. . .And Another Thing

Oooh!  Are we all excited yet about our big PAY HIKE due to the gop tax cuts?

I received my retirement check today for March 1 and it is true that my "take home" is increased due to a reduction of the withholding for federal taxes.  Who doesn't love a pay increase?

Smoke and mirrors are still basic props for governmental fiscal operations-- across a wide range of activities, I might add, up to and including the creation of "money" out of thin air.  But books could be written on the subject-- and little would be fixed thereby.  So back to the issue at hand.

The payer of my retirement stipend has no knowledge of my over-all income status.  He simply uses a federal table of deductions and applies it to the amount I have earned for the month.  And what he doesn't know doesn't hurt him-- but it hurts me, but only to the extent that I allow myself to be the victim of the ruse that I have gotten a "tax cut."

Because the Lord has blessed me I have certain other incomes in addition to the one referenced above.  Hence I pay taxes monthly on them, but in addition I submit a quarterly ES voucher with payment to the IRS four (4) times a year.  And wind up, usually, writing a fifth check in April, but that is also another issue.

So, this "pay increase," thank you Washington, DC, that I receive this month will ultimately cost me bigger checks direct from my bank account to the IRS.  But wait!  You say.  Your 2018 taxes will be less in the long run.

Can you repeat after me:  Poppycock!

Will not.  I have already done the math.

If the pants of every liar in DC caught fire simultaneously the entire district along with the states of Virginia and Maryland would go up in flames.

(But, you say, if you are armed with this knowledge why don't you have your payers withhold larger amounts in the first place?  Yes, I could do that.  And how does that reduce my taxes?)

Encumbered

 

A part of my boyhood, a very small part because these "tax tokens" were worth a mill, or one-tenth cent up to five mills, or 1/2 cent.  That is, five two mill coins would be the equivalent of a penny. There were twelve states that issued tax tokens.  I lived in one of them.

The coins were variously made of aluminum, plastic, or even cardboard. The purpose was to "save" the customer from being overcharged when he paid the sales tax on small purchases, say a dime on which the tax at 2% would be two mills and paying a penny would lose the customer 4/5th cent.  Not paying at all would cost the state 2/5th cent, hence the creation of the tax token.  Different states issued different denominations, 1,2, and 5 mill values.

The use of these tokens prevailed throughout the thirties and into the forties.  Eventually someone figured out that the whole thing was too cumbersome, yet the government could not afford to simply eliminate the sales tax, so the bracketed tax was devised.  Say at 2% the table would indicate a tax on purchases of one to twenty-four cents would be zero; from twenty=five to seventy-four cents, one cent tax; seventy-five to $1.24, two cents, and so on.  This required the publication of sales tax tables for the merchant and the general public.  Which of course was not cumbersome..  Or perhaps it was, who knows?  This method is still being used in some states,  Except of course a two-percent tax is a long-dead dream.  Also some municipalities have jumped on the bandwagon and imposed their own sales taxes in addition to the statewide taxes.  In some states these now total as much as 9.45%.  Ours is seven percent except in certain cities where it is more, at least on some items.

And.  Some states have a tiered system in which the tax rates vary for different items purchased.

The mind of man is infinitely convoluted and forever seeking more ways to complicate our lives.

 Image:By $1LENCE D00600D at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32892050

Tehe. :o)

The Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified February 3, 1913.

If you think that had little bearing on your personal life, think IRS.  Think April 15.  Think 1040.

Btw, have you received all your 1099s and so forth?

You're welcome.

A Catechism

[I was amusing myself by reading some of Bob Warr's blog posts from a couple years ago.  Sometimes he actually makes sense. "Catechism" is quoted directly and in its entirety.]

Based on the eighth commandment. “Thou shalt not steal.”

1. Is this injunction to be taken literally?

Yes, but with certain exceptions.

2. What are the exceptions?

Principally, in the cases wherein the State grants a license to steal.

3. Can you cite examples to illustrate your assertion?

Yes. The banking industry, for example. Banks are granted a license to steal.

Also, telecommunications companies are licensed to conduct business, i.e., a license to steal.

4. Are there other examples?

Yes, a case in point is the State itself, in which it licenses to itself the power of operating lotteries, thereby stealing vast amounts of money from those who can least afford the loss.

Also, the taxation systems in many federal, state, and local governments are essentially licenses to steal, inasmuch as the "ins" use the codes in overreach of their legitimate function in pursuit of activities not granted to them in their constitutions, thereby taking from some illegitimately to buy votes from others. Stealing.  There are yet other instances.

5. If the State then is a role-model for our moral behavior, then is it not right for me to steal if it is to benefit me or my kin?

No, the State will throw you in jail quicker than baking soda reacts with vinegar in a fifth-grade science experiment. “Do as we say, not as we do,” is the mantra of the State.

6. I see. Then essentially might we accurately say we are screwed?

Yes.

Taxes and the Case of No Return

Just wrote the check to pay the property taxes.  I'll cruise on over to the court house later this morning and drop it off.  Taxes not due until the second Monday in November, as always, and I used to  wait until the very last hour to pay them.  That was back in the day when the bank paid an honest rate of return for the use of my money and I tended to leave it with them so long as I could.  Now, it matters not, and the County might could* use the money to meet an imminent payroll, or please a long-suffering creditor.

So today I will pay my property taxes.

*The phrase "might could" is used deliberately and correctly.  Grammar police: pass on by.

You may note at the top of the page there is a new tab, "Short Stories."  I have placed the current series of stories I am posting on Thursdays here in one place, should you like to review any of them.  New ones will be added each Thursday.