Cordless telephones

[Stormin' Norman]

Yes, we would be much better off if Congress were populated with real estate con men and reality TV personalities.... Damn lawyers..... ;-)

Your first mistake is utilizing an individual income tax system at all. You are basically advocating a reset of the current system back to the days of it's inception. Mission creep would set in and it wouldn't be long before the nation is in another tax quagmire.

The solution is a different, easier and more automatic form of taxation. One that cannot be easily manipulated for the benefit of one group over another.

[gfretwell]

That is just part of the problem. The other thing is the ability of politicians to do favors for their contributors and hide it in a tax code than nobody really understands. Then there is the ability to guide behavior that you normally would not get through legislation but you can bury in the tax code.

[gfretwell]

It is not just the math. Some of those work sheets are unnecessarily complicated, just to be sure they take into account every esoteric rule. The SS tax form is a good example. They have a whole page of "take line one, subtract it from line 5 add in the julian date of your mother's birthday and divide by the speed of light". The reality is they should just say "do you get food stamps"? If not add 85% of your SS to taxable income.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

Ouch. I think the UK is a third.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

Both our countries could be vastly simplified. Simply pay a percentage of your income. No other taxes whatsoever anywhere.

[Taxed and Spent]

I recall one instance where instead of saying "multiply line 10 by .75" it said " "multiply line 10 by .25", "subtract line 11 from line 10". Actually, I think it was even more steps when just one step would do it.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

Those things don't give the same answer.

Anyway, why would you be doing multiplying? Please tell me you don't do it on paper? Ours are done online. Any calculated figures appear instantaneously by javascript.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

f them is price per orange, the other is price per kg. How the f*ck do = I compare that?

It's Maths, with an S. In the UK we can do more than one type.

Ok, smartarse....

Option 1: 10 oranges in a bag =A33.50 Option 2: loose oranges, =A32/kg.

That's all the information you're given in the shop, now tell me which o= ption is cheaper.

-- =

Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps. -- Tiger Woods

[Taxed and Spent]

I guess that is why you get forms that do the calculating for you.

I don't do my taxes on line, I think they are too complicated for that. I do use the federal and state fill-in PDF forms, but they don't do any calculations.

[gfretwell]

I imagine the state that he doesn't live in still withheld money from his pay and he has to file to get that back. I am lucky to be in a state that does not have an income tax.

[Taxed and Spent]

States are greedy and will tax anything they can. "Source Income" - each state gets to tax income that is sourced from that state, and the state where the taxpayer lives gets to tax it all. Of course there are some credits for taxes paid to other states.

[gfretwell]

Do you have a VAT there? I have heard that if that was the only tax it would be fairer assuming "necessities" were exempt for the tax. The other proposal is the "flat tax" you are talking about but the special interests will have nothing to do with that. They live under the illusion that our progressive tax program is actually making the rich pay more but the fact is there are so many loopholes that a really rich person ends up paying a smaller percentage than they would with a flat tax. I would be OK with a flat tax but they don't ask me.

[gfretwell]

What and put all of those accountants and tax program writers out of work? ;-) Yes, if you do not hire someone or buy a tax program for your computer you are doing it all on paper (with a calculator if you have embraced the 20th century) There are PDF forms you can fill in but they do not do any math or process any work sheets. The math is easy, the work sheets are a pain in the ass with lots of steps and if you misunderstand a step or get the wrong line the answer is wrong.

Just to give you an idea, this is the list of forms. It goes on for pages. Of course since we need everything is spanish too, it is more than it looks.

This is the instruction book for the top 2 pages of your return and there is a smaller book like this for most of the other forms you must file.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

Around 1998 I had a phone service advertised as everything you need (local calls, unlimited long distance, caller ID, etc...) for $39.95 a month. The bill was about $60.

I got something like that. I don't know if the price is still good, since it's in a "bundle".

[snip]

The cable here did that (encrypted digital only) last fall. The extra boxes are free, but only for 2 years.

DirecTV would require a receiver for each TV, in the same way. I used to have it and had a lot of trouble with their "customer service".

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

No matter who's pocket it goes into, in comes out of yours. "Fee" or "tax" makes no difference when it comes to paying the bill.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

When I moved here, there was no 911 service. There was still a charge on the phone bill.

[Mark Lloyd]

For a few years, I had a choice of long-distance companies. I left AT&T after they kept increasing the charge for when I made no LD calls at all.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

It most likely won't be $3.00 but $2.99. They're trying to fool you into thinking it's MUCH less than $3 (and most signs I see use really fat nines).

[snip]

[Sam E]

[snip]

Maybe if the accountants and tax lawyers figure out a way they can still get paid :)

[Ed Pawlowski]

I live in CT but the majority of my income is from MA. They withhold tax from payroll. I pay the tax to them and when I file the CT return, the MA tax is a credit against what I owe in CT.

I recently retired so this will be the last year of filing for two states. All income will be from my home state. Tax life is simplified.