I loathe the 16th amendment.

[Whomp]

Are you legally able to do that, or do your parents have to make the transactions for you?

I don't know about Sweden but in the US the parent needs to be the custodian for the child's behalf since a child needs to be 18 (21 in some states) for verbal and written contracts. There are tax advantages to this as well since it's taxed at the child's rate not the parents rate after 14 years old.

My guess is his father allows him to manage this "mad money" so he learns about investing.

 

[Masquerouge]

I don't know about Sweden but in the US the parent needs to be the custodian for the child's behalf since a child needs to be 18 (21 in some states) for verbal and written contracts. My guess is his father allows him to manage this "mad money" so he learns about investing.

That would be my guess also. But the thought of a 15-year-old making enough money on the stock market to pay his taxes, and cheating on those taxes while complaining about the government sends chills down my spine.

Al da great, why don't you simply try to score third base with girls and smoke weed in your high-school toilets, like every good teenager is supposed to do?

 

[JerichoHill]

sure it would

No, that's actually not true. You have to ask what we stop consuming. and what we're not investing in.

 

[JerichoHill]

Then why the a priori assumption that we should try to grow the economy?

Because increasing the living standard and general well being of your citizens is a good thing! And again, its not the case that lowering consumption is good for the environment. We have to ask why/what/when/how much?

 

[ummmm........]

To each his own I guess, but really, I love this place. All thanks to the tourists.

Yes. That was my point.

 

[JerichoHill]

The more I think about it the more I would like a system with no taxes and where you pay when you need a goverment service. There are loads of goverment services which I find useless but I have to pay for them.

Wouldnt work. THere are many services that need to be publicly available, that's why there's a public sector.

I don't need to pay for our military because my neighbor will...and follow that line of logic down...and then all of a sudden nobody wants to pay for another, chaos.

Sorry man, but some government is an economic necessity. Public goods must be provided regardless of whether youre using them or not

 

[Whomp]

I'm really wondering where I saw that. Maybe Illinois recently changed it's tax laws?

Nope iirc Illinois was 2.25% before that. Our sales tax is very high and really quite regressive. In the city the sales tax is 9% vs. 6.25% for most of the state. The city's sin taxes are enormous too. I think cigarettes are ~$2 more per pack than the burbs.

 

[ShannonCT]

So be someone good at math and don't gamble, yet still take advantage of not paying state income tax.

I think I'll stay in Connecticut, pay the state tax, and take advantage of all of these rich people who pay me to teach their spoiled kids.

 

[History_Buff]

Punch line: It's not free, you pay for it either way. the only variable is if you get to decide for yourself the location and quality of services you paid for.

Punch line: It's usually more efficient. We still get the choice in where we go, and the services are available all over the country. Say I want to mail a letter to my friend in Tuktoyaktuk. Since it is a tiny place (population 930), and in a remote location, no private post office would ever operate there. But since the government's responsibility to provide a service to all citizens, not make a profit, my letter would get there, for 52c.

The more I think about it the more I would like a system with no taxes and where you pay when you need a goverment service. There are loads of goverment services which I find useless but I have to pay for them.

Alright, so you're paying no taxes. One day you want to goto the store, and you get your mommy to drive you there. Of course, there's no road, since nobody paid the government, and so they didn't build one. Do you think it's fair that you should build the road since you want it?

 

[IglooDame]

I'm really wondering where I saw that. Maybe Illinois recently changed its tax laws?

Edit: Apparently Alaska has the heaviest tax burden of all states (10.66&#37, but that includes all state taxes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_tax_levels (Taxes as percent of income, which is far more informative than taxes per capita)

That's quite odd - in my experience Alaska is on the low end of tax-burden-by-state lists... I'll see if I can't dig up some links...

Edit: here's one, where Alaska is 50th, and New Hampshire is 49th - http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/taxesbystate2005/index.html

 

[MobBoss]

I pay 39% in taxes. And I don't mind.

I got a good, free education. When ever Im sick, I go to a good doctor and so on. It's all free. And not only for me, but for everybody. That's pretty amazing, and I wouldn't give it up for anything.

Utterly false part in bold. No...its not free. You pay a crapload for it, you just think its free because you dont see the money changing hands.

And while we dont have an income tax where I live, we do have like a 9% sales tax instead. Buying crap is expensive.

 

[Sahkuhnder]

Yes. That was my point.

Every person has a right to choose for themselves and I respect that. I was hoping to provoke you into explaining to us why you dislike tourists, especially more than something as unloved as taxes.


