My parents are getting taxed to death!

[LeadMagnet]

i wish I only paid $16k in taxes last year.

 

[smc13]

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: tec699
I should have stated how much my parents made last year but I didn't. Anyway, they made over $200k last year.

You really need to stop complaining, they're paying a little over 8% in taxes.
edit (little over 8% is guessing on the 200k income, you said they made over 200k... So I'm being nice with my number)

The question is, is that 8% in state taxes or 8% total?

 

[DainBramaged]

I once heard that nothing good came out of Jersey except for Springsteen. Oh wait, scratch that. Nothing good ever came out of Jersey.

Also heard that a Canadian apology for Bryan Adams is pending.

 

[vi edit]

Considering that they have to pay in an extra 7.5% for the "employers" side of Social Security on top of everything else, coming away with an effective tax rate of around 8% is FREAKING GOOD.

If they think they are *still* paying too much (which they aren't), they need to hire a better accountant.

 

[alent1234]

Originally posted by: tec699

Originally posted by: jspeicher
You guys should face your bitterness in the face. They most likely worked very hard for that income.

My mom is at her business from 7am-11pm 6 and sometimes 7 days a week. It's primarily a summer business so she doesn't keep that schedule all year. It's still draining though! When I get the chance, I try to take a bit of the stress off her so she can get much needed rest.

Owning a business isn't a joke! People have a misconception that you open a business and the money starts rolling in. lol, I wish! It takes a lot of hard work to make a business successful and when people find this out most get cold feet. How many people are willing to spend 15 hours a day at a store for 6-7 days a week?

Look at Purdue's life. The "turkey guy" would literally spend all day in his office/farm and would sleep there at nights and would do the same thing all over again. He was worth Billions when he passed away this year. How many people are willing to make those sacrifices? Not many. People don't see the hard work as they only see the end result.

Tell your mom to go find a good tax lawyer. For $2000 he'll save you a lot more in taxes

 

[m2kewl]

i gots some cheese to go with your whine...

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: DAGTA
Wow, what a bunch of ignorance in this thread.

How many of you know that when you go self employed you automatically get hit with an additional 15.3% in taxes called, get this... "Self Employment Tax"? Before deductions, my base tax rate is 40.3%. How many of you pay that much? At that rate, 16K is 40% of $40,000. So, if they claimed no deductions, that's what their gross income would have been if they had to pay 16K in taxes. I started my own business two years ago. I'm not even close to being rich, but I'm doing better each year. I go to an accountant for help with my taxes. After claiming every deduction we both could think of, I still paid about 25% of my gross income in taxes.

Before I started my own business, my tax bracket was about 25% BEFORE deductions. My first year in business I made about the same and was in the same bracket (lower middle class) but had that extra 15.3 Self Employment tax, thus putting me at 40.3%. Once you cross over the 100k a year gross income, you get to pay even more taxes as you move into a higher bracket.

The Federal Gov't spreads a bunch of BS about 'helping the self-employed and small businesses'. It's just the opposite. As soon as you start a business, you get hit with MORE taxes. It truly is the small business owners that shoulder the biggest tax burdens in this country. That's why self-employed contractors have hourly rates that others think are 'outrageous'. When you consider that their base tax rate is roughly 40.3%, and they have business expenses that are often NOT 100% deductable, they're not making all that much money.

This sounds like the I'm-a-waiter syndrome to me. You do this sort of thing knowing the risks... and the rewards. You could very well make out like bandits in the end... it just may take you - the small business owner - more effort because you are giving up more in the beginning. But you have no ceiling like the rest of us... you took the risk... no complaining.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: DainBramaged
I once heard that nothing good came out of Jersey except for Springsteen. Oh wait, scratch that. Nothing good ever came out of Jersey.

I came into this thread wanting to post the same thing.

 

[Stumps]

pffft I get taxed 17% of my wage, plus I pay 10% GST on top of everything I buy, when I purchase fuel, It has a 20% fund levy on it then a 10% GST, the only thing I don't pay tax on is bread and milk really. come back to me when you are really over taxed

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Considering that they have to pay in an extra 7.5% for the "employers" side of Social Security on top of everything else, coming away with an effective tax rate of around 8% is FREAKING GOOD. If they think they are *still* paying too much (which they aren't), they need to hire a better accountant.

He's only talk STATE taxes, not Federal too...

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Considering that they have to pay in an extra 7.5% for the "employers" side of Social Security on top of everything else, coming away with an effective tax rate of around 8% is FREAKING GOOD. If they think they are *still* paying too much (which they aren't), they need to hire a better accountant.

He's only talk STATE taxes, not Federal too...

You sure about that? I mean yeah he keeps mentioning NJ but I doubt he did their taxes for them so they may have just mentioned that they have to pay 16k in taxes (total)... which is even better for them if that's it.

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: DAGTA
Wow, what a bunch of ignorance in this thread.

