Dear IRS...

I hate you. Next year, please use lube.

Love,
Me

It''s times like these I''m so glad I married an accountant

I hate you INS... err, IRS...

I got about $6K back from them this year.

1k for me... Arh...

Damn, Gorilla, that''s a lot of money you didn''t earn interest on...

I paid out 1350. Lube? LUBE!?
No. No lube for me.

pah! You guy''s suck. I paid out 3k.

Forget lube, I just want them to stop using assorted gardening items on me.

You guys do know that the money you get back is yours, right? You''re just getting back the thousands of dollars you so generously loaned to the government interest-free...a deal you''ll never get yourself.

I''ve been a $650 return man since the beginning, despite wildly fluctuating salaries. Mmmmm, next gen video card....

I got about 350 bucks back. Hmmmm, money towards rent I suppose.

"ralcydan" wrote:

You guys do know that the money you get back is yours, right? You''re just getting back the thousands of dollars you so generously loaned to the government interest-free...a deal you''ll never get yourself.

its the option of the taxpayer how much to pay into taxes every paycheck. At the end of the year you either withheld too little or too much. But as a lot of people would rather get a refund than have to pay in, they withhold nothing.

but if you can figure carefully enough, you could probably get close to owing, or being refunded nothing.

so maybe they use it like loaned money, but its our option.
if we withhold the max amount, they are actually loaning us money until 4/15/04 when we have to pay the rest of the vig.

I don''t usually have much use for Neil Boortz, but I liked what he said about it today:

CHECK AROUND FOR YOUR PERSONAL TAX IDIOT

And just how do you identify your own personal tax idiot? Everybody has one, you have to find yours. It''s really very simple. You just walk to some friend or coworker and ask ""How much did you have to pay in income taxes this year?"" If they answer ""I didn''t have to pay anything, I''m getting some back!"" You have found your own personal tax idiot. Please take care of them for they are stupid and incapable of survival without your help.

And just how do you identify your own personal tax idiot? Everybody has one, you have to find yours. It''s really very simple. You just walk to some friend or coworker and ask ""How much did you have to pay in income taxes this year?"" If they answer ""I didn''t have to pay anything, I''m getting some back!"" You have found your own personal tax idiot. Please take care of them for they are stupid and incapable of survival without your help.

Sorry, I don''t understand how that works. How is getting money back from the government bad?

Yeah I''m really gonna miss the 6 bucks in interest I would have gotten if I had withheld more carefully. I could have paid for half a meal. I''m such an idiot.

I believe the goal is to break totally even.

"Mex" wrote:
And just how do you identify your own personal tax idiot? Everybody has one, you have to find yours. It''s really very simple. You just walk to some friend or coworker and ask ""How much did you have to pay in income taxes this year?"" If they answer ""I didn''t have to pay anything, I''m getting some back!"" You have found your own personal tax idiot. Please take care of them for they are stupid and incapable of survival without your help.

Sorry, I don''t understand how that works. How is getting money back from the government bad?

Because the question isn''t ""How much more did you have to pay in income taxes this year."" Unless you''re getting an Earned Income Credit, you''ve probably still paid in a lot more than the amount that''s coming back. That''s why I''d like, for just one year, for the automatic tax withdrawal to be abolished and for people to have to pay their entire tax bill at the end of the year. Nothing would go further to cause a grassroots movement against pork.

Considering I support many of the programs for which my tax dollars are used, including but not limited to education, defense, transportation, and assisting those less fortunate than I, I''m willing to sacrifice my few dollars of interest in the interest of maintaining a fair and equitable society. It would be awfully hypocritical of me to go around all year proclaiming the need for the programs my tax dollars support and then show up complaining on April 15th.

It''s worth remembering that, even with all the ludicrous pork (""Let''s build a laughably non-functional missle shield to counter threats of 30 years ago! Why, from that height, we might be able to see all the jails we spent billions building to hold nonviolent drug offenders so that they can learn to be real criminals!""), our tax rates are also at-or-near the lowest in the first world. Any Europeans on board to talk about how much they end up paying the tax man, so that we can feel better about how we have it here in the U.S.?

Say, that reminds me... SwampYankee, I never got my W-2 from the part-time position of whoopin'' yer arse in Battlefield: Vietnam.

Of course we know that the money is ours. The name of the game is to get as much of it as possible back from the hands of the government.

I was able to carve back these $6 because we had a baby, we had childcare expenses throughout 2003, etc etc etc.

I got about $750 back, thanks to student loan payments. That''ll help out a lot! Why, that''s 75 months of Jumpgate...PAID for....

