My Tax Letter

March 13, 2007 | ejroth

[ejroth]

Each year my wonderful wife does our taxes and gives me a total of how much we actually pay in taxes (total bill – fed, local, sales tax etc.) and the percentage of my income.

Here is this year’s letter to my senators/rep. If you like it, modification for your use or outright plagiarism is definitely encouraged.

Dear Mr. Senator,

It’s that time of year again. The weather is warming up, the days are getting longer, the trees once again are showing signs of life and the Federal Government once again confiscates my earnings. Yes, I know they have been taking it by large bites all year long but springtime affords me the pleasure of compiling the necessary numbers and seeing for myself what the gruesome sum total actually is. Over Twenty Four Percent of my income was taken from me in 2006. I am not quite sure what aspects of this travesty bother me the most, but I will make an effort to enumerate them as concisely as possible.

First and foremost is the attitude both of our politicians and too many of the general public toward success. We tell our children to work hard and get an education. Unfortunately we as a society do not tell them that the more successful that they are the more of their hard work will be taken from them. This is compounded by not only a progressive tax system but by an unequal treatment under the law where deductions are systematically taken away as one earns more.

Next and along this line of thought is the attitude of too many toward the successful and wealthy in general. The shear amount of economic ignorance of the general public is astounding. Who creates the jobs in this country? Where does the money come from to start or expand businesses? Who actually fuels our economy? Let’s take that money away from them and give it to others Laffer curve be damned. The call for higher taxes on the rich and an appeal to fairness is mystifying considering that the top fifty percent of wage earners pay ninety five percent of the taxes.

Next are the things for which this money is used. I am not an anarchist but a frustrated minarchist who dreams of a night watchman state or at least the holding of government spending to within the bounds of the constitution. What would our founding fathers think of the Department of Education or the Welfare State. We ceased being a country of the free when using the force of government we began taking property from one individual and began redistributing it to others. We are a Socialist state. What is amazing is that so few care. "The American Democratic experiment will succeed until the people realize they can vote themselves money from the public treasury... then it will collapse." De Tocqueville Finally is the general attitude that all of societies ills can somehow be fixed by the use of government. Instead of taking on problems from a private and individual tact we want the government to step in and in the end all we are left with is fraud and waste. I simply ask as my representative that you work to reduce government spending and reduce taxation, that you strive to reduce the size and power of the government, that you ignore the pleas of some to take money from others to give to them, and that if you are frustrated in these goals by others that you become a gadfly to those ends. That you realize the direction that this country is taking and heed the prophetic voices of Freedman, Hayek and Rand. Please forgive the pessimism of these closing lines. I write to you more for personal catharsis than for any real hope for change. I believe that currently neither political party wants to upset the status quo. What is worse is that many Americans are getting the government that they desire and are dragging the rest of us with them. The temperature keeps getting hotter yet the frogs fail to move.

Thank you,

[avacado]

Be happy for the Bush 2003 Tax Cuts. I have been moved from a 36% bracket to a 28% tax bracket. That's a reduction of 8% less taken from my paycheck from the 2000 tax rates. In total, I pay 18% in federal income taxes and then the additional for SS and Medicaid for a total of 25% taken from my yearly salary. Bush's tax cuts put about $4000.00 back in my pocket.

2000 Federal Income Tax Rate:

15%: $0 - $21,925
28%: $21,925 - $52,975
31%: $52,975 - $80,725
36%: $80,725 - $144,175
39.6%: $144,175 - above


2006 Federal Income Tax Rate:

10%: $0 - $7,550
15%: $7,550 - $30,650
25%: $30,650 - $61,850:
28%: $61,850 - $94,225:
33%: $94,225 - $168,275
35%: $168,275 - above:

[MosesKnows]

What is amazing is that so few care.

It would be my guess that if your representative were to respond honestly it would say something like this.

Thank you for taking the time to inform me of your concerns but you have apparently mistaken me for someone who actually cares.

[pnh102]

I wouldn't mind paying more in taxes if all of the money went towards building nuclear weapons instead of bum-care.

[nativist]

Good stuff. There are two easy ways to correct our tax problem. Stop deducting taxes from workers checks weekly. Make them do it themselves.

And move tax day to the first Monday in November.

[ejroth]

The problem is that the cut is not permanent and is not enough.

[moonhawk]

If he/she actually reads it...

More likely, some staffer will file it in the round file after having a good chuckle.

[ejroth]

I agree and have said that myself for years. Talk about starting a revolution.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Bump for later.

[FreeInWV]

24% is low. I pay more. But what really irks me is all of the taxes that most people don't consider. Things like all of those fees on your phone bill. The gas tax.

What about government regulations that forced on private industry who then pass on the cost to us. The worst is environmentalism. Regulating domestic & offshore drilling drives up our cost and forces us to purchase our gas & oil from terrorist states. This enriches them and allows them to wage war and terrorism on us. The higher gas & oil prices increase shipping costs on nearly everything that you buy. We can harvest very little timber domestically due to environmentalism. It must be imported from Canada and other places (The last 2x4s I bought came from Romania and the Czech Republic!). Extraction industries are persecuted by environmentalists and their government regulators. In many cases runoff from mines must be cleaned to a standard cleaner than drinking water. There is a big push for zero emission coal plants among other things. Then consider taxes and costs of clean air credits. All of these items add huge costs at each step in the process. I suspect that over 75% of our energy costs (gasoline, electric, heating, etc.) are due to environmental regulation.

[nativist]

Too many people are too ignorant. "Hey look what I got back this year! Lets go party!"

[SC DOC]

Over Twenty Four Percent of my income was taken from me in 2006.

You probably did not consider these.

[ejroth]

They usually don't.
I usually get a form letter back stating their position on a given subject. My state reps/sen don't respond at all.

[par4]

I pay 18% in federal income taxes and then the additional for SS and Medicaid for a total of 25%

Actually, your calculations for SS seems a little low. What's taken out of your paycheck is 1/2 of your "Contribution", the other half comes from your employers account. But you can be sure that your salary is based on having to dole out that SS payment for you.

[ArrogantBustard]

s/shear/sheer/

[ejroth]

Thanks for the article. I'm sure I'll make good use of it.

[ejroth]

And the Solution:

Less Government!
Less Government!
Less Government!
Less Government!
Less Government!

But nobody listens!

[Just A Nobody]

In total, I pay 18% in federal income taxes and then the additional for SS and Medicaid for a total of 25%

To THAT total you must add:
State tax
Real estate tax
Personal property tax
Tax on utility bills
License and title taxes
Gasoline tax
Tax on "frivolous" food
Tax on non-food essentials (clothing, soap, toothpaste and brush etc)
Restaurant tax
Hotel/Bed tax
and woe be unto you if you are a smoker and must pay the "sin" tax!

[Thermalseeker]

I pay 18% in federal income taxes and then the additional for SS and Medicaid for a total of 25% taken from my yearly salary.

You left out sales tax, state income tax (if it applies) property tax, phone tax, tag and license fees, fuel tax, dividend tax, embedded corporate tax you pay when you purchase consumer goods, and a host of other hidden taxes I don't care to take the time to list here. Add it up, an you will see you are being fleeced at more like 54% of your income. This makes you happy?

[IncredibleHulk]

Adolph Coors already did that. He paid everyone their gross wages in cash and then they had to go to successive windows and pay each kind of tax. It was too effective and has now been outlawed.

Hulkster