America's Tax Burden To Rise

After the tax comparison. I would like to see what the difference is between Fuel/Rent/utilities/food.

I may be paying less tax then you guys. But rent a week for me is $410 a week. And then out internet (Which, our Government has decided doesn't need to be Fiber to keep up with the rest of the globe) is $80 a month for 120GB (Thats just my plan)

But we get 4 weeks paid holidays a year, NER :P

edit: My point is. Comparing the worlds taxes is pointless, and a waste of "journalism".

Maternity/Paternity leave is considered part of your compensation. If you have 401k, health benefits, or paid leave they are all rolled into what the company is giving you for the job you do. All said someone that makes 50k a year may "cost" the company 80k+ after you factor in the other things. And that wouldn't be the company just giving you 30k, your salary isn't as high as it would be if you weren't getting those benefits.

I don't see the point in comparing the U.S. to Denmark in the first place. Does anyone really think that if people in the U.S. paid taxes as high as those in Denmark we would come anywhere close to utilizing said taxes in the same efficient manner? Maybe if we get to a point where complete idiots aren't running the show we can start to talk about ways to achieve the same things in a vastly different country.

No, it's not a fair comparison at all, Denmark has about the same amount of people as Los Angeles, obviously that kind of economy doesn't scale up to the 325M range very well. I only brought up Denmark because of it's high personal tax rates and low corporate tax rates, and extremely high quality of life. Just an example of how what you get with a tax dollar can be so incredibly varied.

Again, at least for me, but I know for a lot of people, the amount of taxes you have to pay is a secondary concern as long as those dollars are spent wisely and not just thrown at imaginary problems and pitched into bureaucratic black holes.

Just to point a few things out here.

I'm going to assume when you say "SSI" you mean "SSA". SSI is Supplemental Security Income, which is a specific type of disability benefit. SSA is the Social Security Administration which oversees SSI and so much more. If you're specifically complaining about rude SSA/disability personnel while dealing with SSI issues, I would suggest you may be a bias individual to be gauging their job performance. That is to say, if you're on/have applied for SSI and dislike the system, chances are you're going to have a negative viewpoint of the people you've dealt with regardless of the quality of service provided because the system itself has problems.

In any case, when you encounter rude workers -- public sector or private, be they DMV, SSA, Welfare, Tax officials, postal employees, servers in restaurants, salespeople, etc. -- I encourage you to take the time to contact supervisors or management personnel. Through my life I've worked in several settings such as these, and unless people are blatantly rude to you first, it's your job to remain as professional and courteous as possible. Don't just complain that you received poor service on the internet or to family because while that may help you in venting, it's not going to improve the situation.

At the same time, however, if you're frustrated and frustrating that service worker in turn, examine why before maligning them. Realize that - especially in government work - people have certain tasks that are within their purview and beyond those tasks, most of the time they're not even authorized to suggest a course of action to you, let alone actually do something for you that's outside of their tasks. If you're repeatedly badgering someone about something over which they have no control, chances are at some point they're going to get fed up. Obviously I have experience in this vein, as I'm speaking at length about it. But believe it or not - at least within government work - the vast majority of people who tell you they can't help you with a particular thing actually can't help you with that thing. They have no vendetta against you.

Now, onto the other point, and it's something HUGE that people fail to understand quite frequently. And I don't blame them for not understanding it, because it's actually quite convoluted.

When you talk about "paying five guys to watch one guy work on a road", you are seldom speaking about government workers. At least on federal/state highways and state roads. City roads may be another case, but local governments are almost always a giant ball of nepotistic garbage, so I won't go there.

What you're actually upset with are private businesses contracted by the state to perform work. These businesses are frequently a huge problem. They're the "lowest bidder" for work, and they're looking to squeeze every penny out of that lowest bid. So they delay jobs, they work as slowly as they can to get the absolute most out of their contracts, they find ways to go, "oops, costs went up" or "darn, we can't perform this set of tasks without you getting this set up better for us".

And it's not just roads. It's testing facilities, disability examinations, buildings needing built, staffing for events, material/supply/software companies(this one is huge) etc.

