[econ} Please return the tax refund all who objected to the cut:

[Notforlong]

All of you who objected to the tax cut will be expected to not cash the tax refund, but to return it so the Gov can put it to better use than you:will the lefties return their tax cuts???
greenspun.com : LUSENET : Unk's Wild Wild West : One Thread
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Who will be first to send the money back? By Bill Thompson
Here's your chance, tax-cut opponents. Here's your chance to put your money where your mouth is.

You know who you are. You're the people who insisted all through last year's presidential campaign that you didn't need a tax cut, didn't even want a tax cut. You're the people who said you don't care about keeping your money to use as you see fit, who said it's fine with you if the politicians grab your hard-earned dough and pick the best way to spend it.

You said it with an air of superiority, as if your self-congratulatory declarations of contempt for tax relief somehow made you a better citizen than those of us who appreciate any reprieve from the government's confiscatory avarice. `No tax cut is needed' you told the government in poll after poll -- and me, in email after email. If the government cuts my taxes, you said, I'll...

You'll what? You'll give the money back to the government?

Surely, if you believe that a tax cut is fiscally irresponsible and that the government needs the money more than you do -- and that's more or less what you said you believed -- then what can you do but decline the tax break?

Having emphatically stated your objection to tax-cutting, there's no way on earth you could just pocket the money and go on about your business. Is there?

Unless, of course, you happen to be a, uh, what's that word? Oh, I remember: Unless you're a `hypocrite.'

In fact, now that Congress has approved a $1.35 trillion tax cut and the government is gearing up to fire off rebate checks to taxpayers from coast to coast, all those smug humanitarians who have scoffed at the very idea of tax relief ought to take immediate action. They ought to sit down this very minute and write a letter to the government rejecting the $300 or $600 earmarked for them and asking the Treasury Department to put the money right back into the federal vault so that the deep-thinkers in Congress can dream up new and amazing ways to spend it.

Then, as new and lower income tax rates are phased in for all taxpayers, the tax-cut opponents should make arrangements to continue paying at the older, higher rates. They couldn't have made it any plainer, after all: `They don't want a tax cut.'

Here's a tip, fellow taxpayers: Don't wager your tax rebate that the folks who said they didn't want a tax cut will selflessly return it to the government.

`The New York Times' went out and asked some taxpayers on the street what they thought about the tax cut. The `Times' story quoted a Maryland resident who said his tax savings would help him build a new house.

The story also quoted a diehard tax-cut critic: "I'm not interested in the check. I don't have any problem with my federal income taxes."

And another: "...don't want it and don't need it."

But neither apparently said anything about sending the money back to the government.

It certainly comes as no surprise that people who insist that they don't want a tax cut would decide to accept the money once the tax cut occurs. Talk is cheap.

But it is surprising beyond description that so many Americans seem to have fallen prey to this Clinton-era propaganda that tax cuts are bad. Have these people looked at their paychecks or their tax returns lately?

The federal government helps itself to a breathtaking portion of our earnings each payday and local jurisdictions help themselves to large chunks of what Uncle Sam misses. Even one of the tax-cut opponents interviewed by `The New York Times' complained about ever-rising property taxes.

Bill Clinton's presidency featured plenty of sleight-of-hand and lots of mirror tricks but perhaps the slickster's most mind-boggling accomplishment was promulgating the notion that it's un-American to suggest that the government should ease its stranglehold on the people's wallets.

Now that President Bush has delivered on his most important campaign promise, all that could change. The taxpayers just might learn to enjoy spending their own money.

Bill Thompson is a `Star-Telegram columnist.

(817) 390-7787 billthompson@star-telegram.com

-- (lefties.going.to@keep.the.money), May 30, 2001

Answers
They owe me more. I got nearly 4K when single and my then girlfriend got 2K. We got married and together only got 1.5K
They need to send a BIG check to make up for the screwing we got!

-- Give me (the@money.com), May 30, 2001.


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Welcome to the marriage tax. Our intention is to discourage bourgeois marriage by taxing it. We haven't figured out what to do about gay marriage yet.

-- (DNC@counting.house), May 30, 2001.

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Do we get our country and goodtimes back?
This ain't a tax cut, it is a bribe.

-- (pinhe@d.detector), May 30, 2001.


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How can someone be bribed with something they already earned. Seems to me the entitlements are bribes, and only a lefty would believe that a tax cut is an entitlement.

-- libs are idiots (moreinterpretation@ugly.com), May 30, 2001.

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Where are the spending cuts?
You don't think there is going to be any more surplus under this GW creep do you?

-- (pinhe@d.detector), May 30, 2001.


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First off, in order to get a tax cut OR a rebate, you must be a WORKING TAXPAYER.
Now you can see why the liberals are up in arms.

-- Telinet (like@it.is), May 30, 2001.


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It's just not fair.

-- whiny dem (gimme@something.free), May 30, 2001.

