Wednesday, November 18, 2009

How much are you taxed?


Taxes Paid Yearly

Property Tax = $2870


License Plate Renewal = $90


Taxes on my phone bill = $240

Sales Tax (6% in Michigan) = $1322

Ten cent bottle deposit on bottled/canned drinks = $54

Total Amount of Taxes I Pay in a Single Year =

$10, 268



Just a thought...


Anonymous said...

Why do you call stamps a tax? You are paying for a service (except if you argue stamps for sending in your tax forms are required and thus a tax, but just in that case).

BONIFACE said...

I see stamps as a tax on mailed documents, but perhaps I am thinking too much like the colonists - this is how we originally got stamps. The British came up with the idea of requiring a stamp to be put on all published documents. Even though there is a service, I reckon it as a tax because it is something levied by the gov't and (as far as I know) was originally conceived of as a tax. But, even if you want to discount that example, it's only $54 per year and doesn't really change the big picture.

Richard said...

Although it's a good point that part of the price of postage is payment for a service, it's worth noting that the federal government prohibits private carriers from delivering regular mail:

So if one wants to define a "tax" rather informally as something you have to pay the government and can't get out of without penalty, this puts postage a little closer to that than many other everyday expenses.

CO said...

Remember the inflation tax. As more dollars are created (via forced fed rate), your dollar-denominated savings are worth less.

(From Robert Katz) In 1933 Roosevelt made money illegal. If in 1913 you lent the government 50 double eagles (money), and they gave you a promissory note for it, that note would now enable you to reclaim just one of those double eagles — 98% fewer than you gave them, and the tax man has stolen a good portion of the remaining 2%. The rest of the grand illusion is the state’s provision of a continuous array of inferior services at an exorbitant price, competition prohibited by law.

This is a profoundly evil policy (especially to the poor).

Anonymous said...

Supposedly, ALL of our taxes & fees go to the Gov't in exchange for services. And, in none of those transactions are there any option to not pay.

So, yes, stamps are a tax.

But I have someone's old stamp collection, so, since it is worth more in postage than as collectables, I'm using that.