When is humor no longer funny?

[kandrathe]

You react similarly to the way I feel when I often hear, "Only God can fix blah blah" or "Only people of faith can blah blah blah". I guess it's usually in the form of "you can only clean yourself up by giving yourself to " whatever deity-of-the-day is.

But never mind that, that's another discussion which I'll probably get into down the road <strike>to hell</strike> some day soon.

We agree on this point. Self determination is good. The theological answer is that God can do anything. He may not want to do your bidding however.

You expect to hear someday soon... I know you believe the opposite from previous posts of yours.

I do. That was a bit of sarcasm. I don't think the government can spend us out if this mess.

First of all: You bastard! We had to buy a new washing machine! . . about a month ago. And since we are SITH, expenses of that sort are a hardship.

Sorry about your washing machine. I too have extraordinary expenses (repairing my bathroom tile that started to peal away from the wall) I'm deferring until I can afford it. We did need to replace a car a few months ago, which hurt.

More on the point: So, normally you say that people know better how to spend their own money than the govt does. So if the $1000 was originally MY money -- and indeed it was, since these are tax rebates or reductions, not gifts to the needy -- how can you say the govt can spend it better? Why are you abandoning your principles?

I'm not abandoning my principles. If it were merely a tax refund of taxes you paid, then I would half heartedly support it. I say half heartedly, because the government did not reduce spending to give the money. Instead, it all is going to debt. Debts, in contrast to how Washington DC uses them, actually do need to be repaid someday.

Again, if I understand correctly, these aren't handouts. It's to taxpayers, not to all citizens. It's not to "other people" -- it's back to the people who paid it. Am I wrong? (Occhi is here, so I must be wrong...)

Who gets the rebate? That is more complicated, but I doubt anyone will like the formula. I lifted this from someone else's careful analysis.

The system works in two stages. First, you figure out just how much you can get back. Then, you calculate the benefit reductions based on salary.

First, let’s see what singles could get back.

Earnings / Rebate
$3,000 or less / A big fat zero.
$3,000 or more, paid no taxes / $300.
$3,000 or more, paid taxes / $600.
Have children? / $300 per child

Now, the reductions.
It’s fairly simple math. Once you earn over $75,000, your check is reduced by 5% per $1000 above the $75k threshold. After $87k, you get nothing. Here are some rough examples.

Single person earning $50k a year with 2 children = $1200
Single person earning $80k a year with 1 child = $675 ($900 - $225)
Single person earning $90k a year with no children = $0

Couples get the same treatment, only everything is doubled to take into account the two people in the household:

Earnings / Rebate
$3,000 or less / A big fat zero.
$3,000 or more, paid no taxes / $600.
$3,000 or more, paid taxes / $1200.
Have children? / $300 per child

And the reductions.
Once again, simple math. Once couples earn over $150k, the check is reduced by 5% per $1000 above the $150k threshold. After $174k, you get nothing.

I found these further examples, all based on the 2007 filing period.

A couple with no children, with adjusted gross income of $100,000:
$1,200 couples rebate. A $1,200 rebate.

A couple with income of $145,000, with three children:
$1,200 for the couple, plus $300 for each child. A $2,100 rebate.

A couple with income of $160,000 with two children:
$1,200 for the couple plus $300 per child — BUT would go down by 50 percent (5% for every $1000 over the $150 threshold). A $900 rebate.

A couple with income of $200,000 and four children:
Disqualified, income exceeded $174,000. No rebate.

There are other aspects to the bill that I’m not covering here, including mortgage relief. But there is another important message here. The government wants you to SPEND THIS REBATE.

So, the bottom line is that you can pay zero taxes and get a rebate, but if you earn too much and pay in too much tax you will get nothing back you rich bastard. If you would like to think of it as a tax rebate, that is well and good. Except, all those who paid taxes do not get a rebate, and most of those who (file an income tax form but,) did not pay taxes do get a rebate. And, again, the money went straight from China's surplus bank account to the US Feds, to your bank account, to the Washing Machine store, and probably right back to China where the washing machine was made. Now the tax payers of the US will pay debt service on it for a couple decades.