I have paid more taxes in the last 5 years than anytime in my lifetime...

[kentuck]

I can believe Bush when he says the revenues to the Treasury are growing. My taxes came from taking money from my retirement to live on and not paying enough taxes. With the penalties, I ended up paying more and more taxes every year. I wonder how many are in a similar boat such as I? It's not that the economy is doing so great, it's that the government is robbing the savings of many working people. At least, this is my case.

[Warpy]

1. I inherited my pop's portfolio last year

and needed to file quarterly this year. I've paid more in taxes this year than I did in my previous five years working.

I pay more of my income in taxes than any billionaire out there.

This is wrong.

I don't mind paying taxes, or I wouldn't if we got something for them besides unending war and surly bureaucrats. If we got health care, I'd gladly pay more taxes. If we got subsidized housing for marginal workers, I'd gladly pay more again. Same thing with support for single mothers, hungry people, the homeless.

I just want the plutocrats to pay what I pay, at the very least.

[mtnester]

2. We have been victims of ATM for the last 6 years

we have to file separately...one of us gets a big refund, the other has to pay a bunch, so we can get $100. back...otherwise, we would pay thousands MORE if we filed together.

Our choices? Go farther into debt with an unreasonable mortgage we cannot afford (we have a very manageable one now thank you)

Get divorced (seriously, we would be better off tax wise if we did, but neither of us is interested in this solution).

Withhold an extra 25% each pay - OK, we already withhold at Married, at higher single rate, 0 individual allowances, with each of us holding out nearly 10% additional each pay.

Are we rich? NO....but ATM has not been adjusted for decades...if you have not been a victim of this yet, just WAIT until the first time when you have always gotten a refund, and your account suddenly tells you "there is no way around it, no matter what we did or how we figured it, you owe an additional $6,000.00 to the IRS in FICA taxes." That will chap your ass. And we were completely debt free at the time...we bought another house to save ourselves from the IRS.

Sigh. I am addressing everyone who has not been there . . . YET

[Buzz Clik]

7. I feel your pain...

[China_cat]

12. I know exactly what you are talking about.

And found out that there are people right here on DU who insist that my only problem is not having enough withheld...that there's no way the ATM could be costing us close to $3000 above and beyond what's being taken out. And it's been going up for the last 3 years (my husband was out of work for 2 years thanks to Bush). I write the checks. I'm the one who just wants to cry starting at this time of year when we start doing the figuring.

[mtnester]

3. Dupe, sorry

board froze...double post

whoops

[slackmaster]

4. I'm not at top income and almost got hit with AMT a few years ago

That was scary.

Right now my tax burden is increasing year by year, because I refinanced my house to a 15-year fixed rate in 2003. The annual reduction in deductible interest is precipitous compared to the first several years of a 30-year loan, and it's only 50% of your first payment (compared with 100% on a 30-year mortgage).

[mtnester]

5. It SUCKS to have to go further into debt to avoid paying ATM

My hubby and I were basically PENALIZED because we had paid our home off. . . .and for being married to boot!

Gah...I better stop before I have some type of anger management incident.

Deep breath

[Buzz Clik]

6. We faced the same thing...

with the added bonus of the IRS sucking another $2K out of us after a review of our return. It seems that we missed the fine print that we could not claim all of our deductions. No malice on our part and no fine -- just an interest fee. It still hurt, and it will be worse next year.

Bush's tax plan must be great for the filthy rich, but it's not helping me a bit.

[slackmaster]

8. I'm not at top income and almost got hit with AMT a few years ago

That was scary.

Right now my tax burden is increasing year by year, because I refinanced my house to a 15-year fixed rate in 2003. The annual reduction in deductible interest is precipitous compared to the first several years of a 30-year loan, and it's only 50% of your first payment (compared with 100% on a 30-year mortgage).

[Virginia Dare]

9. Yep, me too....

that's why I laugh everytime one of those right wing wackos in my state says "I'll keep your taxes low". :rofl:

[leftofthedial]

10. same here

After 35 years of working my ass off, saving, investing, living frugally and playing by the "rules," I'm now officially broke. Zero, nada, zip. I paid more taxes last year than ever before and I haven't had a job in two years.

The American Dream. Yeah, right.

[Yavin4]

11. The Executives at Haliburton Thank You

As do their trophy wives/girlfriends.

[originalpckelly]

13. We need serious tax reform in America...

there needs to be a simple flat tax for everyone. No deductions, just complete exemptions from the tax for groups which need it.

It's ridiculous that Warren Buffet pays less a percentage of income in taxes as someone making $30,000 a year. (Must include payroll taxes in that however.)

I know, I sat down and actually did the math to prove that normal Americans are paying more of their income in taxes than the rich are.

I don't really see how people can be expected to comply with a law (or regulations with the force of law) if they don't even know what it says, and if the things prohibited are not malum in se crimes.

[ProfessorGAC]

16. NOBODY Knows What The Law Says

The IRS has teams of people who are expert in specific areas of the code. Even there, nobody knows the whole thing. That's ridiculous.

Now, i must say that the flat tax idea is one i can't swallow. I've never seen a proposal that actually worked when one did the math by one's self. (Rather than using the math provided by people like Fair Tax. That proposal, at the rate proscribed doesn't even come close to revenue neutrality.)

But, the code is, indeed, WAY too complicated and convoluted.
The Professor

[kentuck]

14. I suspect there may be more of us than people realize...

If one person out of ten has to pay an extra $1000, that would average out to an extra $100 per person in taxes. I suspect this may be where much of the bragged about "revenues" are coming from? I have seen no statistics on this.

[AbbyR]

15. I am struggling with the IRS now...

My husband was out out of work from April to August, when he died. He worked as long as he could because we were barely making it. We kept doing taxes, kept owing huge amounts and never could figure out why because we had a very limited lifestyle (and now it's so limited I can't even afford to turn on the heat.) But I will still, I think, owe a couple thousand dollars extra out of my $25,000 per year salary - and I now use an accountant who really likes me and just can't do any better than that based on our current tax code. And that extra that I will owe comes even after withholding, monster medical bills and mortgage interest.

It just doesn't make sense. And it disgusts me to watch kids dying because I am financing a war with my limited funds. There is something so wrong with this.