Had a conversation with a Conservative the day before elections. I don't know why I bother because the things they believe make me want to bang my head on a wall.
I said I pay income tax. He asked if I didn't mean payroll tax. Don't you love those talking points?
The really strange thing is, they believe payroll tax isn't income tax. I mean seriously believe that. On what planet is money withheld from your payroll that you don't get back at tax time not an income tax? On the Conservative planet where they see Social Security deductions, Medicare deductions and don't see the little goody called FEDERAL WITHHOLDING TAX. Ahem, excuse me for shouting.
Every year between January 1 and April 15, ALL working people file these forms with the Internal Revenue Service and whatever state they reside in. In my case the forms numbers are 1040 and IT-201. The amounts we use to fill in the blanks are based on forms our employers give us which show the amounts of money they withheld from our payroll. In case you missed it, our payroll equals the amount of INCOME we received from them.
Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I have never received every penny of my Federal Withholding Tax or My NY State Withholding Tax back from either of those two entities. As a matter of fact, due to Hubby's business there have been years in which we have had to pay MORE to both of those entities. As a matter of fact a perusal of 10 years of income tax forms informed me that there were years in which we paid as much as $1500 more in INCOME TAX over what was deducted from my earnings.
Hey! If I was a billionaire Mormon, I could pay 10 times what I make annually to a slick accountant so I only had to pay $0 in INCOME TAX. Unfortunately on an average income of $20,000 give or take a grand or two, I pay 15% of my INCOME back in TAXES and that's BEFORE I add in my deduction for Social Security and Medicare which I may not ever get back because Conservatives believe those two "ENTITLEMENTS" are bankrupting our country.
Uhhh, no. Our country is in debt because people who can afford it most easily have stopped paying their fair share of income taxes. Too many loopholes through which they slide in their efforts to feed their need for greed. They hide their money in Swiss bank accounts or offshore tax havens and then claim that the poorest of this country are standing in line with their hands out to hide their own selfish behavior.
They are why the middle class is disappearing. They make their money and hold onto as much of it as they can by sending jobs overseas where they don't have to pay higher American wages. Then they hold onto more of it by refusing to pay the income tax on their ill gotten gains. Thankfully this past election showed me that not all of my fellow Americans are buying into their claptrap. Now, I'm willing to pay more tax to hold their feet to the fire, so let the Bush Tax Cuts EXPIRE.
I know there are some intelligent people on the right, but they don't seem to speak out much.
ReplyDeleteI pay income tax on my small retirement income - and i pay at a higher percentage than Romney paid last year.
ReplyDeletethe Ol'Bizzard
And Boehner and McConnell are all ready saying they won't address the tax rates. And Conservatives will keep saying "Half the country pays no income tax" and mean us lower income citizens. They pay income tax on their income. On what planet do they live that they don't believe the rest of us do? Except for the very poor and the very rich? Federal Withholding Tax is income tax, but they don't seem to understand that.
DeleteSherry, you are applying logic to un-logical creatures...aka, political cretins. There is a little flap in their ear that flip-flops shut when any information they don't want to hear enters their ear canal.
ReplyDelete