Tuesday, April 15, 2014

TAXES.......Happy April 15 (not!)

I'm supposed to get a fairly good sized refund.  Think I'll get it?   I hope so!
Do you know any grisly IRS stories?! 

Z

43 comments:

Ed Bonderenka said...

I hope you don't have an antecedent who owes the gov'mint.
http://reason.com/blog/2014/04/11/uncle-sam-revives-feudal-practice-to-col

Always On Watch said...

I don't have any grisly tax stories. But this morning I saw this: "Social Security stops trying to collect on old debts by seizing tax refunds." A temporary stay or a change in policy? Please read the article. It's not very long.

Last Saturday, I was at the public library, where there was a long line as people waited for the doors to open at 10:00 A.M. The topic of this new collection-of-debts policy was all the chatter, and it didn't matter one's political orientation. Anger everywhere about this matter and its blatant unfairness -- and the inability to defend oneself when monies were being confiscated for parents' and grandparents' alleged debts to the U.S. Treasury.

According to what I've been reading, the measure, enacted in 2008, was hidden in a bill (a farm bill, if I recall correctly) and had nothing to do with legislation directly related to Social Security.

According to one article that I read: The Social Security Administration says it has identified about 400,000 people with old debts. They owe a total of $714 million.

So far, the agency says it has collected $55 million.

Always On Watch said...

Today, I posted about Tax Freedom Day 2014. Please take a look at the link, which includes graphs and a map of the United States. Here in Virginia, Tax Freedom Day is beyond the date given for the national average (April 21, 2014).

How does your state do?

Always On Watch said...

Ugh (from the link I found):

The latest ever Tax Freedom Day was May 1, 2000, meaning Americans paid 33.0 percent of their total income in taxes. A century earlier, in 1900, Americans paid only 5.9 percent of their income in taxes, meaning Tax Freedom Day came on January 22.

BTW, the link includes all tax obligations: federal, state, and local.

Grisly!

Moonbat Spanker said...


Go ahead Liberals keep trashing conservatives for supporting freedom, but the data is clear: freedom works. Socialism doesn't. .

Keith said...

Whether or not the Tea Party advances or dissipates depends on how the Tea Party candidates speak up and speak out! Will be if they are elected or not, and my hopes are that it will be a wave election that rejects so many Democratic candidates that power in the Congress particularly the Senate returns to the GOP. Then I will watch to see how much action they take to reverse the damage of Obamacare and other programs in much need of reform, replacement and rejection of Obamas other failed policies. .

A recent Gallup, estimated 42 percent of voters self-identify as independents, said they they would not support Obamacare or Obama’s Socialist agenda.
With 49% of the population collecting "entitlement" and 47% PAYING NO TAXES AT ALL it is almost impossible to elect members who will change the status quo. It will end when our Socialist leader in Chief finally admits this country is bankrupt.
As things are right now, you could line up the agendas of the Democratic/Liberal /Socialist Party and the Communist Party side by side and you’ll find very little difference.
These people in the Democratic/Liberal /Socialist Party and the Communist Party continue their relentless assault on us Conservatives as you can see on these blogging boards right here, with Ducky, Libermann, Dave, and those whos names are even so bad and not even worth being mentioned on this fine blog. . With every attack, more and more people are becoming disillusioned with these two-faced idiots. . Those attacks, make it almost complete unable to advance the Conservative agenda. As you see in New Jersey politics.

And another thing that has been happening here in America is the spreading of Anti-Semitism, even as iI an this writing this a the third victim, a woman, identified as a Jew. who was visiting a Jewish community center to participate in a music contest was shot and killed by a Leftist who was so quickly identified as a Right-Wing Conservative, only because he was a White Supremacist was killed at a Jewish retirement community in Kansas. .

The alleged perpetrator is Frazier Glenn Cross who was identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as having been involved in the white supremacist movement for most of his life. Fox News reported that he “founded the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and was its “grand dragon” in the 1980s ..
And we allow these Liberal SOB’S to get away with these lies, that’s why we are own worst enemies...

The Truth Shall Set You Free said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
T Krabby said...