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Course when you lose your job and have no income, you don't pay anything at all. Heh I think I finally get it, this Dubya bs.

-- (bush@twofaced.scum), May 30, 2001.

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Those whose income is low enough that they will get a refund next April can use their $300 check to pay for higher gas and power costs. This is what Dumbya suggested to help his friends increase their incomes from 8 or 9 figures last year, up to 10 or 11 figures this year. Those whose income is high enough that they will owe taxes next April might as well just keep the money in the bank, they will have to give it back soon anyway.
Sounds like a great deal, I'm sure glad Dumbya did this to help all of us.

-- (Dumbya's corporate puppetmasters @ laughing all the way. to the bank), May 31, 2001.

 

[bigwavedave]

it's nothing more than a bribe which only the truly stupidest people won't recognize.

i'm sending mine back. by the time i get it, they'll be looking for a quarterly estimated payment.

bush and his cronies are laughing at us.

 

[Anne in TN]

I just wanna know when I am gonna get my $600.00 in my hot little hands. I'll take what I can get. I'm trying to buy a house! Anybody know when we are supposed to get it?

Anne

 

[Amazed]

BWD that's hardly sending the refund back!

Anne, I've heard a September date. Takes a while to set up the system.

 

[bigwavedave]

I said - i'm sending mine back. by the time i get it, they'll be looking for a quarterly estimated payment which i will also be sending in.

sorry to be unclear.

if you pay taxes and start thinking of this "refund" as yours, you've bought into the scheme. shrubya owns you.

the schedule i've heard starts in july and is ordered by the last two digits of the SSAN. they're still working out the details.

BTW, let's keep in mind it isn't only Democrats who waste taxpayers' hard earned wages. if you've heard that often enough you probably already believe it.

[ 05-31-2001: Message edited by: bigwavedave ]

 

[TECH32]

Here's another VERY interesting one...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/2001-05-31-ncguest2.htm

05/31/2001 - Updated 06:37 AM ET
Why so many Americans aren't thrilled by tax cut

By Don Campbell

If you're one of those hard-working Americans looking forward to the tax cut
that George W. Bush is about to sign into law, you'd better enjoy it, because
the odds are increasing that you'll never see another one.

For most of the past half century, the Gallup polling organization has found
that a strong majority of Americans — often more than 60% — feel that they
pay too much in federal taxes. But until Bush's tax-cut plan became a fait
accompli last week, many of the major public opinion polls found a more
modest level of support — typically, around 50% — for it.

Part of the reason was that any tax cut identified with a Republican president
would generate knee-jerk opposition from Democrats. But recent statistics
from Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation offer a more interesting reason
so many Americans were apathetic about a tax cut: It wouldn't affect them.

The committee reports that almost 50 million people who file tax returns this
year will pay no taxes at all, owing largely to the continuing proliferation of tax
credits. That's almost 35% of all income-earners and an increase from 30
million just six years ago.

How valid, therefore, is a poll that supposedly measures public support for
tax cuts if more than a third of those being polled don't pay taxes? It's
analogous to a pollster asking me whether I think union dues or bar-license
fees should be cut. If I'm neither a union member nor a lawyer, my opinion
shouldn't matter.

It's not a trivial point. When pollsters measure support for political candidates,
for example, they are sticklers for screening out non-players: Registered
voters are considered more important than the voting-age population at large,
and "likely voters" are considered more important than registered voters.
Pollsters use various filtering techniques to determine who those likely voters
are and focus on them.

Yet when it comes to tax issues, pollsters not only give equal weight to the
non-players, but often help perpetuate the class-warfare rhetoric that liberals
use to scare voters into opposing tax cuts.

Study the polls from the past six months, for example, and you're apt to find a
slight variation of this question: "Do you support a tax cut that would favor the
rich, or would you prefer to see that money used to help widows and starving
children?"

That's patently a false choice because Congress will do both.

Instead of listening to the pollsters, we should face the hard truth posed by the
numbers from the Joint Committee on Taxation: We are rapidly approaching a
time in this country when there will be more people who don't pay income
taxes than who do.

That's a scary prospect for people who've worked their fannies off to achieve
economic security, because it means the constituency for tax cuts and
responsible government spending will get smaller and smaller.

Both political parties share the blame for this. Republicans repeatedly have
joined Democrats to pass more and more tax-credit schemes that have
removed tax liability from more and more people. The $1.35 trillion tax plan
Congress approved Saturday will remove millions more from the federal tax
rolls.

The challenge to Congress is to end the tax-credit juggernaut. Everyone who
earns income should pay at least a little of it to the government, even if it's only
a small percentage. Enjoying the fruits of a democratic, free-market society
should come with a price tag for everyone — especially those who want their
views on tax reform taken seriously.

And here's a challenge to those who think this tax reduction wasn't warranted:
When your $300 or $500 or $600 tax rebate arrives from the government
this summer, just endorse the check over to the U.S. Treasury and mail it
back to Washington.

