Thursday, June 28, 2012

Taxes & Eating.

Yesterday was the last night at Mom's until next Wednesday night. Today I am there through lunch until about three p.m. and then it is off to the Blazer Draft Party. Tomorrow is the first day in a long time when nothing has been planned by relatives or yours truly and damn I am looking forward to waking up tomorrow morning and just going with the flow.

I love Mom and lately the time over there has been fun. I've made a real effort to make everything pleasant while I am there and it seems to be working. It did used to be taxing, however:

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/06/23/these-little-noticed-tax-hikes-are-raiding-your-wallet/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl24%7Csec3_lnk2%26pLid%3D172932

I do hope your taxes are low enough that you are able to pay your utility bills:

http://news.yahoo.com/texas-woman-gets-1-4m-utility-bill-error-003914846.html

If you pay the above utility bill you may not have enough money left to be able to eat:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/postal-workers-hunger-strike_n_1624797.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl31%7Csec3_lnk1%26pLid%3D173063

Comment Away.

4 comments:

Pat said...

It's good advice to keep your eye on taxes other then Federal income tax. They get at us in many obscure ways.

I wonder if the woman fainted when she opened a $1.4 million electric bill. I've gotten a little woozy at some of mine, but this is really over the top.

I wish they'd quit fiddling with the USPS. I LIKE the postal service. They do a good job for a very low price, IMO. The workers are right. Congress created the problem and they should fix it.

Lady DR said...

Good point on local and state taxes and how they're eating away at people's often reduced income. One example is increased local/state gas prices, which affect just about anyone and are hard to avoid, if you need to drive to work or get groceries, because there's little to no public transportation. Another is in individual taxes. AZ raised the tax on cigarettes by a dollar a pack. While this doesn't affect everyone, it often affects people who can least afford it and can least afford cessation programs or the patches and such.

The utility bill thing is outrageous. As Pat mentioned, I'd probably have had a heart attack.

"Neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night"... what happened to that? Ya know, I think there's at least a partial solution to the postal issue. Instead of low rates for bulk mail, used largely by major corporations in both letters and flyers, why not charge a lot more for junk mail? I mean, most people pitch it, so it goes to landfills. Some of us recycle, but it's still another cost to be dealt with. Charge double for junk mail.

Enjoy tomorrow! 'Bout time you had a day where you could get up in the morning and decide what to do, even if that means doing nothing.

William J. said...

Hi Pat

I am with you on the post office. The volume they deal with and the few mistakes they make are incredible. Low cost and efficient. We should just leave these folks alone.

There are so many taxes besides income taxes, excise tax, gas tax, telephone tax and the beat goes on. While everyone is concentrating on income tax they are raising other taxes!

I would have fained if I had gotten that lady's bill. I've also gotten woozy at mine even though I get statements saying I am more efficient than my efficient neighbors.

Bill

William J. said...

Hi DR

Our gas prices are among the highest in the nation due mainly to gas taxes. The states have to either cut services or increase taxes to make up for the income stream they lost due to federal tax cuts that took a good chunk of their income.

That makes three of us that would have passed out at the sight of the utility bill!

I think charging more for bulk mail is genius. It hits the ones that can afford it. Also eiliminate third class mail to encourage people to use first or second class.

I am already having a good day!

Bill