So while it does come back to the government bidding system being flawed, remember that the actual people screwing with your money are private businesses taking the tax payer for a ride via the government bidding/contracting process. And while the process is flawed, they're also barely adhering to the letter of contracts, and flagrantly waving their *** at the spirit of the contracts.

This rant regarding your tax dollars at work submitted by someone who has worked service industry both public and private.

My beef is with the people in civil servant jobs that are incompetent and unhelpful. I watched an elderly woman sit in the DMV for 45 mins waiting for her number to be called, only to be told she was at the wrong window and told to take a new number. I have had court clerks tell me to fill out a particular form and bring it to a conference only to find out it was the wrong form and had to be filed before the conference. I've seen dozens of city maintenance workers throw garbage on the ground while standing FEET from a garbage can or not cleaning up after themselves only to see another crew show up to clean the area 15 minutes later. Our previous mail carrier would take a nap in the alley behind my house blocking my shop doors (and no, it wasn't his lunch break, he was fired). That's just a few examples.

The contractors wasting money is also a different thing altogether, and I completely agree, but I was referring to having 3 trucks and 6 city employees come out to replace a fallen stop sign and 5 of them watching the 6th tighten a bolt.

IDK if it it's universal, but I've gone into the zoning and planning office to get permits or check ordinance and had one person serving a long line one at a time while 3 others stood by a copy machine and discussed someone's baby shower, not for 5 or 10 minutes, but for nearly an hour.

When my property tax comes due, I think about all those things, and it wouldn't matter if it were 10 bucks, it would be too much.

How about paying 60% of your salary in federal income taxes and still watch your society crumble and fall apart and bicker and wage a class war?

Because that's America today.

(Edit: Mind you, I said federal. This does not include state income/sales taxes, property taxes, or any of the multitude of additional taxes we pay on a daily basis in America)

Yeah, nobody that comes to this site pays that much in taxes just in Federal. Nor do I feel bad for those who do, as they're the ones helping wage the war.

Well maybe if some of these giant corporations stopped hiding all their money offshore and actually paid taxes on the money they're making off of Americans...

Well, I agreed with you on the city/local governments (and county in some rural places is just as bad). So we're mostly on the same page.

As far as the old woman at the DMV...mixed feelings. I personally, if I saw someone sitting doing nothing aimlessly, would attempt to see if they needed help or if they were confused. At the same time...I've never been in a DMV that didn't have clear markings of where you needed to go and what you needed to do. And if you can't figure it out, maybe you can't figure out a four-way stop either and you shouldn't have a license anymore anyhow...

Tax survey time? lol

I do, I paid just under 73% of my wages in taxes last year. And you know I do.

But please, elaborate on this war I'm waging against you. And let me tell you what Ihina, you are grossly mistaken.

Subchapter F of the Internal Revenue Code. I suggest you read it.

Corporations pay taxes on all income. They get a foreign tax credit when they pay foreign taxes. If they don't pay foreign taxes, they pay American taxes.

Believe it or not, this so-called "class war" is being held by one side. If you are on this side waging the war, you are fully responsible for the demoralization of America, because of your blind and irrational hatred of businesses and those who know how to lead them.

Which I think it is hilarious that those who wage this "class war" against businesses/corporations/partnerships are the ones who depend on them the most...

Ninja Edit: I always wonder why we use the term "wage a war" when somebody is going on a crusade against something. I believe it should be called "rage a war" because they are "raging" against something they don't understand....

Edit: Bolded a word because reading is hard for some, as you can see below.

Oh look a liar and a puppet all in one.

And clearly the foreign taxes are more favorable to them than the American taxes, even though America is where they're making their money.

Tell me again how this isn't cheating in spirit, if not to the letter of the law?

Brutally inefficient and overcompensated government employees are definitely a problem.

It was the Dept of Motor Vehicles, not the Dept of Driver's Licensing, maybe they are the same where you live, here it isn't. There ARE signs, however, they have closed 2 of the 3 local offices and the remaining office is always slammed. I can't say for sure why she was there, but there is a single ticket dispenser near the entrance and small ones at the commercial and clerical desks, which is new and also not very obvious with 100 people crowded in.

