My Rant About Taxes and The Middle Class

Our taxes are done and we owed. Luckily, I got it down to a little over $100 vs. owing a couple thousand. I was nervous. Boy was I nervous. Yup, it seems that the more you make, the more they take.

I have come to the conclusion that working more doesn’t benefit us…not at all. And while being self employed or owning your own business gives you some perks (i.e., no boss breathing down your neck, demanding schedules, office politics), you end up paying come tax time, unless you try to cheat the system…and even then you will eventually get busted, so why bother?

There are tons of people who say they benefit from tons of business expense write-offs and home office deductions, hmmm? Granted, I claimed the car allowance, deductions for my husband’s office supplies,and other things we were entitled to. But all that did was lower what we would have owed. Taking those deductions also puts us more at risk for an audit…so what are the benefits really?

Maybe I am wrong, but I think being considered “middle class” or making any kind of real money is a joke. Why work harder and put in more hours if it is just going to go to the government? Then the government turns around and bails out companies that don’t need it(uh, AIG, Citigroup, BOA— just to name a few) while the middle class and those that don’t make squat are losing their houses…and it goes on and on.

Sorry for the rant. Taxes and this whole broken economy just piss me off. On top of that, I watched Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore last night which only fueled the fire! If you get a chance over the weekend, watch it. You will know where I am coming from.