Posted on 02/14/2002 10:25:16 AM PST by farmall
My wife and I are both public school teachers. We both teach additional day and after school classes. We both teach summer school and I have another job as a security guard. Combined total we earned @ $119,000 in 2001. IRS has already taken @ $19,000. It looks like they want another $ 3-5,000 on 4-15-02.
Liar.
Going back a few years we had a flurry of school related levy's on the ballot ... spaced over a 2.5 year period. I took up the gauntlet with letters to the editor of our local paper opposing, not the first levy, but the subsequent ones. Boy, did I get the boom lowered on me ... I was definitely persona-non-grata in my neighborhood. The local paper liked my viewpoint because it was damn near impossible to find anyone to oppose the levy ... that was dumb enough to go on the record. Bottom line ... the first levy passed subsequent ones failed. The state later released additional funds to the school districts, which took the heat off.
"Combined total we earned @ $119,000 in 2001. IRS has already taken @ $19,000. It looks like they want another $ 3-5,000 on 4-15-02."FA, You ain't got it too bad. Consider that every penny of those dollars, with the possible exception of the security guard job, including the taxes you pay, come from the private sector taxpayers. And, Your union leaders who negotiate new contracts to make up for the escalating prices, are most likely in the same position. And, the negotiators on the other{?} side{?} of the table {government bureaucrats} are in the same position. It's no skin off either side{?}'s nose if the private sector taxpayer pays more taxes to fund government and "taxes" government employees "pay". You guys got it made. How many of the parents of the children you teach make that much? Peace and love, George.
GL, That too comes from the private sector taxpayer's pocket as does EVERY penny of "government" wages that are taxed. INCLUDING the taxes themselves. It is NOT, "a good way to run an airline." Peace and love, George.
Chances are that most of us could choose to make more, and we could choose to make less.
What galls me is self-proclaimed conservatives getting envious of someone who has chosen to make more. It's nothing but rank hypocrisy and class warfare.
And nobody has to work any "harder" than they choose to. People in ditches are there because they ditched school.
And what is generally true about any group cannot be rigidly applied to any one individual. This fellow may be the best teacher in the world for all you know.
I'm an engineer, hubby is an IBM salesman (both 46 yrs old). Together last year we earned $210,000. Though payroll witholding, we had $38,000 taken out of our paychecks by the IRS, $11,000 witheld by the state (maximum witholding rates, zero deductions). We had to write out an additional check on January 15th for another $8,000 to the IRS. $57,000 in state and Federal income taxes on an income of $210,000--how would you like to pay that?
For the smart-@ss freepers who say "get a better accountant," you obviously don't know what you're talking about. Our problem is that we are "evil rich" people with one child and a paid-off mortgage. Because of our income, we can't do IRA's, Roth IRA's education savings accounts, etc. etc. Yes, we max out our 401k's every year!!! We don't even get a full deduction for our daughter because of our income bracket. Ever heard of that neat little trick in the tax code? Most people haven't.
Since we don't own our own business, we can't reduce our taxes with fake expenses like so many small business owners do.
Welcome to the real world of the U.S. Tax Code, farmall!!!
You can thank (among others) your socialist buddies at the NEA for continuing to vote for scumbag Democrats who can't do anything except raise my taxes and create new wasteful ogovernment programs.
The first step to recovery is to admit that you have an addiction. :^)
Do you support your teacher's union, do you teach kids that capitalism is bad, and the 'village' is good. In other words, are you still Democrats?
I imagine quite a few if not most. Conservatives are the doers of the world. We 'do' the world and then get paid handsomely for the pleasure it recieves from all our enterprise and productivity.
I also received a reply suggesting sloth and envy.
Does anyone suggest 25% tax on $120,000 income is too high? How many flat-tax proposals were lower?
farmall's tax rate seems appropriate to me.
To paraphrase another poster, where's the sob story?
He can still take out IRAs or invest in the college savings plan for each child. Both would be deductible from income tax for 2001.
At what income level is 25% too much?
You're right. Mileage from the primary job to the secondary job is deductible. But, in order to deduct "business expense" I think the taxpayer can only deduct the amount over 2.5% of income. However, teachers usually have a lot of out-of-pocket expenses for teaching aids. I'd bet they can find some deductions in that area. TurboTax has a lot of ideas for ways to reduce income tax for the past year. But there are deadlines for contributing to the IRAs or college funds for the previous year. I think it's sometime in March.
Aren't union dues deductible as business expense?
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