You're either:
A. not an accountant
B. the worst accountant alive
C. a liar

this stupid talking point is irrelevant and dead wrong, and it's been explained and demonstrated dozens of times.

Seriously, the highest marginal federal tax rate is 39.6% not that 60% listed earlier. Estate tax is roughly the same, capital gains is half or less. So where is this rate coming from?

Edited~

Still trying to figure out why he called me Ihina, we're definitely not the same person, if that's what he's asserting...

(the 60% rate was a stab at a fake high number to get a point across, not meant to represent an actual #).

This seems rather dubious, unless most of your income comes from something other than wages. Which, if that is the case, makes it a rather irrelevant argument.

Are you saying that you pay 73% of your gross income in taxes? Was there anything special about that year, which would make it stand apart (large purchases, etc)?

That number is setting off warning bells.

Cuz animu avatar. Lol

Even though I was discussing the 60% figure you mentioned last night, I was under no disillusion that it was an actual figure. I'm kinda curious as to what he does that he paid 70+% in taxes... my *** meter is going off with that figure, or he's just too dumb to hire a capable accountant, which people who make tons of money do...

Either way it seems like a lie from someone who doesn't know what they're actually talking about.

Not to mention he lives in state with no income tax, so yeah, he is lying. As usual.

*** it, all of my income went to Uncle Sam.

It's possible that 73% Of his income went to taxes, 100% of my income last week went to taxes.


Of course, I should mention I bought a bunch of beer with a Gift Card and had to shell out-of-pocket for the CRV. Either way, taxed enough already, keep the gov't out of medicare, blahblahrandpaul2014.

Lol I was waiting for this from someone since it's about the only way that figure could be true.

He's technically correct but only because corporations are able to attribute income made from one subcompany to another. Apple USA is a prime example, they make billions of USD a year and are one of the most profitable companies in the USA yet they pay ~2% tax on net profits. They do this because Apple USA makes nearly no profit every year buy Apple Ireland makes billions. They only pay tax on the net income they bring back to the USA for paying wages / expenses to US workers.


This is so insanely bad it's not funny. All taxes are just income redistribution, your taking money from one person and giving it to another either as a cash handout or as a service. Everyone is not getting equal services because there wouldn't be enough money paid into the system, there can't be no matter how high the taxes are. Welfare is a prime example, your paying people money to sit at home and do nothing. They aren't paying taxes and therefor aren't contributing to that welfare. The only ones contributing to that welfare are the ones who are paying more into the system then the total value of goods and services returned, which is mostly your middle class and some of the million dollar club. Every time the US government gives a check or provides a service that is, quite literally, money coming out of all tax payers pockets with most of it coming out of one segment.

Now this isn't always a bad thing, some goods and services provide a benefit for all and the result is an increase in total production. Things like roads, bridges, water lines, electricity, phones and internet, those infrastructure items result in better higher quality business dealings. After that it gets very grey because a huge population of poor unemployed peasants is a very bad thing for a nation as they are easily manipulated by crusaders "for the children!!!" and can cause a civil war. And after this we get into tin foil hat territory where the progressives are incentivised to keep as many people poor and reliant on US Government as possible.

I can practically smell Ayn Rand's *** on your breath.

Whoops forgot the s at the end of 'winner'. Good catch.

It's one of those sarcastic comments that implies there's nothing you can do about it except pony up yet again.

Just like this link: A Poem for the Proletarian About Taxes.
The picture is of a Resort Island. Irony and such.

Just under 73% of my wages.

Not gross, nor taxable income.

If I used taxable income alone, I paid just a little over 34% in federal. AGI, ~30%

Add on various state taxes (I get taxed in several states and cities because of where my investments are in), also add in payroll taxes, which everyone pays into, and add property taxes (Texas property taxes are one of the highest in the nation, mainly because we don't have an income tax) and sales taxes, and then you will see that it is very easy to pay that high in taxes total.

What sucks most about investment taxes is, I'm getting taxed on money that has already been taxed before (mostly). Especially if it comes from a "C" corporation stock (the corporation pays corporate taxes and I pay dividend investment taxes with it).

Because your conspiracy theory that the rich is waging (raging) war against you.