No More Porsche Projects, Says Taxman

[jyl]

Well, looks like I have to write a big check on 4/15. ArrRRGH. All my Porsche projects (and lots of other things) just got canceled. ARRRRGH. It's my fault, lousy planning, but still --

Sorry, just had to vent.

Now I want to know, how much of my taxes are going to the Iraq war? Let's see, the FY04 Federal Budget is $2.3 trillion. The "war" part of Iraq cost appx $60 billion, the "occupation" costs appx $4 billion/month hence appx $48 billion to date. So, appx $108 billion so far. So about 5% of my taxes this year went for the invasion of and occupation of Iraq. (This does not include "reconstruction" costs, nor of course human costs.)

Another interesting fact: the "discretionary" federal budget is $820 billion. So the $108 billion is 13% of federal discretionary spending.

(Caveat: I'm no master of the arcana of federal government budgeting - this is what I get from the Whitehouse website on the federal budget, the funding passed to date by Congress, and the cost estimates provided by the US military.)

[RickM]

I got bitten a couple of years ago. Lesson learned and never again.

As a result I'm receiving the biggest refund ever. Now for fine tuning as I'd rather be investing the "excess".

[cowtown]

Originally posted by jyl
All my Porsche projects (and lots of other things) just got canceled. ARRRRGH. It's my fault, lousy planning, but still --

...

how much of my taxes are going to the Iraq war? Let's see, the FY04 Federal Budget is $2.3 trillion.

Somewhere over there, there's an Iraqi enjoying your Turbo tie rods.

[tabs]

JYL I feel your pain...I had to pay alot of income taxes this year to the IRS too...$40.00....but what really cheered me up is that I got a refund from CA..for $3.00..... I certainly hope that helps out in Irak!

[island911]

"$40.00....but what really cheered me up is "

LMAO . ..good one, tabs.

[island911]

of course now that I've had a good laugh, I must return to crying over form 1040.

The time commitment to tax reg. minutia, is like a tax in, and of, itself.

taxpayer - island911 (paying & feeling like a sucker, on a quarterly basis)

[jyl]

Thanks, guys. I'm mostly over it now. I didn't really have the money, I just got to hold it for a while, now I'm giving it back. Not sick, family is happy, don't have to sell the Porsche, am not in Iraq dodging bullets, hey it could be a lot worse.

[350HP930]

I had the same problem since I had to write a $2K check to the IRS to make up for my 1099 income this year.

At least I still have enough left over to get my SC330 grinds in the next couple of weeks.

[Sonic dB]

I remember when my dad died in 99,...he left us kids a modest inheritance....

The next year, the tax man took over 30% of the money. Not only did I lose my dad that year, but they took away what he wanted to leave for us.

[ubiquity0]

Originally posted by Sonic dB
I remember when my dad died in 99,...he left us kids a modest inheritance....

The next year, the tax man took over 30% of the money. Not only did I lose my dad that year, but they took away what he wanted to leave for us.

That really gets me. Taking 30% off money that has already been taxed-to-the-max when he earned it.

[Moneyguy1]

How to minimize the "tax bite" for inheritence: Have investments marked (such as mutual funds) "Transfer on Death" and name a specific beneficiary or beneficiaries. Eliminates at least that part from probate and immediate tax. Another idea: Have your parents sell you their house. To protect them, they hold the mortgage, and they pay you rent. You can't evict them since they can call the note, and you get the tax advantages associated with rental property. So, the rent they pay can be less than the mortgage you pay, since you have all the other deductions for tax purchases. This increases their spendable income, and assures the title to you in the event of their demise.

I have elected to stay out of the political "discussions" from now on due to the fact that most here are convinced their "opinions" are correct, and ideologies take precident over reason, and factual data is quoted from the likes of FOX, CNN, Post, NYT and the like as gospel, parsing only those sound bites that suit the poster's current rant. Fight on, lads, you ain't gonna change anyone's thinking since facts are not and apparently cannot be found. Too many experts and not enough independent thinkers.

Other subjects that look like fun, I will continue to chime in.

Cheers, all!!

[Sonic dB]

Ubiquity.... the thing was that the money was in a "tax free" annuity that he had built up over his last 15-20 years as a high school teacher. He died at age 69, and because he didnt make it to 70...the whole annuity was taxed big time. Had he made it to 70, it would have been tax free. But the esophageal cancer got him first.

[on-ramp]

The IRS can go to hell

Let the people who believe in this war pay for it, not me

after your paycheck gets raped every week and you go out and buy something with that money, you pay more taxes on what you buy.

that is called DOUBLE TAXATION.....

[cowtown]

Originally posted by on-ramp
Let the people who believe in this war pay for it, not me

Ahem - as long as we're opting out of things, I don't agree with the highway repaving and widening in Milpitas. Oh, and I don't think that I want to pay for the FDA anymore. So count me out on that.

Sure you can argue that taxes are too high/too low/double-collected. I agree that the tax system is a total mess and that the government is buying us all sorts of programs that it should not be.

But the "public good" items, the stuff that we all benefit from but no one wants to pay for, are the ones that the govt. has got to buy for us. The military is one of them. And I'll gladly pay for it.

PS - a pet peeve of mine - I really hate it when the word "rape" is used like that.

[RickM]

I'm opting out of extended welfare and other "it doesn't affect me" social programs.....