income tax?

Question

Please help me to understand how the hell both my husband and I together paid in over $7,000 in taxes and we have to pay in about $684 this year. Granted we have no dependents but I think we deserve to get SOMETHING! I know a lot of people who don't pay hardly anything in, some are on welfare, and they're knocking off over $2,000 per kid. I don't get it. WE choose to have children so we should have to pay for them. That's almost an incentive for people to go out and have a ton of kids. A lot of our "capable-of-working" welfare people are living in brand new houses and are getting tax returns like you wouldn't believe and they never even worked one day the whole year. Please help me understand!

Answer 1

I can only tell you what I did last year. I paid in $1300 last year and made under 25k and by filing the short form it was telling me that I had to pay another 1600 plus the penalty for under paying. So I filed the long form where I could claim deductions and I claimed all the miles on my truck for that year and was able to get back $1300. Whether it was right or wrong I cannot say but I used H&R tax cut program from walmart and it is supposed to show you all the flags that can cause an audit and I followed it and came out alright. So maybe you can try something like I did by claiming everything you can. Hell the rich do it all the time and pay less in taxes than most of us, LOL.

Answer 2

I have been married for 8 years and have three beautiful children and yes...we do get a tax credit for them. However, I did not have children to get a refund(how absurd!). The tax credit is a tool to help parents with the expenses of raising their children and to help to provide for them so that no child has to go without. Yes, I chose to have children, and yes, I believe that I should pay for my children....but I do appreciate the tax credit when the end of the year comes. You say you have no children and that you paid $7000 in taxes and are pissed that you owe more.....Okay, well, take your income and add three children to that because we claim married 0 and the good old IRS took $6939.49 last. I think that the $3000 credit is reasonable. We spent AT LEAST $3000 on food, clothing, school supplies, etc for our children....you spend that $3000 on what? Red Lobster? Many families need that money. Now imagine being on welfare(which we are not and never have been). Making minimum wage to nothing....STILL spending well over $3000 a year to feed, cloth, etc your children. Nobody on welfare wants to be on welfare(okay, well, not NOBODY, I'm sure SOMEBODY screws the system.....but don't let one bad apple spoil the bunch). Many parents on welfare are single parents. Not always by choice. When bad luck hits one of us, it is humanities responsibility to take care of them. Maybe one day, you, too will need the welfare system and I assure you you won't be bitching at the check they cut you. And as for all of us who don't deserve a "credit" for having children. Just remember it is those children who just may find the cure for cancer or create a drug that wipes out AIDS. I don't think you "deserve" something just because you want it. You kept your money all year long and used it as you pleased. You got what you deserved. If you want money back, then put some of it in a savings account and earn interest on it. BTW....the credit is $1000 per child.....not $2000. Okay, you've done your bitching and I've done mine.......

Answer 3

Well, first off, your perceptions are seriously skewed, IMHO. Someone on welfare has no taxable income and no taxes withheld. They can't get the EITC as they have no earned income. I know several welfare recipients and NONE of them live in new homes; for the most part they live in relative squalor. Further, since the Clinton administration there are very few welfare recipients who are "capable of working" and remaining on welfare for any length of time. Benefits are payable for a short period of time but for the most part it's now, "Get a job or hit the street."

Low-income wage earners do get some tax breaks that people like you and I don't qualify for. I have a friend who is a single parent and supports 2 kids on less than $17k a year. Sure, she gets over $4k in EITC but that only allows her to survive at a very basic level. I'm quite sure she'd swap places with you and your two incomes and your $684 tax bill or me and my $125k gross and $8,000 tax bill in a New York minute. Put it in perspective, why don't you??!

Now, as to your personal situation. The very simple reason that you had to pay this year is that you didn't have enough tax taken out of your wages. Pure and simple! You and your spouse should check your W4 exemptions at your jobs and verify that you're claiming the correct amount. At the very least, one of you needs to knock the withholding exemptions down by 1 and you both should probably do that IF you want to get a refund next year.

Personally, I'd much rather OWE on tax day than get a refund! If I get a refund it means that I made an INTEREST FREE LOAN to the government for up to a year. I'd rather lend money to my ex-girlfriend's drunk of a brother than loan it to the government -- at least he's likely to buy me a beer now and again when he does have some money.

Answer 4

you may not like it but the first person to answer has the #1 answer and has earned the 10 points. This is the american way. If you don't want to pay as much in taxes then you should find your way to cheat the goverment. Like the rest of the rich do. not saying that you are rich. But i know a guy made 10 million never paid 1 penny in taxes. figure that one out.

Answer 5

no one understands it....unfortunately once u start 3 make enough to eat and maybe breathe u Start losing credits...i have clients who have children paid in over 36000 and still they owe....my hubby and i have no dep so one of us always withholds at single and 0, and contrary to another answer u can be rec types of welfare and still get EIC....i asked one client who does child care has 2 dep claims 12200 in income...and after the 4536 EIC she gets credit for the amt due for her self emp taxes is taken out and she gets back 2868..interesting system...when she goes for her food stamps they just ask what she makes never have they asked for her tax return....the biggest problem i have with any of this is if there is any question regarding my social security being there when i need it , how on earth r they shelling out all this money ...where is it coming from ???? anyway...sorry but no good answer out there friend....

Answer 6

You may benefit from itemizing on your tax return and you might also benefit by doing your own taxes, as some tax preparers are not real smart about the tax laws.

Answer 7

They are BUMS living off of our tax dollars.Nothing more and nothing less.We need to keep working so we can take care of the lazy BUMS.OK now im pissed off