Just filed my 2013 Taxes

[fitz19d]

Is she continuing to live w/ you as a dependant? If so I thought kids can these days be claimed up until 24...

[68Charger]

Is she continuing to live w/ you as a dependant? If so I thought kids can these days be claimed up until 24...

claimed as a dependant, yes... qualify for the child tax credit, no.. that ends at the first year they turn 17.

[Bailey Guns]

Going down to open IRAs today for the deduction just so we can keep a little more of OUR money.

You work hard, pay your bills, pay off the mortgage and be a productive member of society and what happens? You get fucked by the IRS/government.

It pisses me off to no end to think there are people out there making a living off of government assistance (as opposed to those that need it), that you and I pay for, that live as comfortably (maybe more so since they don't have the responsibilities) as the average guy who's doing the responsible thing.

There is NO incentive for the average person, other than personal integrity and satisfaction, to do the right thing any longer. I suppose one could reach a level of wealth where it doesn't really matter but that's not likely for the average person.

[NFATrustGuy]

EXACTLY, Bailey!

It bugs me to no end when I hear otherwise rational people essentially brag that they receive this benefit or that benefit from "the government" or that "the government" should be paying for or subsidizing one thing or another.

People just can't seem to wrap their brains around the fact that "the government's" money comes out of the pockets of people who work and pay taxes. We should all cringe every time we hear of a new program/czar/war on.../etc. This means "the government" is getting bigger and we're going to need to pay more taxes to pay for the growth.

We have layer upon layer of bureaucracy who's only purpose in life is to supervise the layer below. Nothing is produced and no practical purpose is served. Every time something "bad" happens, we add a new rule or regulation that adds another layer of oversight with nothing being produced---except for the need for more "income" for the government--more taxes!

The Government routinely pisses away my tax dollars by failing to maintain equipment and facilities. It drives me nuts to see city workers driving around in brand new $40k trucks. If you look around, the independent HVAC contractor is making do with a 15 year old service truck--by taking care of the asset and maintaining it properly. Why? Because replacing the truck actually costs him money out of his pocket! The Govenment can't seem to make a truck last for more than 3 years. The Govenment doesn't have to deal with the concept of scarcity--you know--that part of the day when all of us normal citizens have to decide this or that. The Govenment just jumps to the bottom of the available choices and picks 'D. All of the above.'

The Govenment routinely pays for form over substance. It drives me nuts to go to a government office to buy a building permit (don't even get me started on this concept) to see that the government building has really nice granite countertops, snazzy lighting fixtures with high-end switches, 200 square feet of floor space for each worker, nice stonework surrounding the building, water features within the landscape, etc., etc., and MORE etc. all the while KNOWING that the $30K+ per year that my family pays in property taxes is what's paying for all this shit! In the meantime, it takes me a month or more to actually receive a building permit for a basement finish.

We all have been conditioned to simply accept Govenment's inefficiencies to some degree or another without even giving it a second thought. Think about this: Why do we need to register/license our vehicles? What is the purpose of the license plate on my car? To identify my car when I rob a bank. Nah. Too easy for a bad guy to just steal some plates before doing the deed. Even though license plates serve no real purpose, we've created an entire layer of Govenment with, quite literally, thousands of employees and 100's of thousands of square feet of office space and millions and millions in annual operating costs--just to make sure I've got the correct 2 square inches worth of stickers on a license plate that doesn't mean anything anyway. If this was a private enterprise, management would be forced to consider the cost vs. benefit of such a system. Our Government just raises the fees to make sure they've got enough money to fund the system who's only purpose is to make sure we pay the fees.

The most frustrating part for me is that I sit here and watch **my** country erode into a Socialist state and not only am I effectively powerless to change it, there's no place in the world I can go to improve my situation! I hate picking anything (country or otherwise) just because it's the lesser of competing evils.

[HoneyBadger]

Decent rant. 8/10. I wholeheartedly agree.

[Mtn.man]

Hope this debacle with Onama and the IRS sends some hope that we can abolish this Illegal tax.
And the IRS is Not FED. they are a collection agency hired by our government.

A refund is a joke if they hadn't stole your $$$ early in the year it would be 0 to 0 owed/returned.

[splogan]

I got back a LOT less than last year. Guess somebody has to pay for the freeloaders
.

[splogan]

Abolish income tax and have a federal sales tax. Turns out illegal or not walmart is charging sales tax.

[SamuraiCO]

Just got the paperwork back from my tax guy. Guess 42k wasn't enough for our well run Fed Gov they want 7k more. I'm so blessed I can help so many who have made such good choices in life that they need my help so they do not have to work to support their family. Least they could do would remove snow for me and mow my lawn.

[cfortune]

My refund was over $900 less this year.