For us Yanks..

[Walsingham]

35-40%! Well **** me sideways! In the UK that's the bracket we reserve for super-rich foreigners! And how come so much of your budget is going on healthcare when it's not even for the whole population? I think you chaps are getting gypped, frankly.

[Enoch]

35-40%! Well **** me sideways! In the UK that's the bracket we reserve for super-rich foreigners! And how come so much of your budget is going on healthcare when it's not even for the whole population? I think you chaps are getting gypped, frankly.

That isn't just federal income taxes, though (which top-out at around a 39% marginal rate for the very rich). It includes state & local income taxes (where applicable), property taxes, state sales taxes, and special taxes (like the sales taxes on gasoline and tobacco).

 

Comparatively, the total tax burden on Americans (as a % of GDP) is low, compared to the rest of the developed world. Link.

[Walsingham]

Holy crabs! you're right! You do quite well, then, considering. Englanders get taxed all over the place, not to mention special charges for just about everything. One of the most noxious of these I recently discovered is that soldiers are now charged for their meals.

[jaguars4ever]

I'm helping the american economy by bying from Amazon.com!

 

Because their DS games are half the price we pay here. Thanks Bush!

I'm helping the British economy by buying from Amazon.co.uk!

 

Their stuff cost like twice as much, but I got Season 3 Battlestar Galactica like 6 months earlier. Thanks Gordon Brown!

[Laozi]

300$ in tax return... Sounds vaguely familiar.. Did Nixon's head have anything to do with this?

 

 

 

My friend Stephen where going on about this awhile back, I was questioning if 100 cups of coffee would be a good investment until I realized I would be getting $600.

 

Of course this is a tiny drop in the bucket when compared to my actual tax refund which will be secreted away in my offshore accounts as I have decided to become a good, wealthy american.

[Walsingham]

I'm helping the american economy by bying from Amazon.com!

 

Because their DS games are half the price we pay here. Thanks Bush!

I'm helping the British economy by buying from Amazon.co.uk!

 

Their stuff cost like twice as much, but I got Season 3 Battlestar Galactica like 6 months earlier. Thanks Gordon Brown!

 

That's interesting. If you're buying abroad what about South Africa? You buy in Rands it will be cheap, surely?

[Gorgon]

You are becoming drowsy, your eyelids feel heavy as you feel a friendly presence in your mind. You feel compelled to comply with whatever it tells you.

 

Give your rebates to Gorgon it says.

[Laozi]

hmmmm, I got my Tax Refund in the mail today, I was thinking I would get my $600 cash money before I got my actual refund.

 

I guess I have the rest of the weekend to debate over what to spend this bad boi on, right now I'm leaning towards a fikes drum kit.

[babydol]

Just wanted to brag & let everyone know I got $1200 direct-deposited into my account on friday. I dunno what I'll spend it on, though. Probably just pizza and beer. Like the dirty American I am.

[walkerguy]

You'll be helping the economy.

[LadyCrimson]

Interesting chart, that, thanks for those links.

 

When I complain about amount of direct wage/income tax, I guess what I'm complaining about is the social security part. If you're self-employed, personal-finance-wise it's more "painful" since with no official employer to pay half of your SS tax, you have to pay it all. While you are allowed to deduct the "other half" from your total gross-income, that won't typically lower your adjusted-gross enough to make a huge difference in the non-SS areas of taxation, so you still end up paying close to double more "out of pocket" than a non-self-employed worker, for the same end result.

Edited May 14, 2008 by LadyCrimson

[Colrom]

Englanders get taxed all over the place, not to mention special charges for just about everything. One of the most noxious of these I recently discovered is that soldiers are now charged for their meals.

 

That's insane!

 

Do you have to buy your own guns and tanks and planes and ships and ammo and stuff too?

[taks]

Call me cynical old conspiracy tehorist, but doesn't this just siphon cash into the hands of profiteering companies? Shouldn't the gas companies take a hit? I mean they've been making record profits for years...

um, only now approaching 10%... hardly worth getting your conspiracy ire up over. qualcomm's profit margin, OTOH, is almost 36%.