--------

Punch line: It's usually more efficient. We still get the choice in where we go, and the services are available all over the country. Say I want to mail a letter to my friend in Tuktoyaktuk. Since it is a tiny place (population 930), and in a remote location, no private post office would ever operate there. But since the government's responsibility to provide a service to all citizens, not make a profit, my letter would get there, for 52c.

'Efficient government agency'? Isn't that a contradiction all by itself?

Any government run operation is rarely, if ever, as efficient as the privately run version of the same operation. You only get to choose government schools, I can choose any school. You only get to choose government hospitals, I can choose any hospital. You can only get government-approved medical procedures, I can choose any procedure available.

Even the Post Office is losing market share to UPS, FedEx, etc. Japan just privatized its Postal Service because private businesses run more efficiently than government ones. Link.

For the issues of education, health care, and package shipment, I will gladly release the government from your assumed "responsibility to provide a service to all citizens", and take care of it myself, more efficiently, with more choice, by making my own decisions rather than passing that choice to a government bureaucrat somewhere who tells a government agency what I can and can't do - with my money.


--------

Utterly false part in bold. No...its not free. You pay a crapload for it, you just think its free because you dont see the money changing hands.

Quoted for truth.

 

[IglooDame]

Every person has a right to choose for themselves and I respect that. I was hoping to provoke you into explaining to us why you dislike tourists, especially more than something as unloved as taxes.

They say they're in season, but you're still not allowed to shoot them...

 

[marioh]

I pay the following taxes :
Federal
State
City

Plus we have sales tax on most items. Hell, I even pay taxes on my parking spot at home ($8.25 a month worth of taxes for a small piece of asphalt).
If you found the amount of money taken by taxes on your fiancee brother's paycheck absurd, trust me when I say you haven't seen anything. I pay over $1000 in taxes every paycheck. And that doesn't even count the sales and vice taxes that I pay, nor the taxes I pay on interest earned.

It warms my heart knowing that my tax money is spent on such great things such as propping up the Israeli government by giving them billions of dollars in aid and loans (which the US govt conveniently forgives) and of course, the government's favorite industry to finance, the "defense" industry.

 

[JerichoHill]

I pay the following taxes :
Federal
State
City

Plus we have sales tax on most items. Hell, I even pay taxes on my parking spot at home ($8.25 a month worth of taxes for a small piece of asphalt).
If you found the amount of money taken by taxes on your fiancee brother's paycheck absurd, trust me when I say you haven't seen anything. I pay over $1000 in taxes every paycheck. And that doesn't even count the sales and vice taxes that I pay, nor the taxes I pay on interest earned.

It warms my heart knowing that my tax money is spent on such great things such as propping up the Israeli government by giving them billions of dollars in aid and loans (which the US govt conveniently forgives) and of course, the government's favorite industry to finance, the "defense" industry.

Over 1000 a paycheck?

So you're making 100K+...right?

 

[marioh]

Over 1000 a paycheck?

So you're making 100K+...right?

Not yet.

I get paid twice a month...

 

[Sahkuhnder]

They say they're in season, but you're still not allowed to shoot them...

Every now and again a few stray from the herd and do get shot. They still keep coming though. Go figure.

 

[JerichoHill]

Not yet.

I get paid twice a month...

Yes, that's 26 paychecks with 1000 in taxes, for a total of 26,000, divide that by a tax rate of 27% (AMT) and I come close to getting 100,000 dollars.

Thus I conclude that if you arent making 100K, then you can't be taxed at the rate of 26K a year

 

[Sidhe]

Uh yeah, Bamspeedy got this one. A sales tax on consumption not only harms the poor more (Unless you needlessly complicate the system, but you incentive people to not consume, thus reducing the growth rate of your economy

We have a sales tax? VAT: seems ok in theory with strict controls on lending as we used to have, but it relies on a social security system too. The poor should in theory spend less, they are poor, but with credit cards and the lack of common sense in many people this doesn't work out that well. Thus the banks extensively make the most money out of those who need credit the most, milking peoples stupidity for all it's worth, it's frustrating to see it, but there's little I can do. And we live in a free country. Your free to be an idiot, free to be unwise, and free to have your pockets fleeced by the unscrupulous money lenders

 

[marioh]

Yes, that's 26 paychecks with 1000 in taxes, for a total of 26,000, divide that by a tax rate of 27% (AMT) and I come close to getting 100,000 dollars.

Thus I conclude that if you arent making 100K, then you can't be taxed at the rate of 26K a year

You have me as having 2 more paychecks per year (12*2). So that comes out to ~24k per year. I think you're failing to account for both city and state taxes (in addition to federal/OASDI) taken out of my paycheck. Either that, or the govt is raping me blind.