A friend says, "All bureaucracies need to have a built-in capacity for abuse or else nothing will ever get done."
Corollary: All systems of abuse will need to have a built-in bureaucracy. Else the corruption will grow exponentially, and people like Scott will never register their vehicles.
So in early June, my pickup fan belt got shredded. It was new and so was the jockey wheel so I don't know what the deal was there, but the net result was me being broken down on the side of the road (exactly why you replace belts before they go bad, right?). I called the insurance and told them to call me a tow truck and they did so while I waited for that process to play out, a highway patrol cruiser pulled up to see if I was carrying 150 million dollars worth of fentanyl and/or if I needed help. I told them a tow truck had been called and bid them good day. Before he got back in his veekle, he said "by the way, your tags are expired." I looked down and the sticker said 7 2020 and it was only June so my brain said "ha ha ha idiot" thinking he was confused on the month but then I thought Ohhhh this is 2021 and I chuckled and said "ah, I must've told my son to put the stickers on and it never got done. So when I got home I dug around the pile of junk around the computer but never did find the stickers. But once I got back from vacation I went to the courthouse to pay for the new tags. Well she looked me up and said "this hasn't been registered since 2020" and I said "oh, do tell!" and she looked at it and me and said "if you pay now it'll be $160 for the last two weeks of July, then those stickers will be expired and you'll have to buy new stickers in August." I said can I just pay for the next year now? and she said no so I stood there for a minute and she finally said "just come back in August and pay for new stickers." I still wasn't tracking because I figured at that point I would have to pay $320 so what's the point? but I only have one blank check in my wallet because I never write checks so if I write a check now I will have to remember to get a blank check again next week and that's probably why I forgot to pay last summer, because the courthouse will take a credit card but they penalize you like 5% or something so write a check, chief! So I shrugged and went home. So today I remembered to go to the courthouse and she looked it up and said "It looks like you didn't register this veekle in 2020" and I said "nope," with a sheepish chuckle and she does all her paperwork and number crunching etc. and tells me, "that'll be $160." Here I was all prepared to say the truck had been in the shop and not driven for over a year but she just said $160 so I wrote a check for $160 and said goodbye and she said "see you next year," and I said "maybe" and she said "maybe" and we both chuckled.
A friend says, "All bureaucracies need to have a built-in capacity for abuse or else nothing will ever get done."
So in early June, my pickup fan belt got shredded. It was new and so was the jockey wheel so I don't know what the deal was there, but the net result was me being broken down on the side of the road (exactly why you replace belts before they go bad, right?). I called the insurance and told them to call me a tow truck and they did so while I waited for that process to play out, a highway patrol cruiser pulled up to see if I was carrying 150 million dollars worth of fentanyl and/or if I needed help. I told them a tow truck had been called and bid them good day. Before he got back in his veekle, he said "by the way, your tags are expired." I looked down and the sticker said 7 2020 and it was only June so my brain said "ha ha ha idiot" thinking he was confused on the month but then I thought Ohhhh this is 2021 and I chuckled and said "ah, I must've told my son to put the stickers on and it never got done. So when I got home I dug around the pile of junk around the computer but never did find the stickers. But once I got back from vacation I went to the courthouse to pay for the new tags. Well she looked me up and said "this hasn't been registered since 2020" and I said "oh, do tell!" and she looked at it and me and said "if you pay now it'll be $160 for the last two weeks of July, then those stickers will be expired and you'll have to buy new stickers in August." I said can I just pay for the next year now? and she said no so I stood there for a minute and she finally said "just come back in August and pay for new stickers." I still wasn't tracking because I figured at that point I would have to pay $320 so what's the point? but I only have one blank check in my wallet because I never write checks so if I write a check now I will have to remember to get a blank check again next week and that's probably why I forgot to pay last summer, because the courthouse will take a credit card but they penalize you like 5% or something so write a check, chief! So I shrugged and went home. So today I remembered to go to the courthouse and she looked it up and said "It looks like you didn't register this veekle in 2020" and I said "nope," with a sheepish chuckle and she does all her paperwork and number crunching etc. and tells me, "that'll be $160." Here I was all prepared to say the truck had been in the shop and not driven for over a year but she just said $160 so I wrote a check for $160 and said goodbye and she said "see you next year," and I said "maybe" and she said "maybe" and we both chuckled.
