Understanding our taxes

Cappy · 12-28-2007, 03:14 PM

TAXES IN PERSPECTIVE:
The next time you hear a politician use the
word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about
whether you want the 'politicians' spending
YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,
but one advertising agency did a good job of
putting that figure into some perspective in
one of its releases.

A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were
living in the Stone Age.
D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division .

Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans Interesting number, what does it mean?

A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of
New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you
each get $516,528.
B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in
New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.
C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family
gets $2,066,012.
Washington, D.C . HELLO!!! ... Are all your calculators broken??

Tax his land,
Tax his wage,
Tax his bed in which he lays.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes is the rule.
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirts,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he tries to think.
Tax his booze,
Tax his beers,
If he cries,
Tax his tears.
Tax his bills,
Tax his gas,
Tax his notes,
Tax his cash.
Tax him good and let him know
That after taxes, he has no dough.
If he hollers,
Tax him more,
Tax him until he's good and sore.
Tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in which he lays.
Put these words upon his tomb,
'Taxes drove me to my doom!'
And when he's gone,
We won't relax,
We'll still be after the inheritance TAX!!
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Perm it Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance TaxInventory Tax

IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax), IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax), Liquor Tax, Luxury Tax, Marriage License Tax, Medicare Tax, Property Tax, Real Estate Tax, Service charge taxes, Social Security Tax, Road Usage Tax (Truckers), Sales Taxes, Recreational Vehicle Tax, School Tax, State Income Tax, State Unemployment Tax (SUTA), Telephone Federal Excise Tax, Telephone Federal Universal Service Fe e Tax, Telephone Federal, State and Local Su rcharge Tax, Telephone Minimum Usage Su rcharge Tax, Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax, Telephone State and Local Tax, Telephone Usage Charge Tax, Utility Tax, Vehicle License Registration Tax, Vehicle Sales Tax, Water craft Registration Tax, Well Permit Tax, Workers Compensation Tax.

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago,
and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What happened? Can you spell 'politicians!'
And I still have to 'press 1' for English.

I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times

What the heck happened?????

Steeler · 12-28-2007, 06:30 PM

I really wish there were a rule against posting e-mail forwards in the forum. Received wisdom is tedious and generally unhelpful.

**peardog** · 12-28-2007, 07:23 PM

Heh.. i didn't get this SPAM but I think it's interesting fodder..

Cappy · 12-28-2007, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steeler

I really wish there were a rule against posting e-mail forwards in the forum. Received wisdom is tedious and generally unhelpful.

well for your info this was posted in my DC teams forum,,,, i thought it was interesting so i thought id post it here...... you didnt have to read it and post anything if you didnt want to. but i guess having something meaningful to say is harder then posting negitive crap isnt it.

Steeler · 12-28-2007, 07:38 PM

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/trivia/billions.asp

Just saying I've seen it before.

**GlobalWarmin** · 12-28-2007, 08:18 PM

Well, you could move to South Korea or Mexico if you can't stand paying these "high" taxes in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...centage_of_GDP

Additionally, to put $250 billion intro prospective for you, we are spending $660.9 billion this year on the Department of Defense, Global War on Terror, and Homeland Security alone.

ScratchMonkey · 12-28-2007, 10:22 PM

And if Ron Paul somehow wins, a lot of that will get chopped. It will return to the taxpayers, and the States can then raise their taxes to use it locally. Or the taxpayers can use it to buy stuff and stimulate the economy and create new jobs. Or they can save it, and those who borrow from the banks where it's saved can use it to expand their businesses or buy new homes, again stimulating the economy.

**Pompa** · 12-28-2007, 11:01 PM

It could be worse...

Quote:

Since the late 1960s, Sweden has had the highest tax quota (as percentage of GDP) in the industrialized world, although today the difference between other high-tax countries such as France, Belgium and Denmark has narrowed. Sweden has a two step progressive tax scale with a municipal income tax of about 30% and an additional high-income state tax of 20–25% when a salary exceeds roughly 300,000 SEK per year. The employing company pays an additional 32% of an "employer's fee". In addition, a national VAT of 25% or 18% is added to many things bought by private citizens, with the exception of food (12% VAT), transportation, and books (6% VAT). Certain items are subject to additional taxes, e.g. electricity, petrol/diesel and alcoholic beverages.

Speculate that you earn 100k (swedish crowns) each month.
With the "employer's fee" hidden tax, the government gets 92k and you 40k.
And that's when you get to start paying $7,5 per gallon for gasoline.

