damn_registrars's Journal: Another symptom of regressive taxation

Some things didn't quite go as planned with my 2021 taxes. Not sure yet about my 2022 taxes, either. Turbotax apparently didn't realize that the "refundable child tax credit" from 2021 - which was a series of checks issued to taxpayers in 2021 - was actually a zero-interest loan to taxpayers rather than an actual refund.

My point here is this. The "refundable child tax credit" from 2021 meant I owed some $2,700 back to the IRS that I hadn't properly calculated in turbotax. For people in a higher income bracket that might not be a big deal. For people like myself that's more than a full paycheck after taxes, more than half of what I take home in a month. Yet the IRS expects people to be able to cough this up on demand, and assesses interest for those who cannot.

At the same time, people who make enough money to owe 5 figures - or more - of back taxes in a year can negotiate with the IRS to pay far lower totals through settlements. All they offer to us peons is installment programs. Sure, you can bring tax attorneys in to the game if you want but any amount they save you, you will end up paying back to the attorneys for their fees.

In other words those of us who make less, pay more. Just the way it's always been. Biden can harp on how broken trickle-down is - and he's absolutely right that it's broken - but it's so ingrained throughout the system that we all get screwed by it.

Side note, I'm surprised the JE system here doesn't have a topic option of "taxes". We have "Government", we have "The Almighty Buck", and several others but nothing that is specifically "taxes". I would expect the conservative supermajority here would have implemented it by now.

"In other words those of us who make less, pay mo"

[smittyoneeach]

I agree. It seems that if one is not above some "financial thermocline" with access to a phalanx of tax lawyers &c, then the IRS is just an iron rod of oppression.

The difference between the U.S. and Europe (German wife, so I'm speaking from some knowledge here) is that Europe makes the reality that those countries are financially raping the citizenry quite explicit. Here in the U.S., things are far less forthright. We die by capillary bleeding rather than arterial.

I guess that feels "more gooder" so

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[damn_registrars]

I'll concede though that there is no perfect system for collecting taxes. A flat percent sounds fair at first but there are always ways that people will find to game that system as well. As usual the people at the top will play the game better than those who are not.

However the discussion that is never held fairly is what people actually want in exchange for their taxes. We see all kinds of political gamesmanship going on every time a budget is proposed, with all kinds of crazy strings attached. Peo

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[smittyoneeach]

The fundamental question that I have for any systemic question is: where are the feedback loops?

I.e., what keeps things stable?

If they screwed up and left me in charge, I'd tie the next Congressional budget to the previous tax receipts at the Treasury. Notwithstanding a declared war, there are no reasons to spend more than is taken in. Some system would apportion that budget target against the States, who would then tax farm their citizens.

States failing to meet their number would have a sales tax ass