Around 2008 I was in the audience when Paul Krugman was speaking and I got to ask a question, which was: In the early-80's the Kennedy family fortune was said to be $400 million. Today $400 million is a good year on Wall Street for one man (it was always a man then). My question is, where is it all coming from?
He umd...and thought about it...and eventually said "Well, it's not funny money." Meaning it was not literally counterfeit money. But that was all he could come up with.
The trouble is it might as well be counterfeit money. As George Carlin said, "It's a big club, and you ain't in it." You are not in the big club of virtual counterfeiters. And that is a problem for everyone who is not, since they can buy politicians but we can't.
I always made enough money to feel comfortable, realizing that this would be true only so long as my health held out, and paid various tax rates from the lowest to the highest. Taxes never changed my life. My conclusion from this experience was that taxes are never too high unless wages are too low. It is the same with inflation, which used to be called the high cost of living. The problem is not that prices are too high, the problem is that you are not paid enough. (A good put-down from those days: "He can't afford the cost of high living.")
A friend my age who came from Israel in the 1970's said that at one time inflation had been so high there that people got salary hikes almost every pay day. No need to ask. They paid their bills quickly, and tried to save by buying tangible goods and land, but it didn't really matter because "their money" kept pace with the cost of living.
The reason employers urge us to hate taxes is because they pay them, not us. The lower our tax burden, the less our employers need to pay to get us to show up. But when taxes are cut, then municipal services go to hell, and we do pay the real cost of that.
what is the estimated annual cost of tax (avoidance and) compliance policy?
depends, and i've seen it ranging between 250 billion to 1 trillion dollars
point being it is a massive waste of valuable resources (time and money)
there is a massive bureaucracy/industry built around this nuttery too (and it is a huge influential political/voting bloc)
some countries have a very simple policy, like a card with 8 to 12 lines
we should move toward that type of filing
I wholeheartedly agree it should be simplified. There are myriad reasons it currently is not. I would like to raise one of those, which applies not just to taxes. I call it the obsession of “catching the cheaters.” We do this to the point of diminishing returns. There was a time when I represented clients who were on welfare. The “catch the cheater” focus inherent in those systems resulted in many layers of bureaucracy, way past any point of necessity.
ok, but just so you know, i don't even agree with me, but i might agree with you agreeing with me
Islander's semi-annual taxation rant, circa 2021, Pandemic edition!
Well we are getting a heft refund this year. Not the way I like to do it, but sheesh planning is hard with everything else going on. Add in the vagaries of the PPP loans and some tax credit stuff and some leftover expenses and stupid tax policies that really shouldn't exist, and I just couldn't dial it in very well.
Looking back, I think this sums it up pretty well:
ScottFromWyoming wrote:
islander wrote:
We are spending time and $'s to give them a number that they already have.
I thought I was the only one who thought this way. Even just calculating my withholding is a couple of orders more difficult/wrong than it should be. I (and apparently half of America) have zero idea whether I withheld enough, too much, or will have to pay more this year.
It really shouldn't be this hard.
what is the estimated annual cost of tax (avoidance and) compliance policy?
depends, and i've seen it ranging between 250 billion to 1 trillion dollars
point being it is a massive waste of valuable resources (time and money)
there is a massive bureaucracy/industry built around this nuttery too (and it is a huge influential political/voting bloc)
some countries have a very simple policy, like a card with 8 to 12 lines
we should move toward that type of filing
I wholeheartedly agree it should be simplified. There are myriad reasons it currently is not. I would like to raise one of those, which applies not just to taxes. I call it the obsession of âcatching the cheaters.â We do this to the point of diminishing returns. There was a time when I represented clients who were on welfare. The âcatch the cheaterâ focus inherent in those systems resulted in many layers of bureaucracy, way past any point of necessity.