Or don't even bother opening it. Just write on the front of the envelope,
"Return to sender."

Don Campbell, a former reporter, editor and columnist for USA TODAY
and Gannett, lives in Atlanta. He is a member of USA TODAY's board of
contributors.

 

[Swampthing]

BTW, let's keep in mind it isn't only Democrats who waste taxpayers' hard earned wages. if you've heard that often enough you probably already believe it.

[/QB]

Yeah but its only the Democrats who are addicted to it.

Have you been making quarterly tax payments all along or is this your "virgin" voyage?

[ 05-31-2001: Message edited by: Swampthing ]

 

[bigwavedave]

well, Swampthing, it appears you've heard it more than often enough.

interesting article, Tech32. i guess we can now discuss who gets the bulk of the tax credits?

those are some truly astounding figures.

 

[Swampthing]

Dave My ????

Have you been making quarterly tax payments all along or is this your "virgin" voyage?

 

[bigwavedave]

Originally posted by Swampthing:
<STRONG>Dave My ????

Have you been making quarterly tax payments all along or is this your "virgin" voyage?</STRONG>

Swampthing, why not just share your personal anecdote regarding quarterly tax payments? i can tell you're just dying to say something . . .

 

[Ralf the Dog]

I have no problems with paying taxes. I drive on roads. The military protects me from enemies both foreign and domestic. We live in a complex world, running a government the size of the US takes resources.

The most important problem in the US is the national debt. Cut spending where we can (That's spending not investing). Keep the taxes where they are for a decade or two. When the debt is gone, then cut taxes.

$300.00 is not going to make a difference to me, and I gave more than that to the fund to reduce the national debt.

 

[Swampthing]

I simply believe that when a person starts making quarterly tax payments they begin to morph into a more conservative political philosophy. You seem to be the most liberal contributor on this board and it would blow my theory to find out you've been aa aware tax payer for a long time. It happened to us when we started our own business and have seen it happen to several of our friends.

There is more of a slave/master feeling when you make out that check and actually see your bank balence go from $XX,XXX.XX to $ xx.xx

vs.

The watered down version of here's your check and seeing how much you have left over.

 

[mbo]

It's the height of pompousity for anyone to presume that they know what's best for someone else in terms of the tax cut. BWD may be rich enough to file quarterly via his "CFO" but it's inansity for him to state that this tax cut should be denied to others since it's too small to register on his radar of wealth.

Jeesh, talk about smug. And to say Bush "owns" us for wanting to be relieved of some of the massive conficatory burden applied against us is bull. The ones that are truly "owned" are those dependent on the feds for their food, housing, and spending money.

 

[bigwavedave]

mbo wrote - BWD may be rich enough to file quarterly via his "CFO" but it's inansity for him to state that this tax cut should be denied to others since it's too small to register on his radar of wealth.

i may be reading comprehension-challenged today, mbo. please direct me to where i make such a statement?

i definitely said the rebate is a sham and people are stupid to buy into it. you can quote me on that.

oh, i have absolutely no doubt there are people who could really make good use of their money which arguably never should have been collected. but a few hundered bucks when most of us are owed literally many, many thousands of dollars under the same guise?? no forseeable end in sight??

i'd feel like a cheap whore. YMMV

 

[Reliance]

Refunds!

I don't give a d*mn about $600. I want them SIMPLIFIED NOW!!!

Lessee, when we were making quarterly payments we had our little businesses, so small they could not pay our modest living expenses. But quarterly taxes were paid religiously. Social Security, doncha know.

 

[Ralf the Dog]

Originally posted by Swampthing:
<STRONG>I simply believe that when a person starts making quarterly tax payments they begin to morph into a more conservative political philosophy. You seem to be the most liberal contributor on this board and it would blow my theory to find out you've been aa aware tax payer for a long time. It happened to us when we started our own business and have seen it happen to several of our friends.

There is more of a slave/master feeling when you make out that check and actually see your bank balence go from $XX,XXX.XX to $ xx.xx

vs.

The watered down version of here's your check and seeing how much you have left over.</STRONG>

Your Theory is blown.

OK, My CFO makes the payments but you get the idea.

 

[bigwavedave]

ah! that's an interesting theory, Swampthing, but it relies on an assumption that a wage-earner fails to understand that they pay taxes with each payroll check. OK so maybe there are some people like that (maybe alot ).

the end of the year rolls around, they file their returns and get back a refund. how many people think of that as some sort of gift? not many, hardly any (OK, maybe alot )

so the refund gifts are used to placate the masses and make them more liberal? maybe, but how does that explain why shrubya is giving out gifts in the middle of the year? ooohhh, he's going after the liberal votes! bribery, just as i suspected.

but back to your quarterly payment issue - i no more need the money to make those payments than i would need the money to make those payroll deductions. either way, most of us learn to live within our means regardless of how and when the funds are transferred. at least it's that way around my house.