47% is a lot

no cards tonight, although i may hit the forums or take in a vid later.  tomorrow is a day off, but i’m hitting the “county” fair with the family.

a couple of strange things happened to me on the finance front. 

1. Social Security sent me my Estimated Benefits sheet.  i have earned enough credits to qualify for benefits.  my full retirement age will be 67.  partial benefits can be tapped at 62, or i can hold out for the big load and wait until i’m 70 to stop working.  i thought retirement was 65.  guess things change.

every time a social security check lands at my grandmother’s i still tell her “You’re Welcome”.

pisses her off.  she thinks it was this retirement program that she paid into for years.  as if it were an IRA. 

2. my accountant lady called, the mean librarian one, and said that it looks like i’ll be receiving a refund.  hell, if i thought that was remotely possible i’d've gotten the paperwork done months ago!  she also asked if i just wanted the money applied to next year’s tax bill.  i said no, i’ll take it, thank you. 

3. someone forwarded me an email with this tidbit . . .

You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the industrious out of it. You don’t multiply wealth by dividing it. Government cannot give anything to anybody that it doesn’t first take from somebody else. Whenever somebody receives something without working for it, somebody else has to work for it without receiving. The worst thing that can happen to a nation is for half of the people to get the idea they don’t have to work because somebody else will work for them, and the other half to get the idea that it does no good to work because they don’t get to enjoy the fruit of their labor.

i’m not in that last group.  i do not think that “it does no good to work”.  i do however, realize deeply that the government steals half of your efforts.  and i can imagine that at some point it’s better to just say screw it, it’s not worth the extra effort. 

4. i’m not the only person who works for themselves.  and being a barkeep, it IS possible to have someone tell me how sore their ass is after the government takes their share.  so the story goes . . .

  • I make $1,000 on a roofing job. 
  • but social security takes 15.3% because i have no employer.  I Pay It.  (yepper, you do.) [i don't mention that that includes medicare because i don't want to interrupt the flow]
  • then the state takes 3% (someone’s got to pay john and al)
  • the town takes 2% (yeah, but they pick up your dead christmas tree)
  • the effin feds take 28%, and in a good year it’s 33! (lucky you’re not having a good year)
  • so you know what that leaves me?  (half?  i mean, unless it’s a good year.)

and then i say “yeah.  bust your balls, bring in a grand.  the mob takes their cut, and you got $500 left.  so, pay your health insurance and buy a pizza.  what the hell do you want me to say?” 

after they settle down . . . . i ask if they pay property tax.  i’m an ass. 

of course there is an entire subculture who work for themselves and write off everything known to man.  i do believe that some, but certainly not all of them, will eventually spend time in confined quarters. 

5. 47% of households will pay no income tax.  that’s not a healthy stat.  and i know a LOT of people who pretty much get a handout every year, and then bitch when someone else gets a handout too. 

in the end, i’m glad i already gave them all they want – and between them they want a LOT.

edited to add . . .

turns out i get a refund, but the girl child owes the State.  and i can’t wait to answer her question . . .

“You mean Wes, doesn’t get a job, and has all summer to do whatever he wants all day and go wherever every single night – but I, get a job, and work as much as i can to pay for a car, and they took taxes out of my check every single week.  and now, I owe money, but he never had to pay a thing???”

“Ahem, sweetheart . . . . “

October 1, 2009   Posted in: Uncategorized

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