Quote Originally Posted by Lemur View Post
...If your only income is salary, in other words, if your only source of money is a job you do for a company, then your situation will be pretty similar. Payroll tax, SS tax, FICA, all of that will be withheld from your paycheck. Assuming you configure your withholdings correctly, you can expect money back at the end of the year. But for entrepreneurs, the self-employed and so forth, it's a lot more complicated.
Oh, you mean that part of the taxation process where the government graciously returns my money to me after having had free use of it for most of a year? My "refund..." What bollocks.

Aside from my peeve there, our proto-simian friend has given a pretty accurate short synopsis of American taxation.

I'd add that many states have a sales tax in place of or in addition to an income tax, and

A number of municipalities also charge a wage tax, levied not on citizens of that locale per se, but on anyone employed within municipal limits.