schmellba99 said:

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Today is the day your state rent check, local government tax fees and school funding checks are due.

I realize a whole lot don't even bother looking at this because your mortgage company escrows for you instead of you doing it yourself (they thank you for that interest they earn off of your money, BTW), but it would do you good to look at your annual "you still get to live on the property you own" fee to the state so you at least know how bad you are taking it in the kiester from state and local governments.

Oh, your W2's should be coming as well, so you'll get to see how much the feds bend you over.

Isn't this time of year grand?

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Just finished writing checks for all the properties we own. Pisses me off every year lol. But, of course, nothing to the state.

Good point,
Until people start seeing the money they lose by writing a check, it will not change.

Could businesses file suit under the "takings clause" that the burdened imposed by payroll taxes and admin etc, place an undue burden upon businesses?

Don't forget HOA dues.

So I should stop doing escrow and withholding so I can get pissed off and complain on Texags about it?

When I first moved into my community, HOA dues were less than $400/yr.

They're now $600+

I looked at the breakdown of what that goes to... insurance, landscaping, and I think the pool.

I am sure there is a significant portion spent on paying Karens to police that the garbage bin is out one day too early or long. Or cracks in a retaining wall or the fence needs a restaining.

It will be a glorious day when I move and I tell the HOA to kiss my rear.

Mine have gone up 40% in the last year years. 10% a year. Fun stuff

Frok said:

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So I should stop doing escrow and withholding so I can get pissed off and complain on Texags about it?

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No, you should stop escrowing so you can take the benefit of the early payment reduction (if it's offered in your area) and so you can make money on your escrow money until the bill is due.

ag0207 said:

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Tea Party said:

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End withholding and this problem will go away very quickly if everyone had to write a check instead of getting conditioned to the government hand in their pocket every two weeks.

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Most people would be too stupid to budget/save the money they would need to write those checks.

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Doesn't Australia mail out a letter showing everyone how much they paid in taxes and what exactly it funded? We should adopt that.

Quote:

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(they thank you for that interest they earn off of your money, BTW),

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For the small amount I could make (could also lose some of it), it's worth it for me to let them handle it.

But I agree with your point. And I wish for the same reason, we didnt have withholding on our paychecks. Move tax day to September, eliminate withholding, and maybe people would vote a tad differently.

CS78 said:

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Don't forget HOA dues.

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Bought and remodeled a house in old town Frisco last year, which has no HOA and everyone takes care of their property as if there was an HOA overlord. Amazing how this works.

You consider that a service? I think most would disagree.

Doing something for me, that I'd otherwise have to do myself?

I dont think I called it that. But yes. That's literally the definition of a service.

I'll gladly hold all your money for you if you'd like. I'll send you the direct deposit info.

BearJew13 said:

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I view this as similar but different. You can effectively opt out of HOA dues by not living in a community with a HOA. You can't opt out of real estate taxes.

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Yeah you can. Go find an island somewhere far, far away from civilization. If you want to live in a first world country, there is a cost of doing business.

I have to pay three separate entities. Two of them have their tax offices near one another so I make a point of writing those checks in those offices at the end of every January to remind myself how much I'm paying.

Farmer1906 said:

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I'll gladly hold all your money for you if you'd like. I'll send you the direct deposit info.

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I appreciate the offer. But I work with financial institutions, who do this professionally for millions of people....as a service.

Not sure your point.

Having to do payroll each week I make sure to remind all of my employees how much it costs to employee them and then show them how much they get to take home. Most have no idea employers match their SS, FICA and unemployment taxes.

Just being an *******. I'll stop now.

ag0207 said:

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Tea Party said:

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End withholding and this problem will go away very quickly if everyone had to write a check instead of getting conditioned to the government hand in their pocket every two weeks.

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Most people would be too stupid to budget/save the money they would need to write those checks.

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Good - then that means the state is charging too much tax.

Trajan88 said:

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When I first moved into my community, HOA dues were less than $400/yr.

They're now $600+

I looked at the breakdown of what that goes to... insurance, landscaping, and I think the pool.

I am sure there is a significant portion spent on paying Karens to police that the garbage bin is out one day too early or long. Or cracks in a retaining wall or the fence needs a restaining.

It will be a glorious day when I move and I tell the HOA to kiss my rear.

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How long have you lived there? $600 isn't bad at all if you have a neighborhood pool.
You could always get on the Board, terminate the landscape maintenance contractor, and fill the pool with dirt. Then maybe you can pay $200 a year. As a bonus, your home value will plummet and you'll owe less in property taxes!

Tea Party said:

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End withholding and this problem will go away very quickly if everyone had to write a check instead of getting conditioned to the government hand in their pocket every two weeks.

