Someone explain taxes to me

[obdigore]

humz looked it up to. me feel kinda stupid.......

Most people who claim taxes are horribly unfair or whatever they want to complain don't understand how taxes actually work. Almost all (all I've looked at, but I can't say I've looked at them all) tax structures in first world countries work that way.

[Howard Moon]

I only get $275 from the $315 I was supposed to make. Around 12% taken out.

Pfff that's nothing. I get almost 50% of my 56K Euro a year taken away :P

If you have a good tax accountant, you can get a lot of that back, luckily.

[loki504]

Most people who claim taxes are horribly unfair or whatever they want to complain don't understand how taxes actually work. Almost all (all I've looked at, but I can't say I've looked at them all) tax structures in first world countries work that way.

yea but its also because your boss and even the tax company make tabels that look horribel and cluttered. and maybe because of the fact i never made above 18,218

---------- Post added 2013-02-05 at 08:48 AM ----------

Pfff that's nothing. I get almost 50% of my 56K Euro a year taken away :P

If you have a good tax accountant, you can get a lot of that back, luckily.

i would to pay 56k a year on taxes. but it also means i make the money up from it

[RaoBurning]

Id love to them get rid of those and all other subsidies. Businesses need to make or their own or fold. But they also need to cut all the other nonessential crap like NASA, the EPA, foreign aid, research grants and everything else not related to providing a basic education, national defense, police, and physical infrastructure

Dr. Tyson would like a word with you. No, seriously. Go look at how much fucking money NASA pumps back into the country as a result of jobs and innovation alone, nevermind inspiring people to further their education to be a part of enormous, awe inspiring projects like the Apollo missions and the Mars rovers. Fuck you if you think NASA is "nonessential."

Ever used a GPS? Thank NASA. Not had your food spoil in a week? NASA. Written with a pen upside-down? NASA. Just to start.

Hope for the future is priceless.

---------- Post added 2013-02-05 at 09:09 AM ----------

First of all wasting money to go to the moon serves no purpose other that to say we did it again. Nothing good can come from it.Secondly there is ALREADY a private company sending people into space soon. Its called Virgin Galactic

What about everything we learned by doing it? What about the massive shift, however brief, in how humanity views itself in relation to the universe and itself? You cannot put a price tag on that sort of achievement.

[Dezerte]

The world doesn't revolve around you, so either pay your taxes and contribute to society. You make a lot of money? Cool, that means you can contribute more to society without suffering too much economically. Nobody cares if you can't afford a brand new sports car or whatever, we don't need egoists.

[Deleted]

The world doesn't revolve around you, so either pay your taxes and contribute to society. You make a lot of money? Cool, that means you can contribute more to society without suffering too much economically. Nobody cares if you can't afford a brand new sports car or whatever, we don't need egoists.

I agree, the rich can afford it. So what if they get one less ivory backscratcher in a month?

Even after taxes they still earn huge sums of money and bonuses, more than most people can even dream of. Do they really need all that money on top of everything they already got?

[Deleted]

Because if you earn more, you gotta give more. Thats just how fucked up the system is.

[Austilias]

The world doesn't revolve around you, so either pay your taxes and contribute to society. You make a lot of money? Cool, that means you can contribute more to society without suffering too much economically. Nobody cares if you can't afford a brand new sports car or whatever, we don't need egoists.

This is what it boils down to really.

"You worked hard earning all that money? Tough shit, we'll spend an ever increasing amount of your money the way we want as opposed to how you want; and you can bet your ass the underclass will be glad of it."

[Purlina]

If you don't want to pay taxes, you can move to a tax free country. Bye!

[Reeve]

If people are "punished for success," like some of the people in this thread have suggested, then by all means dole out some of that kind of "punishment" on me.

[Spectral]

This is what it boils down to really.

"You worked hard earning all that money? Tough shit, we'll spend an ever increasing amount of your money the way we want as opposed to how you want; and you can bet your ass the underclass will be glad of it."

This isn't an argument at all.

[Endus]

This is what it boils down to really.

"You worked hard earning all that money? Tough shit, we'll spend an ever increasing amount of your money the way we want as opposed to how you want; and you can bet your ass the underclass will be glad of it."

1> Wealthy people don't work any harder than anyone else.
2> Money that's taxed is not "your money", it's the government's money.
3> The fact that you even HAVE "money" boils down to government.
4> The chief reason the government is forced to tax people is because society agrees that certain social safety nets are necessary, and wealthy people aren't willing to voluntarily fund it out of common decency. Because they won't, it's taken from them in an egalitarian and equitable manner.

[Cybran]

1> Wealthy people don't work any harder than anyone else.

Not true at all.

[Reeve]

3> The fact that you even HAVE "money" boils down to government.

This is an important point. I think a lot of the "success is punished" folks underestimate how much government assistance to the poor and middle class makes the wealth that the wealthy person has generated possible. Who do you suppose buys the products and services that make the wealth possible? Who works in the companies owned or operated by the "wealthy?" None of these markets, whether product/service markets or employment markets would be nearly as robust (or even existent in some cases) without the benefits provided by government.

So if anything, the wealthy have benefited far MORE from government influence and spending than the poor, since they get to reap the benefits of the greater stability and flexibility of society as a whole, instead of only the direct benefits to themselves specifically.

[Spectral]

Not true at all.

Can you provide evidence of the claim that wealthy people work more or harder than people in other income ranges? I'm unable to find evidence for that claim, wages don't seem linked to hours worked at all. Anecdotally, I worked much harder for my money when I was poor than I do while upper middle class.

[Endus]

Not true at all.

Yes, true. The idea that if you work hard, you'll become wealthy? Just a flat-out lie. Most truly wealthy people have been primarily lucky, not hard-working.

Your average CEO is not a harder worker than the people who work for him. There are a few professions that do work very hard and make good wages, typically those which also require heavy postgrad degrees, like doctors and lawyers, but those folks are upper middle class, not "wealthy".

The whole thing is part of the idiotic "bootstraps" meme out of the Republican Party in the US. Rich people are rich because they inherited a nest egg, because they got lucky, because they figured out a "trick" and profited off it before anyone else noticed it, etc. Not because of "hard work".

Do some wealthy people work hard? Sure. That's not WHY they're wealthy, though. It's something else.

[Purlina]

Indeed, I have seen the poor and middle class working long work weeks and doing back breaking work. Most wealthy people are afraid to get down and dirty when it comes to crunch time.


Most of the time you don't see the partners or owners of large firms breaking their balls trying to get the work done, they have their grunts for that.

Wealthy people pay others to do the hard work for them....

[Reeve]

Not true at all.

Explain, please. I've met plenty of "poor" people who work 3 jobs, doing 80-90 hours per week. It may not be true that the wealthy necessarily work less than the poor, but it's not necessarily true they work more or harder than the poor either. The qualities of their particular work types may differ, is all, and there's variations on both ends of that spectrum in terms of work in.

[Cybran]

Explain, please. I've met plenty of "poor" people who work 3 jobs, doing 80-90 hours per week. It may not be true that the wealthy necessarily work less than the poor, but it's not necessarily true they work more or harder than the poor either. The qualities of their particular work types may differ, is all, and there's variations on both ends of that spectrum in terms of work in.

Plenty of "poor" people spend their time counting the minutes till they can go home.

[tombstoner139]

If people are "punished for success," like some of the people in this thread have suggested, then by all means dole out some of that kind of "punishment" on me.

As would i.. i would love to pay a 99% tax on my second billion.