@Keith:

"And we allow these Liberal SOB’S to get away with these lies.."

Not now:

“Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr., Kansas Jewish Murder Suspect, Made Democrat Congressional Bid in 2006,” the American Power blog notes:

The suspect ran for office numerous times, but he started as a Democrat in 1984, running in the North Carolina gubernatorial primary.

After a number of other attempts at elected office, he returned home to the Democrat/Ku Klux Klan/Party in 2006, running in the Democrat primary for Missouri’s 7th congressional district in 2006.

His candidacy had the far-left hate site Daily Kos freaking out, “Racist felon running for the Dem nomination in MO-7.”

Frazier Glenn Miller is a Democrat to the core.

NBC NEWS: KANSAS CITY SHOOTER IS FORMER DEMOCRAT GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE, KLANSMAN.

Can you imagine the glee at the SPLC, though? They’ll fundraise off this for a decade.

In an interview with Howard Stern..he said he had no animosity towards blacks...just Jews and Catholics.

Keith said...

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT!!

Baysider said...

Unfortunately, the Tax Freedom Day folks have been way off in the past. I can't address this year's stats, but I've read detailed stats on what gets included in the past. And what is left out. When you add the latter, it 2-3 months on the calendar. Seriously. I calculated it myself one year - just an ordinary middle class working person. It was sometime in July.

Baysider said...

Grizzly story? Not quite, but it shows the mindset of the bureaucrat.

Back in the days when people did tax forms by hand my friend Bob had messy changes on his original form, so he copied his numbers into a new one. Well, in a long line of numbers that calculate sub-totals in sections leading to a final figure at the bottom of the page, he transposed 2 numbers in the middle of a figure that was a sub-calc number.

But the number at the final sum was correct. Any twit that ran a calculator could see that the correct calculation had been used to arrive at that final number. The revenuers INSISTED he pay extra tax (and penalties) based on as if the wrong number had been carried through to the final calculation. But it wasn't. And it was so transparent you could also see it at a glance.

Here's the kicker: they could easily see the problem, too! They also acknowledged the final number, the one on which he paid his taxes WAS CORRECT! They even acknowledged they'd be sending him a refund after he applied for due to overpayment of taxes via an amended 1040. But they insisted he pay, submit amended forms and wait several months (their time estimate, not his) for it to work its way through review.

Z said...

Ed...no, and they're stopping that practice. Here's a wild thought: They're stopping that practice AFTER bringing in $55 million. Are they going to say "gee, that's not fair to who we DID keep refunds from?!":

"Not in MY name"....Nobody ever ever said Dave Miller is fair and balanced here but Dave Miller. We are well aware of how he talks elsewhere.

AOW...shouldn't they give BACK the money they've taken until they decided to stop this stupid attempt at hurting people because they're granddad still owed $300?



Z said...

I've deleted all the comments regarding Mr. Dave Miller.
Until he comes here and kicks up some conversation, we don't continue comments here from other blogs, nor do we comment on statements made elsewhere.
But good try.

Sorry for you who rather 'innocently' got involved. The others know exactly what I mean.\

Baysider, Mr Z and I had a nightmare situation I can't go into here, unfortunately. I have to admit that the IRS was legally WRONG but I believe the agent knew it and, after collection wrongfully for about five years (a LOT of money), the collection totally stopped, many (MANY) dollars early. To this day, I believe he dogeared us for only a comparatively small amount to that which was actually due because HE Knew it was wrong, too.

Krabby, when Americans elected Sen Robert Byrd who was a klan recruiter, I think most of us knew that it only matters what the Right does wrong; not the Left.

Z said...

Interested to hear more tax stories...anybody got a FUNNY one? DO they exist?

Oh, wait! I just remembered that, during our talks at the Van Nuys IRS, in a HUUUGE conference room..the agent at the end and Mr and Mrs. Z near him, I drew a HUGE daisy on the black board behind the agent...big petals , after he'd left the room to get something. He came and sat down and was perfectly framed by petals coming out of his head, which helped me keep a sense of humor about our nightmare!

T Krabby said...

@Ms. Z:

"I drew a HUGE daisy on the black board behind the agent...big petals.."


