It's that time of year again where my wonderful wife and I get to complain to each other about our frustration with filling out tax forms. The filling out isn't all that bad. It is an arduous task, but, it is the bottom lines that I really do not relish discovering. Even with being unemployed for 1/2 the year last year, we still owe Barack over a grand! How does THAT work?!? Last year we received almost twice as much from the state as we did this year, so the federal taxes owed were covered.
It turns out that unemployment compensation is taxable income that, unless one specifies it to be so, does not have federal and state taxes removed from it. Isn't it strange how income is perceived as a gift from a benevolent big brother state and not a gift. Taxes, one would assume, are supposed to be assessed on earned income. Therefore, how did I earn income for six months by sitting on my behind? The same may be said for retirement payments public or private or even trusts. A flat tax would be the most fair. A certain amount to be paid by all, regardless of the earned income - and my definition of income should be used. After all, isn't the present federal administration all about "fairness"? They even have a proposed bill languishing called "The 'Fairness' Doctrine". How about some real "fairness" - fairness for those of us paying the bills!!