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I have advocated for this for years.

The single best thing that ever happend to government is hiding taxes from citizens. It's easy to become numb to the fact that you work 4-6 months out of the year just to pay taxes (not including sales, "fees" and other hidden taxes) when you never really see the numbers.

I'll admit that I don't look at my pay stub every week, direct deposit goes in and I know how much it should be.

I'd love for everybody to have to write that check to the IRS every pay period. Every single one. I'd love for all taxes to be individual separate transactions apart from the main transaction, so everybody knows just how bad the various governments are screwing them over.

ag0207 said:

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Tea Party said:

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End withholding and this problem will go away very quickly if everyone had to write a check instead of getting conditioned to the government hand in their pocket every two weeks.

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Most people would be too stupid to budget/save the money they would need to write those checks.

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Most people would also be hella pissed at how much they are robbed of, and that would be a good thing.

schmellba99 said:

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Today is the day your state rent check, local government tax fees and school funding checks are due.

I realize a whole lot don't even bother looking at this because your mortgage company escrows for you instead of you doing it yourself (they thank you for that interest they earn off of your money, BTW), but it would do you good to look at your annual "you still get to live on the property you own" fee to the state so you at least know how bad you are taking it in the kiester from state and local governments.

Oh, your W2's should be coming as well, so you'll get to see how much the feds bend you over.

Isn't this time of year grand?

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Makes me feel like an Arkansas basketball player.

AgGrad99 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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I'll gladly hold all your money for you if you'd like. I'll send you the direct deposit info.

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I appreciate the offer. But I work with financial institutions, who do this professionally for millions of people....as a service.

Not sure your point.

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Funny thing about that - I've escrowed my house once, because the lender at the time mandated it. My mortgate company now madates that I escrow my flood insurance instead of just paying it.

In both situations, they are incapable of doing simple math to determine how much my monthly escrow should have been, and as a result, payments have swung significantly because of the ineptitude of these supposed financial instiutions.

First time was with my mortgate - they refunded me and lowered my monthly payment by a few bucks because I overpaid into my escrow account. 6 or so months later, they sent a letter stating that my escrow was now going to be short and that in order to make up for their mistake my payment would have to increase by nearly $400 a month.

Second time is with the flood insurance. Again, somehow figuring out how to escrow a whopping $700 over a 12 month period is super duper hard, and the same situation happened - I'm magically going to be short in what I am forced to carry in the escrow account and my payment went up a few months back. Not a huge issue because of the small amount needed to escrow, but still - this is 5th grade level math here that the "experts" cant' get right. And I even told them I'd just pay the whole policy at once to make life simpler on all of us, but they are too dumb to understan that concept.

schmellba99 said:

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Today is the day your state rent check, local government tax fees and school funding checks are due.

I realize a whole lot don't even bother looking at this because your mortgage company escrows for you instead of you doing it yourself (they thank you for that interest they earn off of your money, BTW), but it would do you good to look at your annual "you still get to live on the property you own" fee to the state so you at least know how bad you are taking it in the kiester from state and local governments.

Oh, your W2's should be coming as well, so you'll get to see how much the feds bend you over.

Isn't this time of year grand?

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Printed out my W2 last week. 45k in net pay which is typical, however I made 38k in overtime. Feds bent over and spanked like a 3 dollar ***** on a Friday night.

NoahAg said:

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Trajan88 said:

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When I first moved into my community, HOA dues were less than $400/yr.

They're now $600+

I looked at the breakdown of what that goes to... insurance, landscaping, and I think the pool.

I am sure there is a significant portion spent on paying Karens to police that the garbage bin is out one day too early or long. Or cracks in a retaining wall or the fence needs a restaining.

It will be a glorious day when I move and I tell the HOA to kiss my rear.

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How long have you lived there? $600 isn't bad at all if you have a neighborhood pool.
You could always get on the Board, terminate the landscape maintenance contractor, and fill the pool with dirt. Then maybe you can pay $200 a year. As a bonus, your home value will plummet and you'll owe less in property taxes!

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Interesting.

We don't have a neighborhood pool. But my home value goes up, every single year. Like clockwork.

BTW - I DGAS if my home value increases. In fact, I prefer it to decrease because that means my mandatory arbitrary tax burden goes down. The only time I'll ever want it to go up is if I decide to sell, which isn't happening for a good long while.

I've never understood the "we need home values to keep going up!" mentality.

I hear you. I've done both. It's just easier to let them do it...one less hassle, and all that.

Luckily I've had zero issues, but I also operate on the assumption they'll typically be short, because the value they collect is 12 months behind.

Frok said:

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So I should stop doing escrow and withholding so I can get pissed off and complain on Texags about it?

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Get it paid off and you won't have the option!