**GlobalWarmin** · 12-29-2007, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pompa

It could be worse...

Speculate that you earn 100k (swedish crowns) each month.
With the "employer's fee" hidden tax, the government gets 92k and you 40k.
And that's when you get to start paying $7,5 per gallon for gasoline.

And yet, it's one of the best place to live in the world based on education, democracy, income and public health.

http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

**El_Gringo_Grande** · 12-29-2007, 01:08 PM

100 years ago we didn't have

Many paved roads
A dominate military
Good drinking water for just about everybody
Human waste being properly disposed of
Regulated medical supplies

But we did have
Regular flooding in many places that displaced many
Droughts that wiped out farmers hard work
Children dying from many different diseases
Education that was spotty at best

A good portion of the taxes go to things we all enjoy and benefit from. And, yes, a sizable portion goes toward god knows what. Oil companies getting tax breaks when they are? A highway to no place? Rural electrification?

Overall there are programs that could be cut but even then the costs needed to run this country would be in the trillions. There is just no way around it. Things cost money.

Kerostasis · 12-29-2007, 02:07 PM

Hah, I wish that much of our taxes went to defense! Not even close. More than 2/3 of our taxes go to entitlement and wealth transfer programs. Do you have any idea how much our military could accomplish if we actually spent that much money on it?

NorCalRoach · 12-29-2007, 02:45 PM

I'm not a big fan of taxes. One thing to consider however is that the tax dollars doesn't just disappear. All those billions of dollars in taxes spent here means jobs for the US. Just something to consider I guess.

P.s.
I didn't mind that it was a posted forwarded e-mail when its interesting. Thanks for the post.

Edit:
What really bugs me is how our taxes is administered.

**Pompa** · 12-29-2007, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlobalWarmin

And yet, it's one of the best place to live in the world based on education, democracy, income and public health.

http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

**E0_** · 12-29-2007, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mentholated

So you'd rather have more conveniences over freedom (to speak, think, be and defend yourself as you so decide) and equal taxation? A sizable portion of that money goes to the military industrial complex.. most of it to the aerospace devision. At least 75% of all of our taxes combined is used in defense. There is a way around it.. stop supporting a treasonous government and demand the constitution be re-affirmed as it was before the federal reserve hijacked our country.

I guess this wouldn't be the sandbox if people were required to have their facts correct before they posted, but you are so far off as to be absurd. Look on the federal government's own web site on government spending. For FY06, the spending on defense was just over 23% of the total budget. Spending on pensions was 24.5% and health care and welfare totaled just over 31%. This is just federal. If you include, as you said, all our taxes, the percentage for defense is much lower since state and local taxes don't go for defense.

By the way, the word in title of this post should be taxes, not tax's. That is, unless there is something that belongs to some tax about which I am supposed to be reading here.

**CingularDuality** · 12-29-2007, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by E0_

By the way, the word in title of this post should be taxes, not tax's. That is, unless there is something that belongs to some tax about which I am supposed to be reading here.

It was bugging me, but your post was the straw. Consider it fixed.

12-28-2007, 03:14 PM	#1 (permalink)
Cappy Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Washing County, Pa. Age: 41 Posts: 858	Understanding our taxes TAXES IN PERSPECTIVE: The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases. A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959. B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive. C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age. D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet. E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it. While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division . Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans Interesting number, what does it mean? A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516,528. B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787. C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012. Washington, D.C . HELLO!!! ... Are all your calculators broken?? Tax his land, Tax his wage, Tax his bed in which he lays. Tax his tractor, Tax his mule, Teach him taxes is the rule. Tax his cow, Tax his goat, Tax his pants, Tax his coat. Tax his ties, Tax his shirts, Tax his work, Tax his dirt. Tax his tobacco, Tax his drink, Tax him if he tries to think. Tax his booze, Tax his beers, If he cries, Tax his tears. Tax his bills, Tax his gas, Tax his notes, Tax his cash. Tax him good and let him know That after taxes, he has no dough. If he hollers, Tax him more, Tax him until he's good and sore. Tax his coffin, Tax his grave, Tax the sod in which he lays. Put these words upon his tomb, 'Taxes drove me to my doom!' And when he's gone, We won't relax, We'll still be after the inheritance TAX!! Accounts Receivable Tax Building Permit Tax CDL License Tax Cigarette Tax Corporate Income Tax Dog License Tax Federal Income Tax Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) Fishing License Tax Food License Tax Fuel Perm it Tax Gasoline Tax Hunting License Tax Inheritance TaxInventory Tax IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax), IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax), Liquor Tax, Luxury Tax, Marriage License Tax, Medicare Tax, Property Tax, Real Estate Tax, Service charge taxes, Social Security Tax, Road Usage Tax (Truckers), Sales Taxes, Recreational Vehicle Tax, School Tax, State Income Tax, State Unemployment Tax (SUTA), Telephone Federal Excise Tax, Telephone Federal Universal Service Fe e Tax, Telephone Federal, State and Local Su rcharge Tax, Telephone Minimum Usage Su rcharge Tax, Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax, Telephone State and Local Tax, Telephone Usage Charge Tax, Utility Tax, Vehicle License Registration Tax, Vehicle Sales Tax, Water craft Registration Tax, Well Permit Tax, Workers Compensation Tax. STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids. What happened? Can you spell 'politicians!' And I still have to 'press 1' for English. I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times What the heck happened????? __________________ \|TG-6th\| Cappy BF2 Rules\|Teamspeak Info\|Become a Supporting Member\|The 6th Devil's Brigade\|TG Primer

