Why Your Tax Cut Doesn't Add Up(anti tax-cut piece)

Newsweek ^ | 4/12/04 | Allan Sloan

[finnman69]

By Allan Sloan

NewsweekApril 12 issue - Tax time isn't fun, unless you're an accountant keeping a running tab of how much you're billing clients as April 15 nears. But this year tax season's even more distressing than usual. You've been looking forward to cashing in your share of the $3 trillion or so in tax cuts President George W. Bush has pushed through in the past few years, those "real and immediate benefits to middle-income Americans'' he's promised (most people consider themselves middle-income these days). But who can figure out this stuff? Even accountants now get Excedrin headaches from an ever-more-complex set of rules: financial publisher CCH says its Standard Federal Tax Reporter, the tax-biz bible, has grown by a third in the past three years, to more than 60,000 pages.

For millions of Americans who do their own taxes, the workload has vastly increased because so many of us have to fill out a second return, using a whole different set of calculations, to see if we've fallen prey to the alternative minimum tax. Feel confused? The tax-policy sound bites emanating from the presidential campaigns are certainly no help. They just add to the confusion and make you want to forget it all, write your check (or cash your refund), get on with your life and hide from taxes until next year. Even I feel this way sometimes, and I deal with numbers and taxes for a living.

[finnman69]

Light on details...but he has another article with lots of tax raising ideas. "Six Fixes for the Tax Mess"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4661023/

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[finnman69]

FYI, i'm getting back about $3K more than last year.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Ditto here. The Bush tax cut works for me, although I would like to see more of a cut.

[Mr. Bird]

If Bush gets what he wants, the income tax will become a misnomer—it will really be a salary tax. Almost all income taxes would come from paychecks—80 percent of income for most families, less than half for the top 1 percent. Meanwhile taxpayers receiving dividends, interest and capital gains, known collectively as investment income, would have a much lighter burden than salary earners—or maybe none at all.

So double-taxing is better? This guy's a piece of work. He also thinks the estate tax is a good thing, because it keeps people from getting too rich.

[Mr. Bird]

I had a massive tax turnaround for the better, having bought my first home. The difference is astounding; I'm ticked off I waited so long.

[The Great RJ]

I just did my taxes using commercial software (Tax Cut)--it clearly showed me that the new lower tax rates and elimination of the marriage penalty saved me in excess of $400.

[agooga]

Won't argue that our tax system is too complex and I would support simplifying it-- flat tax if possible.

BUUUUUT!!!!

I just had my taxes done on Saturday and I am getting an unprecedented (for me) refund.

I made $93,000 this year and my wife, who usually works as a school teacher and earns about $45,000 stayed home this year with our new baby daughter.

Child tax credit, 2 dependents and we bought a small piece of property in Washington state adds up to a $10K refund!

I am so stoked!

The libs would call us the "evil rich" but we're going to take our $$$ and pay for the kitchen remodel we've been waiting 8 years to be able to afford.

Pump that money right back into the economy.

Suckers.

[Dr Snide]

Yes, apparently I am rich because I got back quit a bit on my taxes this year thanks to the Bush Tax Plan. I'm putting mine to good use however, I bought a pontoon boat that I'm having docked at a local lake for my family to use, already painted on S.S. George W. Bush since it was his tax cut that allowed us to buy the thing, well that and to drive my Dem inlaws crazy.

[Izzy Dunne]

I ran this year's numbers through last year's tax tables - $1000 less this year.

[Gunslingr3]

For millions of Americans who do their own taxes, the workload has vastly increased because so many of us have to fill out a second return, using a whole different set of calculations, to see if we've fallen prey to the alternative minimum tax.

So the AMT is Bush's fault? America deserves this mess for adopting, and thus far failing to rescind, the 16th amendment.

[The Raven]

Spending cuts????

[finnman69]

I'll take a ride on the SS Bush any time!