Thread: Stupid Taxes
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Old 04-22-2019, 02:23 PM   #39 (permalink)
redpoint5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JSH View Post
I do my taxes the first week of February. If I've screwed up and we are due a refund I file immediately. If I have done my calculations correctly and owe a few hundred I schedule my filing for 1-April.

For 2018 we paid 10.2% in federal taxes. That is up from 9.4% in 2017. That increase is due to the cap on SALT deductions so we moved from itemizing to taking the standard deduction.

We also own $1315 due to the IRS reducing withholding to make the tax "cut" look bigger than it was. Time to change my withholding AGAIN to try to fix things.

BTW, the IRS doesn't calculate your taxes and send you a completed tax return due to lobbying from Intuit and H&R Block. The idea comes up repeatedly and then dies after those two companies spend millions lobbying against it. The House just passed a bill that will ban the IRS from creating their own free tax prep software. (A bipartisan bill called ironically the "Taxpayer First Act" that just passed on a voice vote)
Smart way to do it all. This is the first year I've owed, and I owed a lot. The higher standard deduction certainly makes it less valuable to itemize deductions, but I get a little more back by itemization mostly due to charitable giving (which shouldn't be a deduction) and mortgage interest (which certainly shouldn't be a deduction).

We should fire all the politicians that block a federal online tax system. Actually, we should fire all politicians that get in the way of cleaning up the filthy tax code. Anyone putting up resistance is clearly corrupt, and should not ever get another public service job again (politician).
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