12-28-2007, 06:30 PM	#2 (permalink)
Steeler Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Taxachusetts Age: 30 Posts: 2,841	Re: Understanding our tax's I really wish there were a rule against posting e-mail forwards in the forum. Received wisdom is tedious and generally unhelpful. __________________

12-28-2007, 07:23 PM	#3 (permalink)
peardog Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: PA, USA Age: 39 Posts: 1,050	Re: Understanding our tax's Heh.. i didn't get this SPAM but I think it's interesting fodder.. __________________ Have a great day! 2008!!! TG - SOP -- TeamSpeak Server Information - REQUIRED READING

12-28-2007, 07:38 PM	#5 (permalink)
Steeler Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Taxachusetts Age: 30 Posts: 2,841	Re: Understanding our tax's http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/trivia/billions.asp Just saying I've seen it before. __________________

12-28-2007, 08:18 PM	#6 (permalink)
GlobalWarmin Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Springfield, OH Age: 26 Posts: 620	Re: Understanding our tax's Well, you could move to South Korea or Mexico if you can't stand paying these "high" taxes in the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...centage_of_GDP Additionally, to put $250 billion intro prospective for you, we are spending $660.9 billion this year on the Department of Defense, Global War on Terror, and Homeland Security alone.

12-28-2007, 10:22 PM	#7 (permalink)
ScratchMonkey Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: San Pablo, California Posts: 3,367	Re: Understanding our tax's And if Ron Paul somehow wins, a lot of that will get chopped. It will return to the taxpayers, and the States can then raise their taxes to use it locally. Or the taxpayers can use it to buy stuff and stimulate the economy and create new jobs. Or they can save it, and those who borrow from the banks where it's saved can use it to expand their businesses or buy new homes, again stimulating the economy.

12-29-2007, 01:08 PM	#10 (permalink)
El_Gringo_Grande Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: OKIE HOMY Age: 39 Posts: 2,060	Re: Understanding our tax's 100 years ago we didn't have Many paved roads A dominate military Good drinking water for just about everybody Human waste being properly disposed of Regulated medical supplies But we did have Regular flooding in many places that displaced many Droughts that wiped out farmers hard work Children dying from many different diseases Education that was spotty at best A good portion of the taxes go to things we all enjoy and benefit from. And, yes, a sizable portion goes toward god knows what. Oil companies getting tax breaks when they are? A highway to no place? Rural electrification? Overall there are programs that could be cut but even then the costs needed to run this country would be in the trillions. There is just no way around it. Things cost money. __________________ Sen. John McCain (AZ) For President '08 --- I’m not racists, I have republican friends. Radio show host. - "The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity". -Jacob Burkhardt - "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Emerson - "People should not be afraid of it's government, government should be afraid of it's People." - Line from V for Vendetta - If software were as unreliable as economic theory, there wouldn't be a plane made of anything other than paper that could get off the ground. Jim Fawcette

12-29-2007, 02:45 PM	#12 (permalink)
NorCalRoach Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: California, Bay Area Age: 32 Posts: 1,506	Re: Understanding our tax's I'm not a big fan of taxes. One thing to consider however is that the tax dollars doesn't just disappear. All those billions of dollars in taxes spent here means jobs for the US. Just something to consider I guess. P.s. I didn't mind that it was a posted forwarded e-mail when its interesting. Thanks for the post. Edit: What really bugs me is how our taxes is administered. __________________ .

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