Saturday, October 14, 2006

End of Quarter Rant

Very little gets me in a bad mood like the end of the quarter. Once again, I say everyone should pay their own taxes every quarter. Then there would be the most gigantic tax revolt in history, when people actually have to write a check to the Federal, State, and Local goverments.

The high taxes is part of it, but the bigger thing is the stupid paperwork. I need somewhere between 8 and 12 hours at the end of each quarter to file all of the stupid little forms and reports. Last quarter I got blind-sided with some worker training tax I never heard of, but has to be paid by every "employer" once a year. The notice came about 2 weeks before the payment was due, and I didn't open the envelope until the actual due date. So I paid it right away, but too late - I got a bill for a late charge that was more than the tax itself. Arrgghh!

So you see it blows my mind that, at least according to the news media, the country is dead set on giving control of the federal government to the people who don't think we pay enough. They think we "fat cats" who happen to run our own small businesses aren't paying enough, plus we should be filling out more stupid forms and paying more "special" socialist taxes.

Don't get me wrong, I happen to think there are plenty of Republican jerks in office. But to cut my own throat to kick them out by electing a Democrat that's even more of a jerk? Get real!

Seriously, to anybody reading this who wants Democrats in charge, please answer these questions for me:

Do you pay taxes? Do you think you pay too much or not enough? Are you OK with paying more taxes starting next year? And that wouldn't make you just a little bit angry with those who stuck you with those taxes?

How much tax do you suppose the rich pay? What do you think the definition of "rich" is? I mean in terms of annual income, or total net worth? Is somebody who makes $50K a year rich? If somebody's worth a half million total, is he rich? How much do you think the rich should pay in taxes, total? What's a fair percentage, 50%? 60%? 80%? 100%?

If you're rich and still vote Socialist (oh, I mean Democrat), does that mean you want the government to have most of what you earn? If so, you know you could just make it a gift to the government - I'm sure they'd be happy to take it. Rich actor, how much of that $10mil per picture do you get to keep, after taxes? If you're not cheating, I'm thinking you can't possibly keep more than about 4 or 4.5 mil of that 10. Especially if you live in NY or LA. So you're saying you are not only OK with that, but you think they should take more? How much more?

Rich heir or heiress, you're voting Democrat. I can sort of understand you better than the entertainers, because Democrats like to tax productivity instead of wealth while we're alive. And you don't produce anything, you just party hard and look down your nose at the rest of us poor slobs who have to work for a living. You inherited yours, so it's pretty safe from taxes except for your capital gains, and of course you don't have a problem paying that tax. I'm guessing you keep most of your "real" wealth offshore to hide it from the government. Yeah, I know, you're a hypocrite. I just wonder how many others know that too. But besides that, you're really OK with letting the government take most of your estate when you die, leaving the short end of the stick for your own kids? All I can figure out is that you've got so much hidden offshore that you don't care, or you hate your kids and won't let them see a penny of your estate if you can help it.

Somebody explain it to me. It just blows my mind.

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