Income Tax Sux......

“Been working on the ole Income Tax.
Can't find one of my 1099-INT forms (Interest Income). It's not much but I'll have to call the Credit Union to get the amount. What a pain, I could finish except for that.
So far I have to pay Good Ole Uncle Sam a little over $300.
I'll do the State Tax tomorrow. I should have to pay the state $60-70.
Hope the rest of you are having a better time of it!”

“Barely. I thought getting married would help some, but I was wrong. What do I know.”

“WORSE STOVESTOMPER. I'M CRYING MY EYES OUT. INCOME TAX REALLY SUX.....
BUT BACKPACKING ROCKS !!!!!!! :~ )”

“I don't even want to go there.... Pulling my hair out just thinking about it.”

“Stickman getting married makes things worse by far! I don't understand why, but I hear they even have a name for it: "Marriage penalty tax". Ridiculous.”

“I just work a little and IRS pays me a lot. Just found over $2,500 from them in my checking account. "EIC" is the name of the game.”

“We've been using Turbotax the last two years. Certainly made completing the Federal taxes easier. But then my wife who works with numbers at her job keeps really detailed records of our expenses using Quicken. Last year the tax bill was hard to take, but getting there was easy. This year it's a wash. $57 to Feds, $57 back from the State.

BTW The cost of Turbotax is deductible on your Federal!”

“I can't believe you guys pay taxes. I always get money back. Of course every year it gets less and less...so maybe eventually it will go the other way and I'll pay Uncle Sam.”

“Exactly, WVa. I used to look forward to tax time because I got a good chunk of spending cash, but since I've been married, the "payout" has gotten significantly smaller.”

“Getting a tax re-fund might be nice but if that money was invested, or 'just in the bank' you would be earning interest/money. So you 'loan' it to the government but capture no gain. No interest is paid on your overpayment.”

“Stumprider is right. Money you get back is YOUR money you didn't earn interest on. But if you withhold too little, there is a penalty.

Prior to the 1986 tax law changes, it was an advantage to be married. Since then it has been a disadvantage tax-wise. They call it the "marriage tax". Reagan was president, but the tax changes were made by congress.”

“When I lived in OH, I use to live a few blocks from a Post Office. To get anywhere I'd pretty much have to drive past the place and boy was it virtually impossible to do that on April 15 with all the cars driving by to drop off their tax forms. They'd even have doods standing beside the roads around the PO to grab the forms as folks drove by. That sped things up, but not much because the volume of cars was insane.”

“I just wrote a check for $230.02.

I wish my taxes were lower. Hopefully the Democrats will stop opposing President Bush's tax cut.”

“I didn't know that the 'marriage tax' was instituted in 1986. Thought it was earlier than that. Thanks for the info.

But if the amount you withhold and/or estimated payments are 90% of the tax due the previous year, no penalty.”

“"render unto ceasar what is his....."”

“Man....I always thought you got more back once you were married. Oh well, I guess that's another reason to wait longer to get married.”

“The trick is to have the correct amount withheld....not too much and not too little. It can be easy if things pretty much stay the same in your life and you have a "normal" year. Not many people I know have "normal" years.”

“Happy happy joy joy!
I'm done.
$208 to the feds.
$97 to the state.”

“You guys have to pay for Bush's war & his vastly increased interest on our National debt. Hopefully not too many kid soldiers will die in the next ten years while he milks Iraqs oil fields for his family & friends.”

“The self employed make quarterly payments.shipping cost can be massive with all those quarters.”

“We're getting a refund for the first time since we were married!

WOO-HOO!”

“Gotta love babies!”

“"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of
the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of
expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their
constituents...." --James Madison


"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the
propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful
and tyrannical. ... A wise and frugal government ... shall not
take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. ... Congress
has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but
only those specifically enumerated. ... Would it not be better to simplify the system of taxation rather than to spread it
over such a variety of subjects and pass through so many new
hands?" --Thomas Jefferson”

“Having been self-employed I hear ya but the worst is the shipping for the April 15th fifth quarter shipment because the tables are wrong for the first 4 quarters! Last year, the shipping charge was worse than the late fee!”

