Taxes

[movie zombie]

Date: 12/9/2005 12:42:45 PM
Author: fire&ice

Date: 12/9/2005 11:33:54 AM
Author: movie zombie

yes, there are cycles for everything....including inflation. what is a concern is how others don''t know or understand those cycles or just want to ignore them. it is these people that are going to be hurt and it is these people. and if the hurt is big enough, it affects all of us.

however, for those that know the cycles and plan accordingly, it can be a chance to get bargains in real estate, stocks, etc.

peace, movie zombie

Yes, but these cycles are *normal*. They should not be feared. One should not over-react. It seems almost as if a believer points to a non-believer and screams - ''you are going to burn in hell''.


Cycles shouldn''t be feared. But, agreed - they should be understood. We will always be paying for other people''s stupidity, irresponsiblity or just plain not clued in.

One doesn''t have to go passed this diamond board to know cycles & hype. Do you remember the diamond bubble of the late 70''s/early 80''s? People still bought diamonds for engagement rings. Did they over pay - sure - but many are still wearing them without giving it a second thought. Dealers got caught - but they adjusted & took the loss w/ expectation. The people who got screwed were the people who johnny come lately decided to jump on the bandwagon at the high price thinking of it as a great investment - a commodity to sell.

A house is different in that it is a home.

discussing any type of financial ''bust'' does not mean one is paranoid or living in fear. i think most of the discussion has been to 1-try and raise awareness and 2-just have a discussion regarding finances/economics.

i know a woman that just bought a house in georgia for a rental. she lives in the bay area and has refi''d her condo which is her home i don''t know how many times. before she bought this house in georgia which closed last week, she didn''t even run a budget.....and she hadn''t balanced her checkbook in months until the week before closing. another friend tried to get her to run a budget: she didn''t even realize that she''d have certain expenses for the georgia rental! however, it is this woman''s view that she is just doing what everyone else is doing and trying to better herself. it is her money and her life and her condo on the line. her choice.

i only bring her up because if the tax law changes re homeowner interest as a right off, she''s screwed big time. i''d argue that she screwed herself but i don''t think she''ll see it that way.

i find these articles interesting and these discussions give me a further insight into issues. might not change my mind but a healthy exchange of ideas is always welcome.

please don''t think i''m paranoid about economics and i won''t declare anyone to be paranoid about facet angles....

peace, movie zombie

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 12/10/2005 3:56:57 AM
Author: movie zombie


please don''t think i''m paranoid about economics and i won''t declare anyone to be paranoid about facet angles....


peace, movie zombie

I resemble that remark :}
imho most people arent paranoid enough about it.
beans and bullets then worry about the rest.

 

[perry]

Here is some information that was posted in a local forum concerning tax policy: I have not validagted the information; but the poster provided links to the sources:


Below is the tax ratio in 2001 for selected EU countriesas a percent of GDP.
Denmark 49.8 percent
Finland 46.0 percent
Italy 42.6 percent
Spain 35.6 percent
UK 37.5 percent
Sweden 54.1 percent
Germany 41.2 percent

United States 20.8 percent*

*Note: US figure is for a yr earlier in 2000. Federal Tax Rates were cut starting in 2001
In 2003 total federal revenues as a share of GDP dropped to 16.6 percent.


Gross Domestic Product is directly comparable to wages paid and company profits - a good measure of total income of a nation.

Now I know that their is a differece between what services the federal governemnts provide. I also know that the US has a state system that also provides some of the services that the European nations do (many of our states are larger than those countries).

However; This goes to show that a simple straight tax under 20% would in fact pay for the federal goverment. How much are all the complexities really costing us to implement and how many arguments are there arguing those complexities.

Personally, If there was one more admendment to the US constititution - I''d like to see it say that all income taxes levied by the US (personal and business) be a simple fixed percetage of income for the class of people (personal, or business).

Another thing: The fact is that all income is paid by a business: Taxes could in fact be shifted totally to business which means that the IRS (and States) would be focusing on about 1 Million businesses nation wide instead of about 250 Million taxpayers. That would allow the government to significantly downsize their tax departments and reduce the cost of government.

The business taxes could be in several forms: Income, Value Added, Tax on wages paid, etc.

Perry