The Tax Man Cometh

Blech - Tax Day

OK, time for one of my deviations into political matters.  I hate taxes.  I understand that some are needed, but so much of what we pay are either intended to punish us or to reward someone else.

Suppose I find a dollar bill on the sidewalk.  I take it to a restaurant in the city where I work.  I can only buy something for 91 cents because the state has a 4.5% sales tax and the city has a 4.5% meal tax.  The owner gets my 91 cents.  He pays about 30 cents in taxes and pockets 61 cents.  He carries the 61 cents to my wife's boss and pays it toward his bill there.  My wife's boss pays about 20 cents in taxes, leaving him 41 cents.  He pays my wife the 41 cents in her paycheck.  She pays about 14 cents in taxes and brings home 27 cents.  In only three transactions, by dollar is reduced by 75%.

I know that my calculations are extremely rough and don't take into account for expenses, and corporate tax rate, but the principle is there.  We are being nickeled and dimed to death by taxes.  Federal income tax, state income tax, SSI tax, car licensing tax, federal fuel tax, state fuel tax, state and local sales tax, SCHIP cigar tax, meals tax, firearms excise tax, dog license tax, telephone/cable/cell phone tax... all of these are taxes I've had to pay over the past year.

The best thing I can say is, take every legal deduction you can.  Reduce your tax footprint however you can.  Minimize your federal and state income withholdings - a refund sucks.  It just means you gave the government too much money over the year and they used it interest-free.  If you get a $2,400 refund, that means you could have kept $200 extra each month... wouldn't that come in handy?

Guest Writer Contest

Between work, school, and a short vacation, I need a little help in May. Here's where you can come in... Do you have something that you think others would be interested in? Would you be willing to write it up for us?

How did you get involved in prepping? Did you have a survival situation on a camping trip or in a dark, urban alley? Have you gotten a new gun recently and want to tell everyone how great (or not so great) it is? What about a skill that you have that other people should know about?

Here are the rules:

Write a guest post on some survival topic of 750 or more words - it must be your own work and not posted or published anywhere else

Email it to me here no later than May 7th

Here's the contest:

I'll post the entries over the rest of May

I'll choose a winner - that person will win an If It Hits The Fan T-shirt, an If It Hits The Fan paracord wristband and a copy of Joel Salatin's Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal - perhaps a couple more items that might develop between now and then

That's all there is to it! Send in those entries!