Your real tax rate: 40%

MSN Money ^ | 2/21/2007 | Scott Burns

[DungeonMaster]

It's fun to post "Render unto Caesar" on threads like this and watch people go crazy. I think people really have that verse of the bible.

[jjm2111]

My favorite is when you pay sales taxes on the universal service charge and other government fees.

[Rakkasan1]

I think that quote must be on every IRS agent's desk.

Wish Babwa Boxcar would work on passing a Taxpayer's Bill of Rights before a Passenger's Bill of Rights.

[Comus]

I think withholding is the reason. Most people have no idea how much they pay, only how much refund they get on the withheld amount.

[Tucker822]

As the owner of a small corporation, I cringe every time I have to do payroll for my employees. If people really knew and understood the amount of taxes that are ACTUALLY paid on their behalf, they would revolt.

All three of my children, who are working adults now, have complained to me about the taxes being taken out of their paychecks. I gave them a lesson in Government Thievery 101.

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

Oh don't worry I know. It isn't about smug. It is about envy.

Do you think I am here and thrilled about the taxes?

I mean the economy finally picks up speed and we are humming along again and they go ahead and raise the VAT to 19%. Verdammte Scheisse! - umm pardon my French, I mean German.

[nascarnation]

All three of my children, who are working adults now, have complained to me about the taxes being taken out of their paychecks

my (formerly) liberal daughter got married and for various reasons the couple wound up with a big tax bill to pay a couple Aprils ago - she called me up and was complaining loudly - my reply was "welcome to the Republican party"

(unfortunately the Reps in WashDC haven't been very good stewards of our $$ either)

[Psycho_Bunny]

"Do you think our forefathers would have put up with any of the shit that's going on today?  They started blowing-off heads over a 2% tax on a breakfast beverage....and it wasn't even coffee!"

-Dennis Miller

[Tucker822]

"(unfortunately the Reps in WashDC haven't been very good stewards of our $$ either)"

No, sadly, they have not.

What employers REALLY pay for their employees is like a dirty little secret - "what you don't know won't hurt you" and/or "keep the masses ignorant."

[manic4organic]

If everyone had to withhold their own payroll taxes and pay them, there would be a revolt.

[redgolum]

Pretty close. I usually estimate that my take home will be 65% of my gross, and that other taxes are about 5-9% more.

[redgolum]

They don't have enough jails, but they would build them fast.

Two things you never, ever, want to do. Assault a cop and anger the IRS. Of the two, the IRS is the quickest way to end up dead.

[Sicon]

Governor Corzine is going to take some of your money out of one pocket to put it in another, while retaining only the teeensy-weeeensiest portion to cover expenses...

No criminal ever dreamt of such audacity...

[TheKidster]

As slaves, they were happy to pay 20% taxes. What does that make us?

Modern day serfs

[RetiredArmy]

Pushing 50% of what we make. How would the colonialists react to that?

They DID react. It was a revolution. Something that we probably need again to take back the Republic from all those pukes within the Washington, D.C. beltway.

[NoneOfTheAbove]

That's one reason that I'm a supporter of the FairTax. If every time Joe Blow American went to the grocery store he saw an extra 29%+7%(state sales tax) tacked onto his cash register receipt, he might soon begin to think that the government is taking too much, and begin to start reacting. By hiding taxes in a myriad of ways, the socialists in Congress are keeping the people ignorant and barefoot. Combine in government-controlled schools and they have a pretty good racket going.

[reagan_fanatic]

Sit down and add up EVERY tax you pay and on what.

Most Americans would rather not, and are quite comfortable in their ignorance when it comes to how much in taxes they actually pay. I guess it hurts less when you don't pay any attention to it.

[ancient_geezer]

This one definitely deserves a strong ping.

A Taxreform ping for you all.

If anyone would like to be added to this ping list let me know.

John Linder in the House(HR25) & Saxby Chambliss Senate(S25) offer a comprehensive bill to kill all federal income, SS/Medicare payroll, and gift/estate taxes outright replacing them with with a single national retail sales tax administered by the states.

H.R.25,S.25
A bill to promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national retail sales tax to be administered primarily by the States.

Refer for additional information:

• AllTheWeb search: "national sales tax" OR "national retail sales tax" OR "fairtax"

[mc5cents]

"America was born in the midst of a great revolution sparked by oppressive taxation. There was something about the American character—open, hard-working, and honest—that rebelled at the very thought of taxes that were not only heavy but unfair. Today the proud American character remains unchanged. But slowly and subtly, surrendering first to this political pressure and then to that, our system of taxation has turned into something completely foreign to our nature—something complicated, unfair, and, in a fundamental sense, un-American. Well, my friends, the time has come for a second American revolution."
-Ronald Reagan

[mc5cents]

“I don’t like the income tax. Every time we talk about these taxes we get around to the idea of ‘from each according to his needs’. That’s socialism. It’s written into the Communist Manifesto. Maybe we ought to see that every person who gets a tax return sees a copy of the Communist Manifesto with it so he can see what’s happening to him…”
-T. Coleman Andrews, Commissioner of the IRS 1956