Comments on: Weird Taxes Affecting You Right Now

By: Paying Taxes: How Is Your Vice Taxed? | Equifax Finance Blog

Paying Taxes: How Is Your Vice Taxed? | Equifax Finance Blog — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:01:39 +0000

[...] We’ll focus on things that our spouses, friends, community, or law enforcement consider vices and paying taxes for the [...]

By: Eva Rosenberg, EA

Eva Rosenberg, EA — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:49:51 +0000

Dear Brittany

Thanks so much for your passion.
I love that!

I am not objecting to the bottle tax.
You're right - there is a lot of plastic junk out there needing to be recycled and used, instead of cluttering up landfills and waterways.

My objection is to the weird way they've organized the law. Be consistent. Either tax all plastic bottles - or none.

And you've TOTALLY missed the point on the jock tax. That tax is now affecting many people who, however briefly, work in other states. These days, I find myself having to do 5-10 state tax returns for some clients because they worked there for a couple of weeks - only to get their withheld taxes refunded. It's expensive for the client - and the only benefit the states get, is the short-term use of the money until we file for refunds. Sigh, I suppose that's something.

But, Brittany, stay vigilant. We do need to simplify the system - for us all.

Hugs
Eva

By: Editor, Equifax Personal Finance Blog

Editor, Equifax Personal Finance Blog — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:56:48 +0000

"I think we are one of the few states that have a County tax on top of everything else; we are also paying a higher sales tax to pay for our new Colts stadium…."

Cindy In Indy commented on this post via Active Rain: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1885915/weird-taxes-affecting-you-right-now

By: Editor, Equifax Personal Finance Blog

Editor, Equifax Personal Finance Blog — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:56:13 +0000

"California would tax the air we breathe if they could figure out how to monitor it."

Virginia commented on this post via Active Rain: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1885915/weird-taxes-affecting-you-right-now

By: Editor, Equifax Personal Finance Blog

Editor, Equifax Personal Finance Blog — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:54:45 +0000

"The Sin and Luxury taxes will always be there. Scary how much tax there is on certain items like Liquor and Cigarettes..

The other hidden taxes: take a look at what states/counties are charging for recording fees etc.. they have bumpped up a lot over the past few years.

and in NJ, we now have a mansion tax. if you buy a home over 1,000,000 you pay an additional 1% tax for the honor of spending that much."

Robert commented on this post via Active Rain: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1885915/weird-taxes-affecting-you-right-now

By: Brittany Mauriss

Brittany Mauriss — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:23:36 +0000

Why are you comparing these taxes to the original Tea Party revolt? Have you given them even a moment of thought? The Water Bottle Tax is obviously designed to cut down on plastic waste, which sits in landfills and FLOATS on our oceans in the form of a landmass twice the size of the U.S….

Google the Great Pacific Garbage Patch if you're still uninformed about this – http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-garbage-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html

And the Jock Tax? Am I really supposed to be up in arms because Tiger Woods is taxed $1 million? The man's net worth is over $600 million.

"Watch out! We may be on the verge of a new revolt"? <– Given the fact that there's an actual Tea Party movement gaining traction in America, this kind of rhetoric is careless. I get that your post is supposed to be light and fluffy, but you should pause to think about how you may be alarming readers about taxes that are of little concern to them, have no bearing on their lives, and in some cases (e.g. Water Bottle and shopping bag taxes), are accomplishing what little progress can be pushed through Congress today to pick up the trash & waste across the country.