View Full Version : Am I the only weirdo who gets morally conflicted about this?
I have such ambivalent feelings about my tax refunds each year. We don't make much, so we generally get nearly everything back that we paid in taxes.
On the one hand, the extra money is really nice, since we don't make much.
On the other hand, I believe very strongly in people paying taxes and receiving services.
On the other hand, our government keeps cutting the services I support.
On the other hand, if they had my tax money, maybe they wouldn't.
On the other hand, if they had my tax money, they'd use it to blow things up, not to provide health care for everyone.
On the other hand, since that money should have been used to provide for people who need help, I should donate all of the refund money to a worthy cause.
On the other hand, it is "our" money and we rarely have much left to get things we want with.
On the other hand, what right do I have to think it's "mine" when so many people need it and I really don't?
I don't have nearly enough hands.
I think we've decided that we're going to spend 1/3 of it, save 1/3 of it, and donate 1/3 of it to a couple of organizations we support, but the whole thing makes me feel all icky inside for some reason. I guess this should just make me thankful that we don't make much more than we really need, otherwise I might feel this way with every paycheck!
LOL, I understand where you are coming from. For me, I don't make enough to pay taxes so I get most if not all back. At the same time, most of the services a lot of these taxes go to, I make too much money for. So it's a wash with me. When I start making enough where I have to pay into taxes I will and probably won't 'grump too much. ;)
Marzipan
02-06-2007, 06:39 AM
I'm a libertarian, which means I think my tax return is the very least the government could do after wasting most of the money it filched from me over the course of a year. ;)
Kristi
02-06-2007, 07:22 AM
I agree I have no problem taking the money :giggle And we get a nice sum this yr too bad it's going to pay off debt. :P
Christine
02-06-2007, 08:53 AM
I'm a libertarian, which means I think my tax return is the very least the government could do after wasting most of the money it filched from me over the course of a year. ;)
I love it!!
I look at it as an interest free loan to the government, which annoys me to no end.
Jejune
02-06-2007, 09:03 AM
Lori, since I'm a guilt filled liberal, I have occasionally had the same weird feeling. But we often owe, so I don't often get to try my guilt. :rolleyes This year we have to pay over a thousand dollars...wheeeeee. Daniel does a lot of freelance work, and the great irony is that we never did the quarterly estimates for the IRS because we couldn't really afford to at the time. Of course, then you end up owing a big lump sum plus interest at the end of the year.
I actually believe fairly strongly in taxes, but I'm less than enthralled with the current system. Lately, because I've been feeling so grouchy about government interference in private life, I've begun to wonder if I've somehow managed to become a socialist-libertarian. LOL I want all of the safety net features, and then I want government to back the hell off. This could be, though, because California is currently debating a very misthought bill to outlaw spanking. And that would be a whole different rant.
Victoria
02-06-2007, 09:20 AM
maybe think of it this way. if you get a tax return, you are getting back some of what you paid in for the year of which the gov't has been collecting interest on. So you've loan the gov't some of your money and now you are getting it back.
maybe think of it this way. if you get a tax return, you are getting back some of what you paid in for the year of which the gov't has been collecting interest on. So you've loan the gov't some of your money and now you are getting it back.
That's a good way to think about it. ;)
I probably wouldn't feel so conflicted about it if I didn't live somewhere where the enormous need for government funding wasn't so glaring. They're shutting down 52 public schools in Detroit this year, which is just insane. So I think I feel particularly guilty to be getting a check when schools that families desperately want to stay open are shutting down, and we have so much more money than so many other people who live around me.
Jejune
02-06-2007, 09:43 AM
Lori, if you want to donate any extra money to the school district, I'm sure they'd be grateful, but I don't think you need to feel guilty, since the likelihood of your federal taxes going to the Detroit schools is pretty small. I know the feeling, though, and the frustration. If taxes worked the way I want them to, I could support them whole heartedly. People rarely appoint me dictator, though.
