What I didn't expect when my husband died

[AbbyR]

I expected to miss him. I expected to have a harder time making ends meet. I expected to be lonely. What I DIDN'T expect was the huge tax hit I took when I went from married to single. There is something wrong with the fact that you can lose a spouse, have to struggle to survive and get the funeral and medical expenses taken care of, then get your pay check and realize that the government is bound and determined to make it even more difficult to survive.

[demnan]

1. I'm sorry for your loss

Welcome to the world of being single. Society isn't very kind to us, I'm afraid.

[rox63]

2. I got hit with a similar financial suprise when I got divorced

It was tough enough having to suddenly pay all the bills on my one income. (Thank goodness there were no kids involved) But then at tax time, I got hit with what seemed like a huge tax bill. :(

[Sweet Freedom]

10. Same here

I was pretty shocked that even with a child and filing as head of household, that I still owed taxes.

[panader0]

3. Juxtapose your tax increase against bushco's attempt to

repeal the estate tax for the very rich. Our social structure under repubs is bassackwards. Sorry for your loss.

[raccoon]

4. Sorry for your loss.

and your tax bill.

[SharonAnn]

5. Hmm, when my husband and I got married, we got hit with a huge tax bill.

It was actually a consideration about whether or not we should marry. I decided that marriage was the right and moral thing to do, regardless of the tax consequences. Funny that two liberals believed that and have stayed together for all this time. We had to pay between $3,000 and $8,000 a year more in Federal Income Tax than we did when we were single. And have paid it for nearly all of our married life (27 years now).

I personally think, because of the way the tax system works and the possible variation of incomes in a marriage, that people should be able to choose single or married as their tax status and pay whichever rate is better for them. All families are not the same. If it works better for them to file separately and each claim themself as one dependent, find. If it works better for them to file as a couple, then fine. Whicheer.

For example, two people making $50K a year each pay the same in taxes as a couple where one stays home and the other is paid $100K a year.

In the first case the two people work outside the home for 4,160 hours a year. In the second case, the two people work outside the home for 2,080 hours a year.

In the first case, the couple has to hire people for day care, house maintenance (cleaning, yard work), etc. In the second case the couple has the availability of home day care and house maintenance and no additional cost.

There is not a Marriage Penalty for all couples. It was really only true for couples like my husband and I where we both earned about the same amount of money and our tax rate was higher if we were married than if we were single. For the second case above, the single earner paid a lower rate when married becasue he/she added dependent(s).

[spooky3]

8. In your example, single people, unless they are in a partnership,

have the same expenses as your couple in which both work, because there is no one at home to take care of those things. In cities with high housing costs it is very difficult for them to make ends meet. I realize you are not saying otherwise; I am just adding to your example. single homeowners have the same house maintenance, day care, etc., expenses as working couples, and have even less time for grocery shopping or other errands, staying home to meet the repair people, etc. because there is only one person's free time to do them rather than two.

[Coyote_Bandit]

6. I'm sorry for your loss

I'm also sorry that our society treats single folks so poorly. And that does indeed reach far beyond tax penalties.

[RB TexLa]

7. And single people and those of us who file separately are hit with that every year

sorry for your loss.


Remember, politicans care about "family values," not American values.

[file83]

9. Oh AbbyR, I'm sorry to here that.

Nothing worse than adding injury to injury. (Higher taxes aren't an insult - they are an injury.)
Take care and be strong.
:grouphug:

[Clark2008]

11. I'm sorry for your loss

But, I found, getting remarried last year, that I got hit worse as a married couple.

Maybe it's because I was a single Mom before? :shrug:

[wryter2000]

12. I'm so sorry

I lost my husband, too, about 2.5 years ago. I didn't take much of a tax hit, but I imagine my circumstances are different from yours. I just wanted to wish you well.

[Hidden Stillness]

13. Lots of Surprises at Death...

It isn't just the government, and it isn't just spouses: when my Mom died after an illness, I had to fight the life insurance corporation for months before they would pay for the funeral. I called, and called, and called, asking where the needed check was, and eventually they LIED to me over the phone, that the entire policy was "invalid" because we had "untruthfully" claimed my Mom had never had cancer, when that was not even the question on the form! Thank God, I had been the one taking care of her, I knew her medical condition, and the questions on the life insurance policy, backwards and forwards at that time. The question involved having cancer over a period of the most recent several years, and we had answered honestly. They tried to get away with denying the claim by lying to me over the phone, at that depressing and miserable time, just after her death... No morals at all. Yes--they called back later--caught--and paid. Never be surprised at what some of these people will do, even at the very time of mourning.

[roguevalley]

14. I'm sorry that your loss was made that much worse. Being single all

my life, I sympathize with you totally. Bless you and your husband's memory.

[AbbyR]

15. Thanks, everyone

It really was a shock, and it is going to hurt badly. I just hope I can change jobs soon so I can increase my income a little. I even got some earned income tax credit on my return for 2006, but the gov't. wants more and more. If I just weren't paying for a war I don't believe in it might not hurt so much.

[truedelphi]

16. First sorry for your loss and may coming months and years

Bring you a happiness ayou might not expect to exist now.

Your comment>>If I just weren't paying for a war I don't believe in it might not hurt so much.

A lot of things I do now take that in consideration. I am refusing to want to do anything that would give the government more.

Had an opportunity to make a bit more money by upping my hours.Thought about it and decided - I don't have to pay taxes on having free time and so didn't up my hours.

If we weren't in Iraq I am sure I would have decided differently.

[senseandsensibility]

17. Sorry for your loss

I agree; it doesn't seem fair. I'm sorry that you are being hit with this just when you are the most vulnerable.:hug:

[kdpeters]

18. My father's long term illness nearly took everything my parents had

They were in the process of getting a divorce so that he would be left a ward of the state when he finally died (because he decided to stop eating). The slowly progressing nature of Huntington's would have take everything they had given the amount of care required and likely for many more years. This happened last month.

We're with you in spirit. I know it's hard. That's why I'm moving back home to the farm. Family is important. So are communities.