I was misled

Tim McNamara writes:

I've got no problem with paying taxes. I don't like seeing tax
money wasted on things like interminable highway projects that are
obsolete and under-capacity before they are completed; I'd rather
see that money spent on rail transit, bus systems, bike path
networks, etc. I have my priorities and my quibbles with what is
done with that money, just like anyone else.

Aha! You are a communist after all. Public (mass) transit and other
amenities don't make it in the libertarian perception. I want to
drive my monster truck on roller coaster freeway interchanges and into
the mountains with my jet boat.

Jobst Brandt

wrote:

Tim McNamara writes:

I've got no problem with paying taxes. I don't like seeing tax
money wasted on things like interminable highway projects that are
obsolete and under-capacity before they are completed; I'd rather
see that money spent on rail transit, bus systems, bike path
networks, etc. I have my priorities and my quibbles with what is
done with that money, just like anyone else.

Aha! You are a communist after all. Public (mass) transit and other
amenities don't make it in the libertarian perception. I want to
drive my monster truck on roller coaster freeway interchanges and into
the mountains with my jet boat.


LOL. I rather doubt "free"way interchanges make it in the libertarian perception either.

Tim McNamara wrote:

Mark Hickey writes:

Are you saying that $61K was adjusted gross income, or gross income
before your deductions? If the former, it doesn't make sense. If
the latter, your deductions probably changed (which you forgot or
you're leaving it out for the spin value). What was your AGI for
the two years so we can make a "real" comparison?

AGI 2001 (line 33): 61,510
AGI 2002 (line 33): 61,850
AGI 2003 (line 33): 61,595

Itemized deductions 2001: 10,534
Itemized deductions 2002: 9,347
Standard deductions 2003: 9,500 (more than itemizing)

Tax 2001: 6,776
Tax 2002: 6,379
Tax 2003: 6,196

There is a trend downward, but it is nothing near as dramatic as GWB
claimed it would be in his misleading public presentations of his tax
cut, which was aimed directly at his cronies and country club
friends. The rest of us, as is all too frequently the case, were
part of a marketing strategy to try to make the tax cut palatable to
people who weren't going to see a whole lot of benefit.

I dunno - looks like you are paying over 10% less taxes in 2003 than
in 2001... at any rate I think it's hard to complain about paying
only about 10% of your AGI in taxes (under 12% after deductions). The
rate (for 2001 at least) for those in the same relative income bracket
was over 18% of AGI... I'm sure someone who was paying that much would
benefit more from the tax breaks (as they should).

At any rate, I figure you ended up having your tax burden lowered by
about $728 in 2003, compared to the 2001 tax rate. Not quite as large
as the average savings, but not bad either. I'm sure you can find
better ways to spend it than Uncle Sam can...

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame

Mark Hickey writes:

I dunno - looks like you are paying over 10% less taxes in 2003 than
in 2001... at any rate I think it's hard to complain about paying
only about 10% of your AGI in taxes (under 12% after deductions).

I have no complaints about paying taxes, actually.

At any rate, I figure you ended up having your tax burden lowered by
about $728 in 2003, compared to the 2001 tax rate. Not quite as
large as the average savings, but not bad either. I'm sure you can
find better ways to spend it than Uncle Sam can...

Se, that's where I disagree with the cant and sermons of the
conservatives. I think my tax dollars are well spent and provide me
with excellent tangible benefits with a cost efficiency I could not
hope to match through the private sector. But I've discussed that in
another post.

writes:

Tim McNamara writes:

I've got no problem with paying taxes. I don't like seeing tax
money wasted on things like interminable highway projects that are
obsolete and under-capacity before they are completed; I'd rather
see that money spent on rail transit, bus systems, bike path
networks, etc. I have my priorities and my quibbles with what is
done with that money, just like anyone else.

Aha! You are a communist after all. Public (mass) transit and
other amenities don't make it in the libertarian perception. I want
to drive my monster truck on roller coaster freeway interchanges and
into the mountains with my jet boat.

If thinking that my community is important and worth my investment,
and not suffering from I-got-mine- you-get-yours-ism, is the
definition of communism then I might be stuck with that label. I
don't ascribe to the notion of "private prosperity, public squalor"
that is at the heart of social conservatism.