How many of you know that when you go self employed you automatically get hit with an additional 15.3% in taxes called, get this... "Self Employment Tax"? Before deductions, my base tax rate is 40.3%. How many of you pay that much? At that rate, 16K is 40% of $40,000. So, if they claimed no deductions, that's what their gross income would have been if they had to pay 16K in taxes. I started my own business two years ago. I'm not even close to being rich, but I'm doing better each year. I go to an accountant for help with my taxes. After claiming every deduction we both could think of, I still paid about 25% of my gross income in taxes.

Before I started my own business, my tax bracket was about 25% BEFORE deductions. My first year in business I made about the same and was in the same bracket (lower middle class) but had that extra 15.3 Self Employment tax, thus putting me at 40.3%. Once you cross over the 100k a year gross income, you get to pay even more taxes as you move into a higher bracket.

The Federal Gov't spreads a bunch of BS about 'helping the self-employed and small businesses'. It's just the opposite. As soon as you start a business, you get hit with MORE taxes. It truly is the small business owners that shoulder the biggest tax burdens in this country. That's why self-employed contractors have hourly rates that others think are 'outrageous'. When you consider that their base tax rate is roughly 40.3%, and they have business expenses that are often NOT 100% deductable, they're not making all that much money.

I'm torn on this issue. On one hand, the SE tax is the same as the regular medicare/SS deductions that most regular employees pay - except half of it (roughly) is paid by the employer, half is paid by the employee. Few people realize that they're actually paying an additional 7.65% tax on their hourly salaries as employees. It's just more blatant when you're self-employed because it hits you all at once.

Of course, the lovely thing about SE income is that you have to pay it regardless of income; there's no refund if you make below a certain amount like there is for regular withholding.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Considering that they have to pay in an extra 7.5% for the "employers" side of Social Security on top of everything else, coming away with an effective tax rate of around 8% is FREAKING GOOD. If they think they are *still* paying too much (which they aren't), they need to hire a better accountant.

He's only talk STATE taxes, not Federal too...

New Jersey's state income tax is 6.37 on the high end. $200,000+ a year would be "high end".

http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/ind_inc.html

6.37% of *only* $200,000 is $12,740. If they underestimated and got penalized by not paying by quarter, then they could easily be looking at the $16,000 figure.

They aren't getting dicked. That's just the cost of doing business in his state. Again, hire a better accountant and maximize your deductions to lower your effective tax rate. It could be a whole lot worse. Hell, Iowa has almost a 9% tax rate on the high end.

 

[Descartes]

I paid almost $100k in taxes, so... that doesn't sound that bad.

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Considering that they have to pay in an extra 7.5% for the "employers" side of Social Security on top of everything else, coming away with an effective tax rate of around 8% is FREAKING GOOD. If they think they are *still* paying too much (which they aren't), they need to hire a better accountant.

He's only talk STATE taxes, not Federal too...

New Jersey's state income tax is 6.37 on the high end. $200,000+ a year would be "high end".

http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/ind_inc.html

6.37% of *only* $200,000 is $12,740. If they underestimated and got penalized by not paying by quarter, then they could easily be looking at the $16,000 figure.

They aren't getting dicked. That's just the cost of doing business in his state. Again, hire a better accountant and maximize your deductions to lower your effective tax rate. It could be a whole lot worse. Hell, Iowa has almost a 9% tax rate on the high end.

Agreed.

 

[tm37]

Originally posted by: Amol

Originally posted by: tec699

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
We all pay taxes. Your parents owe a lot because they made a lot. Shut the fvck up. You aren't the one who slaved to earn the money.

I'm not whining about this issue but I do think it's a Jersey thing and I have a hunch my parents would be paying much less if they were in another state. Well let's exclude California and New York.

NJ treats small business owners like sh*t in my opinion.

then technically, CA people like me should be more whiny than you

yet, i have yet to see a CA person complain about taxes

so you should STFU

This is only because California is doing all it can to drive bussiness out of california

 

[grohl]

Originally posted by: Descartes
I paid almost $100k in taxes, so... that doesn't sound that bad.

OWNED.

And...ouch.

 

[Xyclone]

Bush is to blame!

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: Descartes
I paid almost $100k in taxes, so... that doesn't sound that bad.

Out of curiousity... what do you do?

 

[EndGame]

Originally posted by: grohl

Originally posted by: Descartes
I paid almost $100k in taxes, so... that doesn't sound that bad.

OWNED.

And...ouch.

No, I'd say piss poor accounting or accountant is to blame for under paying by that amount.......

 

[cpals]

Originally posted by: Descartes
I paid almost $100k in taxes, so... that doesn't sound that bad.

:Q

Will you hire me to be your secretary?

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: EndGame

Originally posted by: grohl

Originally posted by: Descartes
I paid almost $100k in taxes, so... that doesn't sound that bad.

OWNED.

And...ouch.

No, I'd say piss poor accounting or accountant is to blame for under paying by that amount.......

He could have been talking about paying that much last year, total.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Love it or leave it.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: grohl

Originally posted by: Descartes
I paid almost $100k in taxes, so... that doesn't sound that bad.

OWNED.

And...ouch.

Ouch? Thats nothing. Come to CA some time

 

[MustangSVT]

nope.. they make enough money to do that. and if they are self employeed, im sure they are not reporting the full amount they are making.. so it doesnt seem high at all

whiny rich bastard, shut up