“This morning on a radio show that I was listening to were going to give away a $100 bill to the person that was going to pay the most money to the IRS. A man called in that owed 1.5 mil. He won 125 mil in the lottery 3 years with a take home amount after taxes of 75 million. He told the radio station to keep their $100 and give it to someone that needed it. He said there was no way he would ever spend all the money he won... single man.”

“Ice Tea I know you are too young to remember... but republicans raise taxes too

READ MY LIPS”

“Just did my State and Local taxes earlier and I don't get nothing and don't owe nothing. Well my PA State I get $3 back but I'm having them give it to the Wildlife Conservation Fund.

However, when I lived in OH the Post Offices were open till midnight and they had doods at every surrounding street corner to receive forms from motorists to speed up the traffic. Well, living in this podunk town I just found out the Post Office closes at 5pm and the closest one open to postmark letters/forms are, at the closest, a 40min drive. Frankly, since I don't owe anything I doubt if the IRS will spend the cash to track me down for a small late fee (I hope) because it will probably cost them more money to do that than what I'll owe. (keeping my fingers crossed)”

“Between state and Federal getting back $4700 this time. That's fine since a few years ago I paid almost $250k(that's not a typo) in Federal alone on a paper transaction and then had to write a check for almost $50k when I mailed my tax return. What happened next? The market tanked!”

“I just filed an extension over the phone and punched in 0 for tax liability. I guess I'll see??”

“Hey Binks,
Please mail my gear order from your store to me before they come put you in jail. ;)

If you do owe any taxes, You could be in trouble. The IRS wants the money RIGHT NOW! If you always get a big refund, you are more than likely OK.”

“I'm driving a check for $3500 to the post office right now. Seems my wife's employer wasn't very good taking out enough money every month.”

“Iusually get arefund for the pat 6 years but i think i may owe a little bit this year..i just needed to buy some time to get all my deductions together.”

“SnowDude did mine this year (he volunteered) and he actually got $$ back for me. I wonder what I've been doing wrong all these years? I usually break even.

Since we're married, I won't have to ever do taxes again!!”

“$6100 bones due from Uncle Sam. State and Federal. Having twins does that.

End”

“SN,
My wife and I always talk about getting divorced this time of year because we never owed taxes until we got married. We've owed every year since.”

“I collect all the little papers I get sent to me from here and there about interest and such in a really big ziplock and ship it off to my accountant. He sends me a big bill and the finished tax forms.”

“Just finished my taxes for 2003.
Not bad, only had to write checks for $240 extra.”

“I hear ya, as I did my local and state a few hours ago. I already filed and got my federal refund back, but didn't owe any state or local so that's why I didn't bother wasting my time...until tonight.”

“The FICA slush fund
Jack Kemp
April 12, 2004

This time each year, as we all go through the ritual torture of filling out our income-tax forms, we hear a crescendo of complaints from friends, neighbors and co-workers about how unfair, complex, onerous and contradictory the tax code is - and they're right. However, what we lack is an annual day to lament the burden of FICA taxes that come out of our paychecks every payday, depleting household savings, diminishing wealth and leaving so many totally dependant upon the federal government for retirement income.

Since the inception of Social Security, payroll tax rates have skyrocketed. The tax originally stood at 2 percent. Today, the payroll tax has reached 15.3 percent. In addition, this 15.3 percent rate applies to every tax bracket, regardless of income, making it regressive, as well. As a result, for a large number of lower-income workers, many of whom have essentially been removed from the income-tax rolls, FICA taxes loom as the greatest obstacle to personal wealth creation. Today FICA taxes contribute 33.2 percent of all federal revenues, bringing in $648 billion to the Treasury in 2003.

With the recent release of the 2004 Annual Trustees' Report on Social Security, much of the debate has centered on the long-term financing of the system and the consequential effects it will have on our payroll taxes and retirement benefits. Numerous solutions have been put on the table, but most do not resolve the structural problems inherent in the system.