There is also the concept of treat people like cheats and they will be cheats. Treat them like responsible adults and ... well they will cheat less. As a manager I got a lot more out of my people when I left them to their own devices and assumed they would get it done instead of assuming they were out goofing off.
Location: Perched on the precipice of the cauldron of truth
Posted:
Apr 9, 2021 - 3:09pm
miamizsun wrote:
islander wrote:
Islander's semi-annual taxation rant, circa 2021, Pandemic edition!
Well we are getting a heft refund this year. Not the way I like to do it, but sheesh planning is hard with everything else going on. Add in the vagaries of the PPP loans and some tax credit stuff and some leftover expenses and stupid tax policies that really shouldn't exist, and I just couldn't dial it in very well.
Looking back, I think this sums it up pretty well:
ScottFromWyoming wrote:
islander wrote:
We are spending time and $'s to give them a number that they already have.
I thought I was the only one who thought this way. Even just calculating my withholding is a couple of orders more difficult/wrong than it should be. I (and apparently half of America) have zero idea whether I withheld enough, too much, or will have to pay more this year.
It really shouldn't be this hard.
what is the estimated annual cost of tax (avoidance and) compliance policy?
depends, and i've seen it ranging between 250 billion to 1 trillion dollars
point being it is a massive waste of valuable resources (time and money)
there is a massive bureaucracy/industry built around this nuttery too (and it is a huge influential political/voting bloc)
some countries have a very simple policy, like a card with 8 to 12 lines
we should move toward that type of filing
I wholeheartedly agree it should be simplified. There are myriad reasons it currently is not. I would like to raise one of those, which applies not just to taxes. I call it the obsession of âcatching the cheaters.â We do this to the point of diminishing returns. There was a time when I represented clients who were on welfare. The âcatch the cheaterâ focus inherent in those systems resulted in many layers of bureaucracy, way past any point of necessity.
Location: Really deep in the heart of South California Gender:
Posted:
Apr 9, 2021 - 2:58pm
BlueHeronDruid wrote:
islander wrote:
Islander's semi-annual taxation rant, circa 2021, Pandemic edition!
Well we are getting a heft refund this year. Not the way I like to do it, but sheesh planning is hard with everything else going on. Add in the vagaries of the PPP loans and some tax credit stuff and some leftover expenses and stupid tax policies that really shouldn't exist, and I just couldn't dial it in very well.
<snip> It really shouldn't be this hard.
Drawing both SS and retirement funds, along with hobbitt's consulting on a 1099 for 5 months, left us in a different situation this year. IOW, we (I) screwed up.
But I had the over $6k to pay the IRS, so there's that.
Islander's semi-annual taxation rant, circa 2021, Pandemic edition!
Well we are getting a heft refund this year. Not the way I like to do it, but sheesh planning is hard with everything else going on. Add in the vagaries of the PPP loans and some tax credit stuff and some leftover expenses and stupid tax policies that really shouldn't exist, and I just couldn't dial it in very well.
<snip> It really shouldn't be this hard.
Drawing both SS and retirement funds, along with hobbitt's consulting on a 1099 for 5 months, left us in a different situation this year. IOW, we (I) screwed up.
But I had the over $6k to pay the IRS, so there's that.
Islander's semi-annual taxation rant, circa 2021, Pandemic edition!
Well we are getting a heft refund this year. Not the way I like to do it, but sheesh planning is hard with everything else going on. Add in the vagaries of the PPP loans and some tax credit stuff and some leftover expenses and stupid tax policies that really shouldn't exist, and I just couldn't dial it in very well.
Looking back, I think this sums it up pretty well:
ScottFromWyoming wrote:
islander wrote:
We are spending time and $'s to give them a number that they already have.