And he didn't try to arrest anyone for depicting him as a blooming idiot? Or implying he was named "Daisy"?

Unknown said...

Z said, “Nobody ever said Dave Miller is fair and balanced here but Dave Miller. We are well aware of how he talks elsewhere”


What a load of crap from a leftis/liberal. progressive commenter with a stupidly leftist/liberal/progressive bias. The comment that he made above tells the real truth. -
Well, they call themselves " Fair and Balanced" , but as I them, they are hypocritical Liberals like Dave who always claim to be " Fair and Balanced" But they are full of crap. And they are not " Fair and Balanced"! Theyare either a liar or a hypocrite. or both! Just like all of the crap we see from all the other that Obama Fan’s who are is posting here.
Liberals can't stand fair and balanced, they only stand their hatred of us Republicans/Conservatives and bias.
If a conservative dislikes guns, they won’t and don't buy one. If a leftist/liberal/progressive dislikes guns, they want them outlawed so nobody can own one. It is indicative of their stunning ignorance of the truth.
That’s one reason why I don't need to be reminded why Fox is number 1, and why these people HATE Fox.

Z said...

But, John, who really cares what Dave says and he didn't even say that HERE, so I'd like to stay closer to the post in the discussion here today. I do thank you for coming by.
I had to delete about five comments that came out of 'nowhere' and are, frankly, useless.
Yours isn't; I agree with much of it, but ....Dave's Dave. WHo cares?!

Krabby! GOod one!

Radical Redneck said...

I'm supposed to get a fairly good sized refund. Think I'll get it? I hope so!

I've got a question for you - why are you in a position where the best case scenario is you have given an interest free loan to the gubmint? As default looms, we all know it's a matter of time where all refunds will be answered with IOU's (or, more likely, FU's).

Isn't California already doing that with state returns?

10 minutes with your HR department and you can change your withholding to roughly equal what you will be required to pay. Keep the control in YOUR hands.

Unknown said...

You are right, sorry I didn't see your post before.

Keith said...

Fox isn’t the MOST successful and profitable network on TV for no reason. And they generate the high ratings on the air. They claim to be Fair & balanced and I think that they are. It’s no wonder why they drive idiots like these crazy liberal comrades who comment and blog here insane.
I watch them all the time, but for the rest of us it's pure hell... heh, heh, heh!

Anonymous said...

Went to the next bracket and got hammered in CA this year.
To the point I'm wondering if I should cut back on my hours.

FrogBurger

Always On Watch said...

Z,
shouldn't they give BACK the money they've taken until they decided to stop this stupid attempt at hurting people because they're granddad still owed $300?

I wouldn't count of their refunding any of the money.

Besides, the matter is now under "investigation." That likely means that nothing will change. How many times have we heard the phrase "under investigation" to discover later that nothing was done once the objections evaporated?

Always On Watch said...

FrogBurger,
Went to the next bracket and got hammered in CA this year.

This is happening all over America for Tax Year 2013.

It seems to me that I recall hearing something a couple of years ago about how 2013 would be a-you'll-get-hammered year. Something to do with the ACA maybe? Not exclusively the ACA, but the ACA was one factor.

Besides, various debts are due -- government debts, that is. All the bonds contracted at the state and local levels do eventually need payment. Meanwhile, of course, all the school systems are requesting or demanding bigger and bigger budgets. Those budgets are, of course, funded by the taxpayers.

Always On Watch said...

Speaking of getting hammered, I made this comment at my own blog a few minutes ago:

This household's 2013 taxable income -- after various exemptions and some $40,000 in medical deductions -- resulted in yet another payout to the federal government even after making quarterly payments. Every year, we have to dip into our savings to pay our federal taxes. In fact, this household's 2013 taxable income was so low as to beggar belief. Still, money had to be shelled out to the U.S. Treasury.

Really, it is no wonder that our ailing economy is recovering so poorly. Expendable income keeps shrinking for the middle class and below.

Always On Watch said...

PS: The AOW household is in the 10% bracket. Even so, I didn't have much of a 2013 overpayment -- only a partial overpayment that covers only 50% of the first 2014 quarterly payment.

