Taxes Definition and 88 Threads

NASCAR is annoying enough, without the figure that over 5% of the nation's gasoline supply (a large percentage of what we are forced to import) is wasted on the non-sport of auto racing. It's time we taxed some sensibility into this American-antithetical conspicuous consumption.

I'm not blaming him personally, so please don't take it that way. Most people are going to pay what they have to pay. What I blame is our tax code that allows for too many deductions. In 2010 Romney paid 13.9% taxes. In 2011 he expects to pay 15.4%...

Nice article in 'The Economist' on how Republican candidates are competing to race to the lowest point: http://www.economist.com/node/21534799 With a candidate Romney/Cain/Perry and all their lunatic tax reform proposals, I can not possibly imagine how the Republicans will beat Obama next...

I only know of two arguments against raising taxes on the wealty. The first is that higher taxes will reduce growth and investment. To that I say that not all taxes are the same. Credits and deductions providing incentives for investment do not exclude taxation on wealth that goes to lifestyle...

This thread is motivated by discussion of what taxes to include in an accounting of peoples' tax burden. The short background is that people on the left tend to want to include the payroll taxes and people on the right don't. The simplest/safest logic says that taxes are taxes and all should...

Here is an excerpt from the President's June 29, press conference. http://m.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/06/29/president-obama-our-economy-and-debt-limit-now-time-go-ahead-and-make-tough-choices" As I understand it, the tax code is thousands of pages long and is filled with special conditions...

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-amazon-california-20110702,0,1004958.story http://blogs.wsj.com/in-charge/2011/07/01/amazon-breaks-with-thousands-of-small-firms/?mod=google_news_blog I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. Putting aside the obvious money grab by the state, there...

So I have a summer job doing research for a professor at my school and I'm paid by the hour. I live and work in New York State. I got my first check today, and a total of 16.5% of my check was taken by taxes. I paid: 9.12% in Federal Income Tax 1.45% in FICA Medicare Tax 4.61% in FICA SS...

When considering the best path to US solvency, it might be useful to consider the tax rates that helped to build this country. Back when Kennedy took office, the top marginal tax rate was 91%. Today, it is 35%. http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/151.html It appears to me that...

Hello all! I am in a position where I am likely to be making quite a bit more money in the next year or two than I have previously. I would like to plan my finances around this and estimate me income after taxes. Is there an online calculator I can use to calculate such a thing? How can I...

The South Carolina House of Representatives yesterday rejected a bill which would have granted amazon.com an exemption from collecting SC sales tax on purchases from SC residents. In response, amazon.com has stopped construction of a new distribution center near Columbia which would have created...

http://blogs.forbes.com/tombarlow/2011/04/01/is-a-per-mile-driving-tax-in-our-future/ This sounds really intrusive to me. Yeah, I know the government can track you via your cellphone and all that and if they really want to find you, they will, but, having everyone's car literally tracked, the...

So I was discussing the issue of healthcare with a friend, and he pointed out something I hadn't thought of, but that I think makes sense---basically, he emphasized how Ronald Reagan signed legislation that made it where hospitals are mandated to treat a person if they are taken into the...

A story in the NYT explains how General Electric made 5.1 Billion USD profit last year, but did not pay a single dime in federal taxes. I wish I had millions of dollars to lobby congress to make special laws for me not to pay taxes. See the article here...

This thread is meant to re-examine current systems of revenue generation and, more importantly, explore the potential for alternatives out of which governments may provide citizens with the services that they are charged with providing. The thread is not meant to be restricted to solutions for...

There is much debate over the diplomatic cables that were released, but I wonder if this is a different case? Wikileaks vows to expose tax evaders that hide money in swiss banks. Is this right? Perhaps access to the information is illegal, but it's no different than reporting a crime? If it...

A recent topic on a site focused on current policy discussions caught my attention. The discussion was centered on how tobacco is taxed. http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=20212 "Taxing Tobacco by Risk Cigarette taxes are meant to raise revenue and reduce smoking rates, yet...

I think the non-payment of tax is a separate issue. How many people are non-taxpayers? Of more concern to me (going off topic a second) is this, care of our friends in the European Court: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12022013

Obama "compromises" with the GOP for extending the tax cuts http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101207/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama I'm interested in what other peoples thoughts are on this. I see it has a unfortunate but smart move. In order to pass future legislation for the next 2 years this had to be...