I thought I was the only one who thought this way. Even just calculating my withholding is a couple of orders more difficult/wrong than it should be. I (and apparently half of America) have zero idea whether I withheld enough, too much, or will have to pay more this year.
It really shouldn't be this hard.
what is the estimated annual cost of tax (avoidance and) compliance policy?
depends, and i've seen it ranging between 250 billion to 1 trillion dollars
point being it is a massive waste of valuable resources (time and money)
there is a massive bureaucracy/industry built around this nuttery too (and it is a huge influential political/voting bloc)
some countries have a very simple policy, like a card with 8 to 12 lines
Islander's semi-annual taxation rant, circa 2021, Pandemic edition!
Well we are getting a heft refund this year. Not the way I like to do it, but sheesh planning is hard with everything else going on. Add in the vagaries of the PPP loans and some tax credit stuff and some leftover expenses and stupid tax policies that really shouldn't exist, and I just couldn't dial it in very well.
Looking back, I think this sums it up pretty well:
ScottFromWyoming wrote:
islander wrote:
We are spending time and $'s to give them a number that they already have.
I thought I was the only one who thought this way. Even just calculating my withholding is a couple of orders more difficult/wrong than it should be. I (and apparently half of America) have zero idea whether I withheld enough, too much, or will have to pay more this year.
It really shouldn't be this hard.
I've been doing taxes for 30 years...the first 10 professionally...and it is unimaginable how inefficient and complicated it is. It costs $45 per state (after 1), and $25 per state to file electronically. My daughter had 2 W-2's, interest income, and a flexible spending account summary...and using my initial purchase from TurboTax it still cost her over $100 to file tonight. Some of that was out of convenience, but it's insane.
My federal return, in a year where I made less money than I have in a few decades, is 38 pages long. WTF!?!
To islander's point....miss $5 on a 1099...and you get a notice the return is wrong.
Islander's semi-annual taxation rant, circa 2021, Pandemic edition!
Well we are getting a heft refund this year. Not the way I like to do it, but sheesh planning is hard with everything else going on. Add in the vagaries of the PPP loans and some tax credit stuff and some leftover expenses and stupid tax policies that really shouldn't exist, and I just couldn't dial it in very well.
Looking back, I think this sums it up pretty well:
ScottFromWyoming wrote:
islander wrote:
We are spending time and $'s to give them a number that they already have.
I thought I was the only one who thought this way. Even just calculating my withholding is a couple of orders more difficult/wrong than it should be. I (and apparently half of America) have zero idea whether I withheld enough, too much, or will have to pay more this year.
SFW: Normally three "fixes" or upgrades would resuscitate an older laptop.
- larger, faster SSD - more RAM - new cooling fan(s) if required
For any PC workstation or laptop, regardless of the specific OS, a clean re-install of the operating system (OS) can make a huge difference. Tedious but usually fairly straightforward.
If you are waiting for the latest and greatest from apple, you will pay top dollar. The bleeding edge is not inexpensive. Me thinks that apple laptop architecture from a year or two ago would probably be more than fast enough. The SSDs from a couple of years ago are much, much faster than the earlier SSDs.
If you still like the keyboard and the monitor on the laptop, a new SSD might keep it 'fresh' for a bunch more years. Then, I live in the PC world. Parts for apple machines might be much, much more expensive.
My business laptop is dying. Has been for 18 months or so; last summer I tried to get some repairs done and all the possible repair places were "ooh, you don't want to know how much that will cost." So I have been nursing it and it's been fine and I can probably get another year out of it if I need to. But this time of year, I look around for things I'm going to buy anyway because taxes, and it would really help to put that laptop on this year's expenses, I think.
The only problem is, MacRumors says it's a particularly bad time to buy, because an upgrade is overdue, the new generation is supposed to run cooler and longer on non-Intel chips. And they *might* announce them in November. Or not at all. It's frustrating.
But also not because the new OS is incompatible with the old Adobe software I have. So that sucks but it came out in *holy crap* 2012. Time to upgrade, yep. *sigh*
hey scott you may see something for prime day/apple promo