Kristen
02-06-2007, 09:55 AM
Nope, not one little tiny teeny bit of guilt here at ALL! I feel more like Marzipan, actually. :P
I'm self-employed, and the government takes a LOT of what I work very hard to earn, and then does a very poopy job of using my money.
When I want to contribute to society, then I do it by donating to organizations which are part of a financial accountability plan(the EFCA), and those organizations send help out where it is desperately needed. Over 10% of our gross income goes to charitable donations, so I don't exactly feel like I'm not helping society. and I certainly don't feel like giving more money to the government is going to help. They do a poopy job with the money, so sending them more is not going to fix the problem. If someone has a shopping addiction, getting a raise at work won't suddenly make them able to pay the electric bill.
Lori, if you want to donate any extra money to the school district, I'm sure they'd be grateful, but I don't think you need to feel guilty, since the likelihood of your federal taxes going to the Detroit schools is pretty small. I know the feeling, though, and the frustration. If taxes worked the way I want them to, I could support them whole heartedly. People rarely appoint me dictator, though.
I guess that's why I feel so conflicted about it. Aside from feeling that it's my responsiblity as a person living in a republic to pay my due to keep things in the country running, I do think that, in general, the government does much better things with people's money then people themselves do with it, which I realize is an extremely unpopular opinion. But, if we look at how many people are literate today, when the government funds education, versus how many people were literate when education was entirely private, or how many people have health coverage because of programs like Medicaid versus how many people had health coverage when it was only available privately, or how many people are starving to death in this country today, when we have food stamps and family aid, versus how many people starved to death when dealing with the poor was left to private charities, I'm extremely grateful to the government for doing way, way better than people did privately. The vast majority of my students wouldn't be able to afford college if it weren't for federal loans. Sure, there's waste, and I am horrified by how much of my money is going to fund wars and weapons, but it's not like my getting my rebate is causing any less money to go to that.
I honestly think that, in a modern, industrialized, enormous country like ours, the government is the best and most efficient way to provide many services. I've never seen the private sector do better. But there's so much I'd like to see done, that can't get done if there's not money for it. And then people complain that the government doesn't do anything good, when there just isn't the money there for them to do it. I've never really felt that sense of "my" money about my paychecks (especially since I get paid by the state, and if it weren't for student loans and government funding of public universities, I might not have a job), so it doesn't bother me at all when my taxes are taken out. But I don't like a lot of places my money is currently going, so I can't say I'm that upset about the government not having it.
It just all makes me happy I'm not rich, so that I only have to feel this guilty once a year.
We have to pay in about $20,000 a year, so no, I hate taxes. I am not conflicted at all. ;)
MathSpeak
02-06-2007, 02:53 PM
On the other hand, if they had my tax money, they'd use it to blow things up, not to provide health care for everyone.
That pretty much summed up my sentiments right there... If anyone is going to waste my money, I'd much rather it be me!
I would feel more conflicted if I wasn't being taxed for the most inane things. We pay 3 cents for every $20 we spend in our county to build the Twins a new stadium. Personally, I would much rather be taxed for worthwhile causes.
Besides, I am so bad a record keeping I don't even get to take most of my deductions so according to the IRS rules, they are getting more from me than they otherwise would.
Maleah
02-06-2007, 06:20 PM
Personally, I think the current tax code is bunk and it irrates me to no end that I don't really get a say in how its spent or how much is taken out. I rather have my refund at the end of the year so I can do what I think is best with it. I think I do more good per dollar spent with my donations than the gov't does with the money they take from us.
I just look at the greater good. What really erks me is people that don't pay any taxes and actually make money on their tax returns at the end of the year on top of all the social program benefits they are getting.
I am not talking about the people that fall on hard times. Lord knows we've been there. I am talking about the people who don't ever contribute anything.
Anyways. my answer is I don't feel bad about getting a return. I am active in trying to reform things that I think need attention and I donate what I can. I feel like I am doing my part and the gov't isn't.
Desirae
02-06-2007, 07:18 PM
I agree I have no problem taking the money :giggle And we get a nice sum this yr too bad it's going to pay off debt. :P
Same here Kristi.