Likely -- hopefully -- this household will not have $40,000 in medical expenses in 2014. If that's the case, however, we'll over big time for Tax Year 2014. The estimate for Tax Year 2014 is based on the 2013 figures.

Anonymous said...

It's going to be like this for the years to come. The country is broke so despite them saying we'll tax the rich, they'll tax the middle class since that's where there's more money.

I need to change my spending habits because of that and will now put 50% of every single client check I get on the side. Because the tax burden is around 40% since I'm self employed.

FrogBurger

Always On Watch said...

FrogBurger,
I need to change my spending habits because of that and will now put 50% of every single client check I get on the side.

That's the right idea, of course.

However, a lot of people cannot afford to do so. They are now on the road to serfdom.

Had Mr. AOW and I not been dedicated savers for decades, we be on that road ourselves. We may yet be forced onto that road -- particularly when I am too old to work.

Anonymous said...

I'm very worried as well. I haven't been a serious saver and as a self employed person, I now must be.

We bought a cheap house this year. The funny thing is that we'd have been better off getting into more debt to lower the tax bill but at the same time it's not healthy financially.

The US Tax system is messed up. You can't even foresee how much taxes you'll pay the next year. It encourages overspending/too much debt and if you save, the gov takes you the money.

FrogBurger

Z said...

Frog...nice to hear from you.
You're not the only one beginning to wonder why they're working so hard. That's a very sad and dangerous situation for any country.
It's like there are powers to be TRYING to destroy the country we knew and that we love.

AOW's right; if you can save half, you're blessed.

On the other hand..save where? I'm beginning to worry about my bank accounts, frankly.

AOW...you've worked hard, you've done it all right; this should be the time of the dream for you and I am SO sorry it isn't.

John...sorry if I came down hard on you. I'm always very glad when you're here...I'm just tired of the discussions about some other blog some commenters assume we all know or care about, or people like Dave Miller, frankly.
You hit a nerve. Sorry!

Z said...

Frog: Plus, do you have to pay quarterlies like I did when I had my own business? Guessing how much you'd be making and turning it in? Ridiculous.
Maybe, next year, you'll get more mortgage tax deduction IF it's still a deduction, that is!
Say HI to L for me xx

Unknown said...

You bleeding heart Librturds do realize that Hitler & the Nazi's were extremist Nazi socialists, don't you?
Hitler hated blacks, jews, homosexuals, liberals, and the free-press. He loved guns though. Sound familiar?

Anonymous said...

I paid quaterly but I made more this year and I couldn't afford to dish out more along the way after buying the house.

My savings are basically wiped. I had foreseen a big bill but this beat my estimate by over 50%. Social security as a self employed person is a big chunk. I hope I'll see those checks when I get old :(

I need to find a way to incorporate or something.

FrogBurger

Always On Watch said...

Z,
you've worked hard, you've done it all right; this should be the time of the dream for you and I am SO sorry it isn't.

It is what it is. We're hanging on.

This morning, I received affirmation from a former student of some 15 years ago -- when I was teaching 6th grade. She was a handful, and I held her accountable. She fought me all the way. Back then.

But now?

Here's the message I got:

Finding you on facebook made my DAY!! I know it sounds corny, but it's as if I've been able to complete my elementary memories!! I hope all is well, you look great! I just wanted to thank you for all the dedication/hardwork you put into teaching us. It truly made a difference in my life, I know. I went on to graduate high school with honors and was voted most likely to succeed. I completed a Biochemistry degree, a MBA with a concentration in Pharmaceutical business, and did a year and a half in law school ( it was too gray for me, no black and white, lol, so I left) and I now work at Harvard. thank you--without people like you in my life, I wouldn't have made it this far!

Not much money in what I do for a living. But the other rewards? Can't beat 'em!

Always On Watch said...

Z,
Guessing how much you'd be making and turning it in? Ridiculous.

Yep.

I've been doing that since I was 14 years old -- when I first started giving private piano lessons.

My mother was an IRS auditor and showed me how to make those quarterly payments stay on target so as to avoid any penalty for underpayment.

