2009 Taxes

The complexity of my taxes this year has led me to believe I need to hire an accountant to wade through this mess. I find the uncertainty of whether I did it correctly disturbing. I plan to add this difficulty to my plea to my congressment this year for tax relief.

Overseas accounts

14,700 people have come forward and declared their overseas assets to the IRS. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., called the voluntary disclosures “progress,” but said Congress still needs to enact legislation to “crack down on offshore tax abuse and collect the estimated $100 billion in unpaid taxes being lost each year.”[1] The government considers themselves to deserve a share of your wealth, and will do anything they can to go after it.

 

 

1. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/14700-americans-admit-foreign-bank-accounts-irs/story?id=9106670

Massachusetts’ wasteful spending

If there was ever any doubt in my mind that Massachusetts wastes citizens tax dollars, it was eliminated when I learned they have a “Board of Library Commissioners“.  The regulation and spending of tax payers money on libraries should be the first thing eliminated to return money back to its citizens. This non-essential service (one that doesn’t support protecting people’s rights like the police, courts, etc) should be eliminated in a year where the state raised sales taxes by 25% from 5% of purchases to 6.25%.

Boston Hotel Jobs

The Boston Globe published an article about Hyatt outsourcing their cleaning staff to save money, but there wasn’t any mention of why they needed to cut these costs. Particularly absent was any mention of the new Boston Hotel Tax that would likely drive away business from the Hotel. The staff should probably thank Mayor Menino for their situation.

Obama School Speech

While there was much to like about President Obama’s speech transcript posted on the White House website. The real payoff message about continued federal government expansion was there:

–

Chris Weed

Group 42

MIT Lincoln Labs, 244 Wood St., Lexington, MA 02173

cweed@ll.mit.edu

781-981-2072

“I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn.”

I can only imagine the next step in the governments plan is a new program to expand from school supplies to office supplies. This ideas that the president needs to guarantee school equipment is just one more stage in the governments paternalism.

Standard deduction

The Tax Foundation has a blog post rightly criticizing complicating the simpler standard deduction with extended standard deductions for state and local real estate taxes, new motor vehicle taxes, or a net disaster loss.. The standard deduction is absurdly low, and raising it would nullify the raft of itemized deductions that people obtain to get them over this limit. Raising this deduction would be a boon to many low and medium income people and save them time and money in preparing their taxes. I can’t for the life of me remember a politician suggesting raising the standard deduction. Maybe we need an exciting moniker like “American Prosperity Deduction Tax Cut” that raises the standard deduction commensurate with the renewed American dream of everyone owning a home, not just those taking the mortage tax credit deduction  or deducting one of a myriad of possible new exceptions.

Cost of living tax

In Boston, I have found it discouraging to buy a home with housing prices so high. Moving from Texas where it is much cheaper to buy real estate, I have found the difference is due to the lack of building any new housing. With plenty of space to grow by tearing down old buildings, the area maintains these high housing prices by burdensome zoning laws that prevent it. These laws maintain the status quo, and prevent any substantial building. These regulations are a hidden tax that keeps young people and new residents from owning real estate. Check out the cost of living difference on bankrate.com

Fail to get rich

Jennifer Lane posted on twitter a link to why people fail to get rich. Included in this article are the usual suspects:

• They fail to plan
• High-income paupers flaunt their earnings
• Young professions are at most risk
• Expensive lifestyles quickly outstrip income

Unfortunately, there is no mention of one of the highest expenses for most people, taxes. When including sales tax, state and federal income tax, social security tax, gasoline tax, and the myriad of other costly taxes, many people are losing over 50% of their income that could go toward savings. With the tax burden expanding around the country it is little wonder that two incomes are necessary for most families.

Profligate spending in my district

Washingtonwatch.com is an incredible resource to see how your congressman is spending federal dollars. In a time when people are out of work, my congressman is spending millions on bike trails. A bike trail isn’t going to help someone save for their future or get a high paying job. These projects are usually pay offs to people with nearby real estate who want to boost their resale value. WashingtonWatch chronicles the following earmarks by Ed Markey in my district:

Northern Strand Community Trail (Everett): $1,000,000

Woburn Bike Loop: $1,240,000

Tri City River Trail–Watertown Riverfront: $1,881,696

That’s over $4 million worth of bike trails, and I wonder how many millions more are spent nationally.

New Hampshire Libertarians

The Phoenix just published an article on the Free State Project in New Hampshire. There are some amusing quotes about the participants being mostly self-employed males, but the most interesting quotes are from an opponent of these libertarians. Particularly this one from Democratic state representative Chuck Weed, “The majority party [in NH] now believes that government has some important functions for the people. [The FSP's] attempt to take over the state is naive – most people here feel there’s a social conscience that goes along with tax paying.” The article’s writer also questions the FSP’s advocates with questions like “How would infrastructure be maintained? Who would pick up trash?” These ridiculous notions that people enjoy paying taxes and that the government is the only ones who could possible build a road, despite the evidence otherwise shows how shallow their logic can be. Especially, with the governments run away spending and colossal health-care plan failures like Medicare and Medicaid, it is hard to believe Democrats can come out ahead.