 

mine is eventually going towards this pool cue. graduation present to me (that i won't get till my bday in july, however).

 

taks

[taks]

While you are allowed to deduct the "other half" from your total gross-income, that won't typically lower your adjusted-gross enough to make a huge difference in the non-SS areas of taxation, so you still end up paying close to double more "out of pocket" than a non-self-employed worker, for the same end result.

self-employeds also don't get their FUTA and SUTA paid for them (unemployment tax). i'd say at least the FICA is only on the first $95k or so, but less than 10% of the population makes over that anyway.

 

taks

[Laozi]

Call me cynical old conspiracy tehorist, but doesn't this just siphon cash into the hands of profiteering companies? Shouldn't the gas companies take a hit? I mean they've been making record profits for years...

um, only now approaching 10%... hardly worth getting your conspiracy ire up over. qualcomm's profit margin, OTOH, is almost 36%.

 

mine is eventually going towards this pool cue. graduation present to me (that i won't get till my bday in july, however).

 

taks

 

 

Right, the thing to get worked up about is that the government lets companies pump about $11 billion dollars worth of oil and gas out of federal owned territories without paying any royalties to the government in any given year.

 

And at the same time are showing a reluctance to approve more green energy tax credits, effectively stifling the growing industry in the US.

 

I guess were not lobbying hard enough.

 

Now to spend my check which is little more then about fourteen and half tanks of gas. Oh yeah, this money I got which is a result of our government decided to use the old trick of deficit spending to stimulate the economy.

Edited May 16, 2008 by Laozi

[Pop]

Call me cynical old conspiracy tehorist, but doesn't this just siphon cash into the hands of profiteering companies? Shouldn't the gas companies take a hit? I mean they've been making record profits for years...

Why do you hate freedom?

[Darth Drabek]

I'm going to subvert the government's plan by not spending my stimulus package at all! It's going straight under the mattress -- right next to all those paychecks, bills, and my plans for an ethanol-fueled space station!

[walkerguy]

I'm still on the contract for corn deliveries to the fuel buffer, no?

[Walsingham]

Englanders get taxed all over the place, not to mention special charges for just about everything. One of the most noxious of these I recently discovered is that soldiers are now charged for their meals.

 

That's insane!

 

Do you have to buy your own guns and tanks and planes and ships and ammo and stuff too?

 

Don't even joke about it.

[Tale]

Mine went into a new computer.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

mine is eventually going towards this pool cue. graduation present to me (that i won't get till my bday in july, however).

 

I don't think I would actually want to play pool with something worth that much.

[Enoch]

mine is eventually going towards this pool cue. graduation present to me (that i won't get till my bday in july, however).

 

I don't think I would actually want to play pool with something worth that much.

Nor would I. I'm a fair player, but if I'm playing, it probably means that I'm having a few beers as well. And once I've gotten a few drinks in me, I usually come to the opinion that swinging the stick around as if it were a drum major's baton is a damned entertaining way to pass the time during my opponent's turn. With the cheap sticks my dad keeps in his basement, that's all well and good. With a top-shelf model like that, it wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable.

[Laozi]

you don't understand, taks will be able to break his pool cue and take down an entire bar of armed miscreants at a moments whim. I dunno about you, but well worth the investment to protect my family and loved ones.

[Walsingham]

you don't understand, taks will be able to break his pool cue and take down an entire bar of armed miscreants at a moments whim. I dunno about you, but well worth the investment to protect my family and loved ones.

 

You never mentioned it was +5 vs. drunken neutral

[Enoch]

you don't understand, taks will be able to break his pool cue and take down an entire bar of armed miscreants at a moments whim. I dunno about you, but well worth the investment to protect my family and loved ones.

 

You never mentioned it was +5 vs. drunken neutral

I'm picturing more of a Staff of the Magi retributive strike. Sure, it might take me down too, but that's one bar full of miscreants who won't be hassling my family any more.