Tax measures during the crisis.

[Cronos Impera]

Title says it all.
What tax measures do you have to suffer/ aid you during the financial crisis?
And how do you cope/dodge them?

[Hooahguy]

didnt you ask this question a while back?

[Strike For The South]

NVM

[HoreTore]

As far as I know, there are none here.

And I happily pay my taxes. Come october, I'll be voting to increase them :2thumbsup:

[drone]

To pay for the bailouts, the IRS will have a new simplified 1040 form for the years 2009-2020:

1. How much money did you make in the year 20XX?
2. Send it in.


Nothing major affecting me at this point. The county assessors finally lowered property values after much shenanigans, the county then raised the overall rate to cover the difference. ~:rolleyes: What they did with the tax windfall they raked in during the housing boom is a mystery.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Come october, I'll be voting to increase them :2thumbsup:

:404:

[HoreTore]

:404:

They're put to good use, why wouldn't I want to pay my taxes? :yes:

[||Lz3||]

They're put to good use, why wouldn't I want to pay my taxes? :yes:

Not always, and most certainly, not everywhere.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

They're put to good use, why wouldn't I want to pay my taxes? :yes:

They're put to good use if you have a very loose definition of good use.

[Ice]

Title says it all.
What tax measures do you have to suffer/ aid you during the financial crisis?
And how do you cope/dodge them?

Please be more specific.

[Cronos Impera]

I mean have your taxes increased, have new taxes been imposed on you or has the G. relieved you of some fiscal burden so you could spend more?

[HoreTore]

Not always, and most certainly, not everywhere.


They're put to good use if you have a very loose definition of good use.

Some money is always lost. But if anyone cared about that, nobody would ever want to own a store. The vast majority of it is put to very good use. Everyone in this country has free healthcare, free education(including uni's), good social security, good employee benefits(like unlimited sick days, etc), and plenty more. I happily pay for that. And in october, one of the new proposals is free dental care, and I will happily pay more tax to get that.

[Fragony]

Nothing dramatic, a few extra just-because-we-want-it and trees-are-cool's.

[KukriKhan]

I mean have your taxes increased, have new taxes been imposed on you or has the G. relieved you of some fiscal burden so you could spend more?

Out here on the US's western shore, taxes have gone up a bit (a lot on the "sin" taxes: cigarettes, booze, gambling winnings), but nothing dramatic to the overall population.

Fees charged by the gov't, on the other hand, have sky-rocketed... basically tripling over last year, to make up for less revenue going to the treasury.

As drone wrote:

What they did with the tax windfall they raked in during the housing boom is a mystery.

Same here.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

The vast majority of it is put to very good use. Everyone in this country has free healthcare, free education(including uni's), good social security, good employee benefits(like unlimited sick days, etc), and plenty more.

Then again, the merits of that can be debated, can they not?

[Ice]

I mean have your taxes increased, have new taxes been imposed on you or has the G. relieved you of some fiscal burden so you could spend more?

The government has or is planning to relive a large chunk of the tax burden on middle to lower income people.

This act has been enacted which includes numerous tax breaks and credits:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009


The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Pub.L. 111-5) is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on February 17, 2009. The Act of Congress was based largely on proposals made by President Obama and is intended to provide a stimulus to the U.S. economy in the wake of the economic downturn. The measures are nominally worth $787 billion. The Act includes federal tax relief, expansion of unemployment benefits and other social welfare provisions, and domestic spending in education, health care, and infrastructure, including the energy sector. The Act also includes numerous non-economic recovery related items that were either part of longer-term plans (e.g. a study of the effectiveness of medical treatments) or desired by Congress (e.g. a limitation on executive compensation in federally aided banks added by Senator Dodd and Rep. Frank). The government action is much larger than the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which consisted primarily of tax rebate checks.


Tax relief for individuals

Total: $237 billion

* $116 billion: New payroll tax credit of $400 per worker and $800 per couple in 2009 and 2010. Phaseout begins at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for joint filers. [30]
* $70 billion: Alternative minimum tax: a one year increase in AMT floor to $70,950 for joint filers for 2009.[30]
* $15 billion: Expansion of child tax credit: A $1,000 credit to more families (even those that do not make enough money to pay income taxes).
* $14 billion: Expanded college credit to provide a $2,500 expanded tax credit for college tuition and related expenses for 2009 and 2010. The credit is phased out for couples making more than $160,000.
* $6.6 billion: Homebuyer credit: $8,000 refundable credit for all homes bought between 1/1/2009 and 12/1/2009 and repayment provision repealed for homes purchased in 2009 and held more than three years. This only applies to first-time homebuyers.[31]
* $4.7 billion: Excluding from taxation the first $2,400 a person receives in unemployment compensation benefits in 2009.
* $4.7 billion: Expanded earned income tax credit to increase the earned income tax credit — which provides money to low income workers — for families with at least three children.
* $4.3 billion: Home energy credit to provide an expanded credit to homeowners who make their homes more energy-efficient in 2009 and 2010. Homeowners could recoup 30 percent of the cost up to $1,500 of numerous projects, such as installing energy-efficient windows, doors, furnaces and air conditioners.
* $1.7 billion: for deduction of sales tax from car purchases, not interest payments phased out for incomes above $250,000.