The computer has helped too. I use Quicken with it customized for my business. Saves a lot of time!

Anonymous said...

It's like there are powers to be TRYING to destroy the country we knew and that we love.

Maybe some of them but I honestly think now that the powers to be in the entire Western world just don't give a crap because their sole focus is to maintain their power and share favors with money interests.

If they're destroying the system, countries, etc. it's because they're more worried about bailing out the banks, protecting big unions, giving subsidies so their parties get funded. It doesn't matter if it comes with the price of hurting people. In exchange they send us some checks, freebies so keep us quiet otherwise they'd have a revolution on their end.

I'm utterly disillusioned on Western democracy.

FrogBurger

Anonymous said...

on their hands, not "on their end."

:(

FB

Anonymous said...

disillusioned with

The tax bill hurt my brain apparently :)

FB

Always On Watch said...

FrogBurger,
Your comment of April 15, 2014 at 11:49 AM is spot on!

At this point, it's all unraveling. The consequences of the people's letting things ride -- and being apathetic.

Gustave Adolph Rappold said...

So according to Joe Biden, all the Presidents peoples that are nearly half America's population are unpatriotically getting away without paying their fair share while 25% of the government class favored by the President, cheats the system! What hypocrites these Progressive, liberturds are.!

This is an incredibly disturbing bit of information, but what compounds it is the rapid decline of the status of the middle class simultaneously. Nobody's paying taxes, yet the middle class (who USED to pay taxes) is disappearing. The only conclusion one can draw is that the rich are hoarding all the money (and not paying their share in taxes!), the poor (who are incapable of paying taxes!) are benefitting from the growth of welfare (NOT EARNED programs like Social Security and Medicare, which are in part or almost entirely PAID FOR by the recipients!), and the middle class is being rapidly slid down the slippery slope into poverty. And the nation's politicians have the balls to refuse to deal with the situation. Throw all the bums out before it's too late!!!!!

When are you Progressive, liberturds going to wake up and realize that this country is going to hell in a hand-basket, and fast!

Z said...

John! And Liberals call US Fascists when the true definition is ON THEM.

FrogBurger...I wish you the best with all of that..it's tough, I know.

When I had my business lo those many years, I hated paying quarterlies but NOT paying them ....shudder :-)

AOW..that's wonderful! But HARVARD? :-) No, seriously..that's terrific and you deserve it.

Gustave (?)..I just watched five minutes on MSNBC and they're very close to suggesting that ONLY the 'rich' pay taxes! They're convinced the rich (who pay something like 77% of ALL taxes NOW) are in some conspiracy to get their tax bills down and raise those of the poor. You can't make this up, seriously!

Ed Bonderenka said...

I may have mentioned my friend before.
He's a black pastor in Detroit who is also an accountant.
For years he struggled financially and then one day got accepted as an auditor for the IRS.
Finally making good money.
Then he had to quit.
He could not remain an auditor in good conscience as a Christian.

Z said...

Ed, you have, and that story can't be told enough. And should make the front page of all big city papers, etc., but it won't.

There's a story a friend just sent me about the census bureau being under WH auspices and how the questions are now tweaked in a way to favor the ACA....very conniving and so, another 'conspiracy theory' is proven correct.

I'm sorry for your friend...he made it to the job he desired and deserved and then can't lower his character ....

and some think there's nothing suspect about the IRS!?

Always On Watch said...

Ed,
He could not remain an auditor in good conscience as a Christian.

Something similar happened with my mother. She kept transferring out of the IRS to the Federal Trade Commission. But then another vacancy at the IRS popped up, and she was bumped back to the IRS. This happened over and over again!

At last, she had a heart attack in 1960 -- at the age of 44. At that point, she was permanently retired on disability very shorty before she was planning to retire anyway (25 or 30 years of service allowed for retirement other than on disability).

I must say that her supervisor at the IRS -- Mr. Levin -- was an honest man. But he was leaving too, so Mom decided to do the same. The heart attack forced her out early.

Mom often spoke of how the IRS had changed during the years she worked there. Not a pretty scenario as to ethics.