriage back then . . .

(In our case, being able to file as married was a significant tax advantage because of the disparity in our incomes. Doesn't always work out that way.)

[Hiraeth]

27. Now, that is Not Fair.

[Ms. Toad]

29. Tell me about it.

The funny thing is, people who ought to know better (back before Windsor and Obergefell) - like attorneys and enrolled agents - kept asking why we didn't just file jointly. Duh.

[Travis_0004]

28. I paid exactly my fair share

Schedule C. Schedule A. Classify most of my earning as a return on investment instead of earned income, and pay my account a bunch of money to minimize my taxes. I can deduct that too. At the end of the day, I paid exactly what the IRS said I owe them.

[lancer78]

38. Me too

A big fat goose egg.

[mnhtnbb]

33. A much higher proportion of our Social Security was taxed this year.

Last year the State of NC started taxing SS.

We had to pay both Feds and State this year. Last year we had paid too much
to the Feds, so applied the overage to this year. Last year we also had to pay the State.
I adjusted our withholding but still had to pay double what we paid to the State last year.

I was very tempted to write "Fuck you, McCrory" on the check I wrote to the State,
but figured it would come back to bite me. Still, I really wanted to since I was
writing that check about a week after McCrory and his merry band of bigots in
the NC Legislature passed HB 2.

[dawg]

34. I paid less than my fair share.

I had long-term capital gains this year. Go figure.

[So Far From Heaven]

41. Isn't this a moral issue?

That's the difference between me and most I know. I am actually an atheist, so this may sound weird, but my assumption is that I am responsible for everyone because I am human.

I don't see taxes as a 'take away'. I see it as a 'give away', where you should give what you can afford. If I don't agree with how that money is used, I need to actively support change so that it does.

To wit: Bernie Sanders

I give what I can. I don't expect others to do so.

[Adrahil]

44. What is a "fair share?"

Heck, I dunno. I do take every deduction I can find, but ultimately my taxes are reasonably straight forward. It only gets complicated in years when I deduct from my mutual fund, but I only do that when I need to. I use it as a savings account, really. Otherwise, I do itemize, but they are all common deductions (mortgage, charity, and for the state, my 529 plan).