We''re getting $2K back, but only because we had over $18K in medical expenses to deduct. I''d much rather have the $18K back instead, but every little bit helps. There is no such thing as free money from the IRS.

CHECK AROUND FOR YOUR PERSONAL TAX IDIOT

And just how do you identify your own personal tax idiot? Everybody has one, you have to find yours. It''s really very simple. You just walk to some friend or coworker and ask ""How much did you have to pay in income taxes this year?"" If they answer ""I didn''t have to pay anything, I''m getting some back!"" You have found your own personal tax idiot. Please take care of them for they are stupid and incapable of survival without your help.

This attitude strikes me as profoundly stupid and irresponsible.

In a world where all human beings are rational economic actors and perfectly maximize utility just like good little theoretical constructs, it may make sense to lowball your withholdings, though it depends on rates of interest you would be getting versus what the government is charging in penalties for pursuing this strategy.

In the real world, a good chunk of the populace, and not just the less educated portion, is barely able to manage their finances. The sort of advice given by the commentator, which naturally appeals to the ignorant and the greedy and the desperate, leads households into situations where they are faced with large and unmanageable tax bills that blow apart improperly constructed monthly budgets that don''t account for large and unexpected expenses.

For me, the peace of mind that comes from getting a small tax refund is worth (and note that I am rationally maximizing my utility, albeit with the sort of intangible that classical economics doesn''t account for) those few dollars in lost interest.

Still, if you are getting more than a thousand back and didn''t have unforseen deductions, you should probably adjust your withholding.

The really grim part is that Boortz claims to be a Libertarian. Shouldn''t I have the freedom to do stupid stuff if I want?

Well, all I know is that I''d certainly like to be getting something back now then paying out the sum that I am...

Seriously, how are the income taxes for our Canadians/Europeans?

"Elysium" wrote:

Considering I support many of the programs for which my tax dollars are used, including but not limited to education, defense, transportation, and assisting those less fortunate than I, I''m willing to sacrifice my few dollars of interest in the interest of maintaining a fair and equitable society. It would be awfully hypocritical of me to go around all year proclaiming the need for the programs my tax dollars support and then show up complaining on April 15th.

Communist.

This is my first refund and I like it. I''m going invest the money with a Roth IRA account. If I didn''t get the refund the money would have been spent on games, rpg books, cards, cds, and dvds.

I don''t see why people think that if you want to get a refund (and thus withhold too much money) you are stupid.

I don''t see why people think that if you want to get a refund (and thus withhold too much money) you are stupid.

agreed ulairi. in fact, as far i know, no one i know thinks that is stupid.

most people i know think that having the IRS even vaguely interested in your finances is about as appealing as having your tonsils removed through your ass and therefore are willing to pay as much up front to keep the dogs at bay.

especially when you get the surplus back. in that sense, one could look at it as refundable insurance coverage for ass-tonsilitis.

Uhm so from a Candian... we pay lots but it just disappears off our paychecks more than anything. I think I''m paying 4-5k on a 28k of gross earnings...
so whats that 25-30%...?
But I''m in the lowest tax bracket...
If i was making over 30k I would be paying 30-35%

Now remember to this is before anny deducations... I have no kids or anything at this point (small school loan deductions) but really not much else.

Just some numbers off the top of my head... truthfully I''m more that happy to pay it. Our social programs are very signifigant and it''s nice to have Health Insurance just for being a Canadian

"evilroy" wrote:
I don''t see why people think that if you want to get a refund (and thus withhold too much money) you are stupid.

agreed ulairi. in fact, as far i know, no one i know thinks that is stupid.

most people i know think that having the IRS even vaguely interested in your finances is about as appealing as having your tonsils removed through your ass and therefore are willing to pay as much up front to keep the dogs at bay.

especially when you get the surplus back. in that sense, one could look at it as refundable insurance coverage for ass-tonsilitis.

Not how I would have phrased it, but an excellent synopsis none-the-less.

Uhm so from a Candian... we pay lots but it just disappears off our paychecks more than anything. I think I''m paying 4-5k on a 28k of gross earnings...
so whats that 25-30%...?
But I''m in the lowest tax bracket...
If i was making over 30k I would be paying 30-35%

Yeah, but you have a decent country.
Here in Mexico we pay 40-50% tax and it all goes to crooked politicians doing shady business deals. Hell, they busted a governor the other day who owned a ""massage parlor""(hooker house). He had been known for persecuting these whorehouses with an iron hand, which endeared him to the conservative population. Turns out he was just eliminating competitors...