Free Family Finance

This time of year always sickens me. It is tax season. Sure, I am sickened by the amount of taxes I have to pay, but I am even more sickened by the attitude of folks when they receive their returns.

I get it. I do. It is fun to get a few hundred dollars in the mail. You can’t argue against that. But there are a lot of other things you CAN argue against. Today we are going to look at 3 reasons why you shouldn’t be excited about getting your tax return.

1. It is YOUR money! – It is not a gift. It is a return. It is your money! After months of the worst type of financial captivity, your money is returned to you. [Enter Point #2]
2. It is NOT accompanied by interest! - Why is this type of financial captivity is so bad? Because it doesn’t pay interest. In effect, it is the worst savings plan ever. What is the purpose of a savings account if they don’t pay you for the use of YOUR money?! The opportunity cost of putting that money in a moneymarket account equates to $100′s of dollars. That is $100′s that you miss out on.
3. YOU had to pay the costs associated with reclaiming your money! – Not only is your money tied up in an interest-free account, but you pay the fees associated with reclaiming it. You must perform the paperwork, hire the accountant, and have the money fight with your spouse. You! You lose out on $100′s in interest and then spend $100′s to ask for your money back.

As of 2006, the tax preparation industry in America had revenues of over $65 BILLION dollars. That is money that goes to tax professionals for the services they provide. I am certainly not mad at tax professionals, but I am a thinker. And something seems very obvious here. If we reformed our tax system to eliminate some of the red tape, we could save BUTT-LOADS of cash.

Before you get all jazzed about your tax refund, take a moment and ponder the ‘what-if’s’. What if you had kept your money all along? What if it had hundreds of dollars in interest with it? What if you hadn’t paid hundreds in accounting fees?

Doesn’t that sound nice?

photo | woolloomooloo

– Washington D.C. –

After over a year of deliberation, U.S. Officials will return money taken from taxpayers.

Following months of searching for other ways to spend taxpayer money, officials in the U.S. capital have announced today that they will return the remaining money. Initially,the politicians had planned to use the stolen resources towards resuscitating dead companies, perpetuating dying business models, and punishing the nation’s most productive citizens.

Officials quickly found success instituting this program. Earlier this year, government officials successfully satisfied every special interest group in Washington by spending $3.5 Trillion dollars in a matter of mere months. However, with virtually every lobbyist satisfied and a small surplus of cash on hand, politicians have now turned their attention to hopes of re-election.

Earlier rumors suggested that officials would spend 50% of the remaining funds on a marketing campaign, informing citizens of the decision to return the money. However, due to scheduling conflicts with Ed McMahon,  plans for a nationally televised, door-to-door delivery of the money were canceled. Instead, officials have turned to the Internal Revenue Service [IRS] to monitor the restoration of the funds.

“Taxpayers should not expect to to see these funds magically appear in their mailbox.”, said one IRS spokesperson, “They will need to prove to us that we owe them their money back.” US Citizens will be asked to file forms with the IRS, reporting the amount of money that was taken from them.

Industry experts estimate that Americans will incur a collective $65 Billion dollars in expense to report these numbers back to their offender. Although many of the victimized citizens argue this expense is outrageous & wasteful, others argue that the cost would be justified if it would result in the restoration of all the shanghaied funds. However, IRS officials say ‘Not So Fast’. The IRS explained that funds will only be returned to individuals who ‘need’ their money returned. Those not in ‘need’ of their returned funds will get nothing.

This segregation has been the brunt of much protest, since the state of ‘need’ will be defined by the very politicians who initially commandeered the funds in question. Experts argue that this arrangement clearly results in a conflict of interest.

Although much of the attention has been focused on the immediate wrongdoing, others have expressed concern over how taxpayers can prevent the same injustice from reoccurring in following years.

More details to come, as they become available.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this fff satire. Thanks to Rob Kuban for his participation & input.

With the huge (and growing) deficient in our nation, more and more Americans are look at the country’s ‘rich’ to solve the problem.

Liberals seek, not to punish the rich, but to tax their pants off.

Aside from the array of new wealth taxes being proposed in Washington, there is the proliferation of the “millionaire” taxes (a brilliantly named tax which reach has extended far below the level of millionaires) at the state level–all in the name of better education and progress for all.

There are two new proposals stoking the “tax-the-rich” fires. Voters in Oregon on Tuesday passed Ballot Measures 66 and 67, which raises taxes on households earning more than $250,000 a year, and individuals earning more than $125,000 (the “thousandaire’s tax?”). It also raises taxes on companies. The government says the measures will raise $727 million over two fiscal years.

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton, who now running for governor, is advocating raising taxes on households with total incomes (that is combined) of $150,000 or more a year. That would be the top 10% of Minnesotans, he says.

This issue always intrigues me.

For years I have feared that our government will go ’1 too many times to the well’ in their pursuit of taxing the rich. As our world continues to become more global, rather than national, the opportunity to do business outside of the United States becomes more real. Combine that with growing taxation and you are practically asking America’s wealth to leave.

With the top 1% of Americans paying over 40% of the country’s income tax, what happens when they leave? Estimates already show that nearly $3 Trillion dollars of American wealth is kept outside of the country, for tax reasons – I remind you that this sum of money is equal to our nation’s deficit. So we are talking about a lot of moo-la.

Can our country afford to continually apply tax pressure on the nation’s wealthy – on those who pay all of the country’s bills?

article |  Voters Don’t Want to Punish the Rich, They Just Want to Tax Them – The Wealth Report – WSJ.
photo | Alan Cleaver.