The Feds giveth
And, in case you’ve forgotten, the Feds taketh away:
Now, today, I am informed by my accountant that I have a starker choice to make. I have to choose between health care and paying my taxes.
And you can guess which is the loser. I’m going to have to drop my family coverage in order to get the money to cover my tax bill. Because, you see, I drew down my IRA to pay down my debt. In anticipation of this current mess. And fearing that, if I didn’t act then, (last year), by this year, the whole of the thing would be worth less. Or worthless. Had the taxes withheld, but apparently that’s not enough. The FedGov has to get more than its pound of flesh. It has to penalize me for accessing my own money too soon.
Same Feds who are about to own all the banks, unfortunately.
And that doesn’t even get into the question of “estimated tax,” whereby you’re expected to have at least a quarter of the year’s burden paid up every 90 days, even if the burden doesn’t actually materialize until Boxing Day.
They attach those strings specifically so they can be pulled, of course:
That little bit of social engineering the nanny state busybodies attempted with the whole IRA scheme? I learned my lesson there, too. Never gonna do that again. I’m never going to put my money behind any kind of wall the government controls. Not if I can help it. They can take their tax dodges, fold them until they’re all corners, and stick them up their rosy red recta.
Of course, had we a tax code that wasn’t written specifically as a tool of social engineering — which is to real engineering what “social disease” is to disease — Charybdis could have been avoided, and possibly Scylla too.
McGehee »
22 February 2009 · 11:49 am
If I could be sure it absolutely could not possibly be subject to similar manipulation, I might post a link to something different from the existing tax code.
But that would be the triumph of hope over experience.
McGehee »
22 February 2009 · 11:49 am
…which would be, like, so 2008.
Blair »
22 February 2009 · 12:56 pm
Charlie -
Sorry to hear that. Your thinking in avoiding a debt crisis was sound. Unfortunately, it seems like people that act irresponsibly to create a crisis are the ones that get paid off.
Well at least you have your dignity intact my friend.
Best of luck,
Blair
ms7168 »
22 February 2009 · 1:07 pm
You could do just as I intend and withdraw the money for the taxes which will incur more wrath next year :( However . . this year I intend having them withhold 25% Federal tax instead of 15% so that at least there won’t be another huge tax bill next year.
fillyjonk »
22 February 2009 · 1:33 pm
Estimated tax is one of the more evil little things (well, of many evil little things) the IRS does.
Thanks to some unexpected investment income one year (while I was in grad school, pulling down $12K in salary, no less) I wound up having to do it for the following year. (After which I seriously upped my withholding, which meant I was perpetually broke, but I didn’t really care – anything is better than having to remember quarterly payments when your brain is already mortgaged to something else)
AMT is also seriously evil, but my understanding is that the threat of that is going to go away, at least for the middle-class sorts.
CGHill »
22 February 2009 · 2:36 pm
Blair: Thanks, but this isn’t my story; I’m just passing it along.
Mark Alger »
22 February 2009 · 6:02 pm
I can state with virtual certainty that, were government not sucking up 40% and more of my income, my debt-to-whatever ratio would be far different.
M
tioedong »
23 February 2009 · 5:45 pm
anyone who can afford to pay an accountant instead of using the much cheaper TurboTax needs to figure out how to budget.
As for health insurance, the “scam” in Oklahoma is to find you have a Cherokee grandmother and then demand first class treatment at your local IHS clinic….