I was wondering why the governments impose so much tax on us, they tax us through every channel available from the food we eat to the very roads we travel on. Even that is not enough for them, they also tax our remaining income. Why do they impose so much tax? Other side question is about...

We have a poll about extending the Bush tax cuts, so I thought it might be interesting to have this one to go along with it. :smile: Your paycheck is about to shrink My wife and I must be among the few people who actually saw this "stealth tax cut" because we got an unanticipated refund for it.

Why do countries like UAE and Kuwait have such a low tax revenue as percentage of GDP or tax to GDP ratio (don't know if these two are the same things or not)? I'm a total layman in these things, so please keep your reply straight and explanatory. Thanks a lot...

We are now past the point where the Bush tax cuts are providing any benefit to the economy, and in fact we need the tax revenue and the cuts are a drag on the economy. I know everyone says that we need them as a stimulus and it would be foolish to take money out of the job creators hands...

In the midst of a recession, it is a poor idea to hike taxes, as that would be a gamble that this country should not have to take.

Homework Statement Miguel Tijera plans to rent one house and purchase another. He estimates that mortgage interest deductions on his federal income tax will be 25% of his mortgage payments. He wants to spend no more than $800 a month on rent and $2000 a month on rent and mortgage payments...

Our nation was founded on the principle that state-sponsored religion was a form of tyranny. Lots of people emigrated to North America simply because of religious intolerance in Europe. Indeed, some people in the colonies had to move because of religious intolerance on this side of the...

Recently Republicans defeated a bill that would have helped the heroes of 9/11. Why? Because it had an amendment in it that said that the help would be paid for by eliminating a tax loop hole for foreign corporations that do business in the US. Many foreign companies incorporate in tax haven...

I was reading the post about fallacious contradictions such as reality being an illusion or truth being non-existent and the one that came to mind was the idea that tax cuts are a way to end fiscal stimulus by government spending. Maybe from a tax-payer's point of view, they are simply...

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Hello all, and forgive my amateur financial knowledge. I suppose that mathematically, the best way to do your taxes is to have as little withheld from your paycheck as possible, and to pay it all in at the end. This way you can potentially make (typically low-risk) investments with the money...

If taxes are raised on a specific sector, what does a company on that sector does? For example, the company is getting a liquid profit of $1.000.000 a year, and the tax on profits is 30%. $300.000 goes to taxes. Now the tax is raised to 50%, and the company has just lost $200.000 per year. How...

Stipulated: Payroll Taxes are "Normal" Taxes... Now what? Ok, so let's assume for a minute I accept that all types of taxes should be treated equally when calculating the tax burden and progressive/regressive distribution. Now what? Liberals use the argument (by all means, correct me if I...

Homework Statement Carlos is 60 years old, is in the 32% marginal tax bracket, and has $544,000 in his Roth IRA. How much money will he have after taxes if he withdraws all the money from the account? Homework Equations (1-tax bracket)x(amount)=earnings after income tax The Attempt at...

Heh, so i just filed my taxes today. I'm rather proud. I was talking to some people who're in their 20's and its their first time doing them by themselves. My dad insisted that i do my own... so i did. At first i was really confused, but then it wasn't actually so bad. I did the telefile...

Does anyone else think that capital gains taxes for the average person is rather unfair? My family currently has about $50,000 in debt. We could sell a rental we own for a profit of $80,000. Sounds great right? Well... of course... the government comes in and takes a HUGE slice (reduced to...

I contend that there is no fairness in taxation. I'm not saying that taxes are unfair. On the contrary, I am saying fairness does not enter into the matter. There is a theory that all wealth is fortuitous, or "lucky". There is the extreme case of the people who win the lottery, or inherit...

No More Taxes! ...and no more military, police, fire departments, public schools, road construction. No more damned government bureucracies making sure that companies don't dump arsenic in your drinking water. We can dispense with free immunizations for children, because if their parents can't...

W00t! Finished em! With 9 hours to spare this year! -Never put off for tomorrow what you can put off for day after tomorrow, I always say.