this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2023
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I know that's how it works. I'm complaining because the way it works is bullshit.
Well taxation is completely necessary unless you have a steady stream of cash flowing into the government from another source, which almost no country has and no country will have indefinitely.
We can argue about rates and cut offs but taxation in general is not a bad system
Never said it was a bad system in general. But as a normal citizen not engaging in business I think paying taxes possibly 4 times (federal income tax, state income tax, sales tax when first bought new, sales tax when sold as used) on the same item is wrong.
You should not be paying tax unless you turned a profit on the sale.
You're right but, If you bought the bike years ago there's a strong chance you no longer have the receipt/invoice.
You won't need that unless you get audited, which is highly unlikely unless you're doing questionable things consistently, and even then they probably wouldn't care enough to look into a single bike sale too deeply.
I've been audited. It wasn't that difficult and I didn't need every last individual scrap of information
Taxation is bullshit when it causes your standard of living to be significantly lower than it would be without taxation. I could be living comfortably right now instead of scraping by if the government didn't have it's hand in my pocket at every turn. Tax the people who have money to spare.
And now that I've typed all that I actually read the last part you said about rates and cutoffs... I'm gonna leave this here anyway since typing it got some of the angry out of me.
I can assure you my job is not paying me extra to make up for taxes. They're not even keeping up with COL increases.
@lightnsfw
And yet, amazingly, you're blaming taxes and not your employer.
My employer has no expectation to look out for my best interests. They're trying to get as much work out of me for as little pay as possible and vice versa. If either of us could find a better deal tomorrow we'd drop the other one in a heartbeat. The government presumably should be working in my favor as that is what I'm voting/paying them for.
I was talking about general taxation, of course tax policy can impact people differently. That said your argument for taxation lowering your standard of living is a given, in that taxation is money from you meaning you have less to work with so it, by definition, would lead to less available funds for you. I agree with you though that taxation and welfare cliffs and taxation targets is disproportionately affecting to middle class.
Ideally government services I recieve from my tax dollars would outweigh the negative from what is coming out of my income. Personally I don't believe that to be the case. Maybe "Standard of Living" wasn't the right term to use, what I mean is if I got to keep the money that was going to taxes I would be able to buy a home, use my healthcare, and a little left over for hobbies and savings. If I had enough income that I could do all these things while still paying taxes I wouldn't bitch but instead I'm paycheck to paycheck with just about everything going to rent and other necessities and really not getting much in return from the government other than the roads and post office... Obviously there are programs the benefit other people more but I don't really think it's fair to expect my income bracket to foot the bill for those when I can't even achieve a decent life for myself.
Exactly and what you're saying is absolutely verifiably accurate so you're justified in what you are saying. I hope you vote in the correct direction to see these changes. Defending public services and cutting taxes for the rich does not benefit you.
Ideally you would have support to bridge the gap. Personally I'd aim to be in the position that I get less from the government than I provide, which is honestly a tall order when you factor in the inner workings of properly ran country.
I would rather pay higher taxes than cut services people need to survive. I don't want to cut benefits to anyone (except maybe corporations getting subsidized). I just think the tax burden should be shifted to those that have the cash to spare.
If he's "just scraping by" he's not "middle class."
Scraping by could be just getting enough to eat or not being able to go on holidays. We don't know what it means for this guy.
I don't think there is much of an argument to be had here if you think the only role of taxes is to take money.