Recently some Democrats have called for an immediate FICA tax cut or a payroll tax holiday. While this proposal may resonate politically, it's disingenuous if we put their rhetoric into historical context. With a financial crisis looming, any immediate cut in payroll taxes that is not coupled with substantial reform of the current pay-as-you-go system would jeopardize the benefits of current retirees, leaving current workers and future workers with even higher taxes in the long run.

Their proposal is disingenuous because these same politicians could have enacted these "reforms" during the 1980s or early 1990s instead of raising payroll taxes, yet again, in an effort to make the system "solvent." What's worse, the $738 billion in surpluses (excluding interest) generated from the tax increases since 1984 and increased taxes on Social Security benefits enacted in 1993 have been wasted on other government programs instead of utilizing these proceeds to fund the transition to a fully funded personal retirement accounts program.

The leading Democratic proposals for Social Security reform all consist of tax increases, benefit cuts or some combination of the two. And none of them offers any hope of fundamentally reforming the current system. These proposals are not politically feasible or economically rational. As the recent trustees' report indicates, at least a 50 percent increase in payroll taxes dedicated to Social Security, a 33 percent reduction in benefits or some combination of the two would be necessary to avoid financial peril without fundamental reform.

The AARP, formerly known as the American Association for Retired Persons, would keep the American people dependent on government, so they oppose all efforts to empower individual workers with personal accounts. They first deny any problem exists with Social Security, and when forced to admit there will be a financing shortfall in the future, they fall back on the tired and failed liberal ideology of tax and spend. One frequently heard palaver is an increase in the income cap that can be taxed for Social Security benefits.
Former Social Security Commissioner and AARP poster boy Robert Ball supports increasing the tax on benefits to 90 percent of all earnings instead of the current 85 percent.

It is time to transform payday from a tax event into a saving event for individual Americans. It is time to transform the FICA tax and its surpluses from a slush fund for the spending-addicted Congress into a source of wealth and prosperity for workers.

I, along with former House Majority Leader Dick Armey and former Social Security Commissioner Dorcas Hardy, have created the Alliance for Retirement Prosperity (www.arpnow.org). We want to make it possible for today's workers to move half of their payroll taxes into personal accounts that would be there for their retirement. For a single worker earning $30,000 a year and a two-earner married couple earning $30,000 and $40,000 that would mean annual savings of $2,000 and $4,500, respectively.

Most importantly, large personal retirement accounts would be a real source of prosperity and ownership and bring to fruition our vision of democratizing the American dream - making every American worker a shareholder and investor in our capitalistic system.”

“income tax does in fact suck, out LOUD even.

Still gotta do mine, have a little time left to fill out my extension form. lol”

“Buddur, I did the same exact thing. I forgot all about the state and local taxes. Do you do the Pa tele-file? The number was busy for 3 hours tonight, but I finally got through. Woohoo, Pa owes me twenty two smackers!”

“WTF I had my taxes e-filed, my parents sent theirs by mail three weeks after I filed. They just got their check and I'm still waiting for mine.”

“Nah, I didn't even think of it. I already had all the numbers crunched on the forms they send you so I just signed em and dropped them into an envelope.

I didn't even have any $$$ left over to give to any funds at the end of the forms.”

“We bought TurboTax because my wife wanted to learn how to do the taxes. Guess who has to finish them tomorrow? Not wifey! She said SHE decided that I could do the taxes! :P”

“I have used Tax Cut the past couple of years.
I'm pretty happy with it.
I had to pay a bit on both Fed and State so I was in no hurry to file to early.”

“I have to make an estimated payment on April 15 in addition to file taxes, so I just wait 'til the last moment because of the cringe factor.”

“I've always thought that if everybody had to pay tax with estimated payments that Congress would feel a lot more pressure to be more responsible with our money.”

“How come we only talk about what we owe and what our returns are? How much did you pay in total last year????

State + Federal + Property Taxes > $31,000”

“Yowza. I got my fed returns mailed tonight. Mailed the state returns last week. This is the first year I haven't had them done in about late Feb.”