Taxes

[PDH]

Luckily my state income taxes haven't risen at all.

[Valmy]

Luckily my state income taxes haven't risen at all.

Mine have gone up 600%

[Ed Anger]

I grumbled when I sent in my property taxes.

[Admiral Yi]

Like education and infrastructure? Yes, that would be awful.

I don't think construction companies were among the special interests whose votes they wanted to buy with my tax money.

[Valmy]

I grumbled when I sent in my property taxes.

Hate property taxes.  They seem ridiculously high here, like my crap little house requires me to shell out hundreds of dollars a month.  I might as well be renting the place from the State of Texas.

But they are probably just as bad everywhere.

[Admiral Yi]

Mine have gone up 600%

Texas now has an income tax??

When did that happen?

[Valmy]

Texas now has an income tax??

When did that happen?

Um no.  That was my lame joke.

[Ed Anger]

I grumbled when I sent in my property taxes.

Hate property taxes.  They seem ridiculously high here, like my crap little house requires me to shell out hundreds of dollars a month.  I might as well be renting the place from the State of Texas.

But they are probably just as bad everywhere.

I wanted to pay in pennies, but I'd have to use a wheelbarrow.

[merithyn]

Meri, I agree that the very low current interest rates make it not that profitable to fine tune your withholding.  But by the same token most people who are not smoking crack cocaine on a daily basis do manage to put aside money on a regular basis to save up for a big future expenditure.

Sure. But tell me the up side to a savings account over a tax return if you want to be certain that you can't/won't pull it out.

It seems to me like it puts you in peril of having to go into debt because a large chunk of your paycheck is sitting in government coffers.  I would rather save money without that kind of risk.

That's kind of the point, though. It's savings that you can't touch. Aren't there CDs and Money Markets that are the same? You have to let them ride a certain amount of time before you can cash them out?

[merithyn]

I grumbled when I sent in my property taxes.

Hate property taxes.  They seem ridiculously high here, like my crap little house requires me to shell out hundreds of dollars a month.  I might as well be renting the place from the State of Texas.

But they are probably just as bad everywhere.

We're sort of half-assed looking to buy this summer. Looking at property taxes, it's ridiculous at $3500/year for a $130,000 house. And it doesn't seem to matter the price of the house so much as the neighborhood it's in. The closer to the University, the higher the taxes, even if the house is only worth $60k.

[Valmy]

That's kind of the point, though. It's savings that you can't touch. Aren't there CDs and Money Markets that are the same? You have to let them ride a certain amount of time before you can cash them out?

As far as I know both Money Markets and CDs enable you to get your money if you need it.

If you desperately need money because your car broke down or whatever what possible good are savings you cannot touch?  Instead you have to take out a high interest loan or use a credit card or something?  I can see somebody who is wealthy being able to tolerate savings they cannot touch but that seems like a recipe for disaster for poors like us.

[Valmy]

Looking at property taxes, it's ridiculous at $3500/year for a $130,000 house.

I pay significantly more than that for my $144,000 house.  Just outrageous.

[Ed Anger]

I better keep my property tax amount secret. It will make Val mad. 

[Malthus]

I thought that Malthus was Canadian.

I am. 

[Malthus]

Looking at property taxes, it's ridiculous at $3500/year for a $130,000 house.

I pay significantly more than that for my $144,000 house.  Just outrageous.

Those are indeed very high. I pay around $7000 on a house (incorrectly) valued by the city at $1 million.