Tax relief for companies

Total: $51 billion

* $15 billion: Allowing companies to use current losses to offset profits made in the previous five years, instead of two, making them eligible for tax refunds.
* $13 billion: to extend tax credits for renewable energy production (until 2014).
* $11 billion: Government contractors: Repeal a law that takes effect in 2012, requiring government agencies to withhold three percent of payments to contractors to help ensure they pay their tax bills. Repealing the law would cost $11 billion over 10 years, in part because the government could not earn interest by holding the money throughout the year.
* $7 billion: Repeal bank credit: Repeal a Treasury provision that allowed firms that buy money-losing banks to use more of the losses as tax credits to offset the profits of the merged banks for tax purposes. The change would increase taxes on the merged banks by $7 billion over 10 years.
* $5 billion: Bonus depreciation which extends a provision allowing businesses buying equipment such as computers to speed up its depreciation through 2009.


I hope that helps. I'm taking an intermediate tax class right now and might be of help if you have any further questions. I can't wait until I get that tax consulting internship and can give the org free tax advice!

[Hosakawa Tito]

In New York State, any tax relief from the Feds will be more than compensated for by the State increase in taxes & fees for just about anything one can imagine. The State budget has been increased almost 10%, thousands of private sector jobs and residents are fleeing the State and our political leaders are partying like it's 1999.

[rory_20_uk]

Some money is always lost. But if anyone cared about that, nobody would ever want to own a store. The vast majority of it is put to very good use. Everyone in this country has free healthcare, free education(including uni's), good social security, good employee benefits(like unlimited sick days, etc), and plenty more. I happily pay for that. And in october, one of the new proposals is free dental care, and I will happily pay more tax to get that.

Your country floats on oil. It's got a massive "war chest" because of this. The population is small. So, this can certainly help all other aspects of the economy.

The UK manages to have not only a wasteful Civil Service which grows year by year - all with final salary pensions to really ruin the outry in the future but also a "safety net" which is so good that for a growing number of people there's no point working - you loose benefits as you work, so the tax rates initially "feels like" 70% or more.

The leaders respond by voting a bill to get paid to attend parliment to the tune of £150 a day... I thought that this WAS their job...

Centralisation only seems to generate more layers of management to "oversee" the decentralised offices that used to do all the work: we now have hospital management, PCT management, regional management and STILL have a growing DoH management. Getting anything done is massively slower thanks to this system of competing interests and views.

Back to topic...

Increase personal allowance, Decrease benefits - yes, working is worth it!
Scrap £160 to pregnant mothers benefit - we now reward teenage mothers??!?
50% tax bracket sounds good - but I'm guessing many of these will move to the Isle of Man / Jersey / Ireland / Dubai as when you earn that much you are more mobil - oh, except for the Civil Servants who in the main shouldn't be on anything approaching that salary due to the benefits of job security and final income pension.
£2000 for scrapping cars is good IF your coutry makes the cars people will be buying. Since in the UK that is mostly not the case it's paying people to buy foreign built cars.
I'd also advocate moving from the 50% to uni / everyone has to leave school at 18. These two measures are expensive and probably cause more damage than good. If anything, use the money for on the job training.

Politicians tand to advocate the "something must be done, this is something - let's do it!" Smaller, more strategic long term measures would be better rather than sudden vote grabbing, tactical short term solutions.

~:smoking:

[HoreTore]

Then again, the merits of that can be debated, can they not?

Not to me. I happily pay for it. But I don't really care what you do or think.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Not to me. I happily pay for it. But I don't really care what you do or think.

Then why did you bother responding?

[Seamus Fermanagh]

EMFM, Horetore:

Damp it down chums, I don't want this exploding into a hate-fest while I'm off selling insurance. Play nice.

[Ice]

nvm

[naut]

Increase personal allowance, Decrease benefits - yes, working is worth it!
Scrap £160 to pregnant mothers benefit - we now reward teenage mothers??!?
50% tax bracket sounds good - but I'm guessing many of these will move to the Isle of Man / Jersey / Ireland / Dubai as when you earn that much you are more mobil - oh, except for the Civil Servants who in the main shouldn't be on anything approaching that salary due to the benefits of job security and final income pension.
£2000 for scrapping cars is good IF your coutry makes the cars people will be buying. Since in the UK that is mostly not the case it's paying people to buy foreign built cars.
I'd also advocate moving from the 50% to uni / everyone has to leave school at 18. These two measures are expensive and probably cause more damage than good. If anything, use the money for on the job training.
Give the man a Medal, an OBE and a ruddy great plot of land with titles and all that fluff!