Which is the worst tax of all and why?

Question

I think its the real estate tax. I cannot think of one that actually causes the most grief to citizens. can you envision all those old people on fixed incomes paying thousands of dollars in tax just because they own a house? I mean if your house is worth $200,000 for example, and its been your home for 30 years, and your tax is $5000 a year, but your household fixed income is like $30,000 total, which is supposed from which you pay a mortgage, buy food, pay for medicine and all your other expenses.

notice I said they have lived in the house 30 years and that the value of the home is $200,000. It does not mean they went out and bought a $200,000 house on $30,000 fixed income. Yes I said they have a mortgage, and let me clarify the example, lets assume they refinanced 15 years ago, and now have a mortgage for $80,000 balance and are paying $900 a month or so.

You can really tell the people who have allegiances to the common folk and the ones who have allegiance to the rich folk by the answers given. In particular I refer to the one that said the real estate tax is the best tax, and that the death tax is the worst...and what about the answer about "its just poor financial planning" on their part. lol unbelievable how callous and spoiled and selfish some americans are.

Answer 1

I'm going to say the Social Security tax, for the simple reason that the money taken from me will never come back in any way, shape, or form. It will be taken from me by force, without the option to opt out, and by the time I'm ready to retire the fund will be empty. All the money will have been given to other individuals. It is theft, plain and simple. The death tax is horribly unfair. But at least you can make the argument that it funds the government, so I get something out of it (not saying I agree, just saying the argument can be made). Real estate taxes at least support schools. But SS? That's just money I might as well throw away. Which makes it the worst tax. Taking private property from one individual to give to another is so un-American I can't believe it hasn't been repealed yet.

Answer 2

There are a lot of them. But for homeowners, the property tax is a good choice. In my town we receive a report every year. In it ther is a pie chart that shows where the town's budget goes. Believe me when I tell you, if you saw a pizza with half a slice missing (not even a whole slice) that would be the size of the cost of everything else. The other 7 and a half slices of the pizza go to education.

We spend nearly 10,000 bucks per student. That is madness! Think about it. We own the buildings so there is no mortage payment. They do not pay any property taxes. There are about 30 students per classroom. That works out to over 300,000 dollars per classroom! The teacher earns an average of $60, 000 including all benefits etc. That leaves $240,000 per classroom.

Yet the schools keep cutting programs like music due to lack of funding. Come on! Why isn't anyone ever allowed to see how that money is being spent? How many administrators are there? Any new construction comes out of the general fund. All the school pays is maintainence and staffing. Three hundred thousand per classroom?

How much does a text book (which they reuse for several years) , pencils and paper cost? How much chalk can a teacher be using? If you provided every student a new laptop every year and limosene service to and from school you would be hard pressed to spend all that money.

How can we run a police department, fire department, city government, parks department etc all for less than one 16th of what it costs to run our schools? We are being robbed!

.

Answer 3

The problem in your example is not the real estate tax - it is the income of $30,000 and a mortgage payment on a $200,000 house.

By the way - in most mortgages, the property taxes are paid out of an escrow account the lender sets up and includes in the mortgage payment. It protects the lender from the property that secures the loan being lost in an unpaid tax sale.

Answer 4

The capital gains taxes are too high, I agree. State and local property taxes are also far too high in many locations in The USA.

However I believe State and local sales taxes on food and clothing to be the most unfair and barbaric tax implemented in The USA now. Most States do not have these taxes, the ones that do should repeal them. Many poor, and elderly ,or those on fixed incomes must decide between clothing themselves and their children, or eating quite often.

The Estate tax, called incorrectly the "Death tax", currently only affects the wealthiest 2% of all Americans. So it cannot be the worst tax.(1.)

Answer 5

Just about any tax is bad, but the death (estate) tax is the worst. People are penalized for having a death in the family, something that's beyond their control to begin with. They have to sell off the inheritance just to pay the tax on it, or worse yet, they sometimes have to sell of their own property to cover what the decedant's assets fall short of paying. It's disgusting and it should be completely erased from the tax code.

Answer 6

It's funny. You actually picked one of, in my opinion, the better taxes. Real Estate taxes support the local community and local/state governments. If you can't afford the taxes, you're probably living "above your head" by living in that community. If a person owns (no mortgage) their $200K home on a fixed income of $30K, $5K in property taxes shouldn't be a problem. But...a person who "makes" $30K a year and goes out and purchases (finances) a $200K house in a community with $5K in RE taxes is living above their head. Inadequate fixed income at retirement is more a function of poor financial planning, not taxes.

Now, the Death Tax, on the other hand. That's gotta' go.

EDIT: Clearly posted by an "entitlement citizen". Forgive me for living within my means. I have chosen to live in a smaller house with smaller RE taxes to allow myself to put 30% toward retirement which is what I will require to guarantee my current standard of living into my retirement years. I could afford a mansion today (relative to our current home), but it would hinder my ability to save and I would likely have to refinance later in life and eventually not be able to afford my home (or its taxes) in my retirement years. I have friends, right now, whose parents "own" an $850K home (that they've lived in for over 30 years). I say "own" because they pulled cash out during those 30 years, and now no surprise, they're both retired and can't meet their financial obligations and have to sell. A "fixed income" is still an income, and someone with an income of $30,000/year should not be financing a $200K house and pay $5K in taxes. Just because you qualify for credit doesn't mean the money is free. A bank is going to charge you 6-7% to borrow $80K. My goal is to have that money available when I need it, maybe making ME 6-7% in the meantime, not some bank.

As for my callous and selfish attitude. Whatever. My wife and I both worked to put ourselves through college. I drive a 14 year old car (again, I could afford the Porche, but my car has been paid off for 8 years, and guess what...I'll buy my next car in cash with the money I've been saving during those 8 years). We still manage to give to charity, volunteer our time, and care for our parents. I'm not offended by RE taxes because it's money that goes to my schools, my police, my roads. I can go down to my village hall and determine exactly where my money got spent. I don't feel that I have that same luxury with a federal tax that gets siphoned off to D.C. and builds some bridge in Alaska.

I would say "LOL" but it's just not a laughing matter.

Answer 7

Death tax
http://www.truckline.com/legislative/031501_repeal_death_tax.html

It will take 10 yrs for this tax to be completely eliminated and shame one those that imposed this disgusting tax on American taxpayers.

Only 3 presidential candidates were cosponsors on HR8..
Ron Paul
Tom Tancredo
Duncan Hunter

Marriage tax
\http://johnshadegg.house.gov/rsc/Lb61302.pdf
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/green/taxes/basics5-1a.asp


These will hopefully be eliminated completely but I my faith in these greedy bastards that we elected is very low.

Answer 8

Income tax, in my opinion. Because you don't do anything but work and you get taxed. I can deal with an actual transaction causing a tax.

I think real estate tax is pretty crappy too thoug, perhaps they are tied?

Answer 9

the death tax. a family works all its life to save up to provide for their children saving pennys here and there and when they die all that money (that has already been taxed) has 30, 40, 50% depending on who is in power taken off the top.

all because they "think" it will get those evil rich guys. ofcourse those evil rich guys always have ways to get around it. Its the upper middle to middle class people that saves just enough to provide for their kids that cant afford the lawyers and special deals given to the wealthy that always end up loosing in the end.

Answer 10

Local property taxes are the most unfair. Federal taxes are way less of a burden on most people than they realize, most of it is from local and state taxes.