I must agree with John. Everyone will have to adjust their withholdings for next year or run the risk of owning the government plenty of money. I for one did this last year when they lowered the withholding rates. If I had not I would have owed plenty this year. We must all be very careful, the worst is yet to come. They are throwing us tid-bits (making work pay credit) in the hopes that we will not see the bigger picture. Economically this country is on its knees and I don't see it improving any with our current leaders.
JOHN - 14 years ago
Most people don't realize that with lower withholdings during the year and the expiration of tax cuts initiated by George Bush, the average taxpayer is worst off than in previous years and look for it to get worst. Massive government spending has to be paid for by either borrowing from China or raising taxes. The end result could be inflation numbers that make the Jimmy Carter years look like Ronald Reagan. Finally the IRS is expanding its audit staffing duh going after everyone over $100k income. brace yourselves here it comes.
Chelsea - 14 years ago
My individual federal income tax remained about the same in 2009 as in 2008. Theoretically my taxes were reduced by the Making Work Pay Credit, but in terms of net effect to me, this merely offset another credit we no longer fully maximized.
However, individual federal income tax is a small bite of my personal tax bill. I am a big government/big tax kinda person and even I can't figure out where it all goes.
Jeremy - 14 years ago
He raised cigarette taxes, and is letting the Bush tax cuts expire. Plus there are new tariffs on tires, etc, which are higher prices, effectively a tax.
Then of course all the new debt, which will be higher taxes or higher inflation later.
Graham - 14 years ago
I am just thankful that President Bush had the wisdom to run a war for 6 years without raising taxes or even including it in the budget. Special Appropriation don't cost our children anything
Joe - 14 years ago
The administration must honestly think we are a bunch of idiots, and they know better. It's simple ...
- If your successful your taxes have gone up
- If you acknowledge that Obama and his clueless friends Pelosi and Reed, have more mortgaged our kids (and their kids) futures with uncontrolled spending on programs that create a society of dependency ... then you know taxes HAVE TO GO UP
- If you understand that the administration could collect all of our income in taxes and still not pay for the debt, then you realize just how much trouble we are in
- If you understand that the only sector in which jobs are growing is government then you realize that we all have to pay for this hugh machine that creates NOTHING
Keep thinking your helping us ... you'll all be voted out soon enough and we can get independent/common sense leadership in Congress and eventually the administration
Please excuse my major error in my comment above: I posted the debt increase as $14.294 million. The increase is $1.9 TRILLION, raising the overall debt cap to $14.294 TRILLION. By the way, that's more than a 15% increase in the debt for the country. So how much have your taxes increased by?!?!
People incorrectly think of taxes in terms of the marginal rate you pay on your tax return, or maybe the nominal dollars you pay in taxes over the course of the year. Wrong, in my opinion. You have to factor in the amount of debt the gov't has added to the current deficit. After all, for that to be paid back there's only one way to raise the cash: taxes. So, as Obama today signs in the Debt Limit/PAYGO Bill and increases the federal debt limit by $14.294MM, I can't understand how we would say taxes are decreased. It may feel like they are less, but believe me, they are much, much higher!
John - 14 years ago
The only reason I am getting a $500 refund this year instead of paying in about $200 last year is I spent $7600 on an energy efficient furnace and took the $1500 energy tax credit. The IRS lowered my and my wife's withholding by about $1300 without telling us but it didn't reduce our tax bill. The only thing that saved us from paying in was the $800 "Making Work Pay" credit. which enabled us to get a refund instead of paying in. Still, we have to adjust our withholding or we will get murdered next year. At least when Bush gave us the $600 rebate, we didn't have to declare it as income on our next year's taxes. I consider the Obama's supposed stimulus to be dishonest because of this.
I must agree with John. Everyone will have to adjust their withholdings for next year or run the risk of owning the government plenty of money. I for one did this last year when they lowered the withholding rates. If I had not I would have owed plenty this year. We must all be very careful, the worst is yet to come. They are throwing us tid-bits (making work pay credit) in the hopes that we will not see the bigger picture. Economically this country is on its knees and I don't see it improving any with our current leaders.
Most people don't realize that with lower withholdings during the year and the expiration of tax cuts initiated by George Bush, the average taxpayer is worst off than in previous years and look for it to get worst. Massive government spending has to be paid for by either borrowing from China or raising taxes. The end result could be inflation numbers that make the Jimmy Carter years look like Ronald Reagan. Finally the IRS is expanding its audit staffing duh going after everyone over $100k income. brace yourselves here it comes.
My individual federal income tax remained about the same in 2009 as in 2008. Theoretically my taxes were reduced by the Making Work Pay Credit, but in terms of net effect to me, this merely offset another credit we no longer fully maximized.
However, individual federal income tax is a small bite of my personal tax bill. I am a big government/big tax kinda person and even I can't figure out where it all goes.
He raised cigarette taxes, and is letting the Bush tax cuts expire. Plus there are new tariffs on tires, etc, which are higher prices, effectively a tax.
Then of course all the new debt, which will be higher taxes or higher inflation later.
I am just thankful that President Bush had the wisdom to run a war for 6 years without raising taxes or even including it in the budget. Special Appropriation don't cost our children anything
The administration must honestly think we are a bunch of idiots, and they know better. It's simple ...
- If your successful your taxes have gone up
- If you acknowledge that Obama and his clueless friends Pelosi and Reed, have more mortgaged our kids (and their kids) futures with uncontrolled spending on programs that create a society of dependency ... then you know taxes HAVE TO GO UP
- If you understand that the administration could collect all of our income in taxes and still not pay for the debt, then you realize just how much trouble we are in
- If you understand that the only sector in which jobs are growing is government then you realize that we all have to pay for this hugh machine that creates NOTHING
Keep thinking your helping us ... you'll all be voted out soon enough and we can get independent/common sense leadership in Congress and eventually the administration
Thanks
Please excuse my major error in my comment above: I posted the debt increase as $14.294 million. The increase is $1.9 TRILLION, raising the overall debt cap to $14.294 TRILLION. By the way, that's more than a 15% increase in the debt for the country. So how much have your taxes increased by?!?!
People incorrectly think of taxes in terms of the marginal rate you pay on your tax return, or maybe the nominal dollars you pay in taxes over the course of the year. Wrong, in my opinion. You have to factor in the amount of debt the gov't has added to the current deficit. After all, for that to be paid back there's only one way to raise the cash: taxes. So, as Obama today signs in the Debt Limit/PAYGO Bill and increases the federal debt limit by $14.294MM, I can't understand how we would say taxes are decreased. It may feel like they are less, but believe me, they are much, much higher!
The only reason I am getting a $500 refund this year instead of paying in about $200 last year is I spent $7600 on an energy efficient furnace and took the $1500 energy tax credit. The IRS lowered my and my wife's withholding by about $1300 without telling us but it didn't reduce our tax bill. The only thing that saved us from paying in was the $800 "Making Work Pay" credit. which enabled us to get a refund instead of paying in. Still, we have to adjust our withholding or we will get murdered next year. At least when Bush gave us the $600 rebate, we didn't have to declare it as income on our next year's taxes. I consider the Obama's supposed stimulus to be dishonest because of this.