Thread: No Lottery Tickets for Welfare Recipients

Originally Posted by AlyssaEimers

You are not. We do, and I know several others. Almost everyone that I know that we are close enough that we know about each others finances makes just enough to not be considered poor and get assistance, but does not make enough that paying $1,000 a month in health insurance or $200 extra a month in taxes is not really a big deal to them.

Originally Posted by Potter75

I'm curious about this Bonita. I know (or thought) that you had posted your husbands income elsewhere. I'm curious why you guys pay federal income taxes ~ do you pay a mortgage? With three kids and mortgage deductions I would think that there is no WAY you would have to pay federal taxes? Now, I'm now tax expert, I just googled and found that, it just doesn't make sense to me that at the income level you had previously mentioned and with three children (and I don't know if you have a mortgage or not) that you would be paying federal income taxes. The numbers below may be off, but in general it just doesn't make sense.

Melissa -- I do not understand why you are disputing the quote from Bonita. Unless someone is personally handling her (or anyone else's) family's budgeted income and expenses for the year (federal, state, sales, property taxes -- mortgage, utilities, food, phone/cell, internet, medical expenses, clothing, fuel, and the many other things that family's spend money on), how can any of us dispute whether a cost of $1000 / month for insurance or $200/month in additional taxes is not a strain on their family??

Originally Posted by AlyssaEimers

I will admit to not being the member of our family that pays the bills so I just asked DH. After paying federal income taxes State income taxes (GA), sales tax, and other taxes we pay more in taxes than we got back in a refund.

You should adjust your withholding to get more money in each paycheck. Getting a refund means that you made an interest-free loan to the government. I change my withholding at least twice a year to make sure I have enough taken out but not too much. If I get a $300-$500 refund, I'm happy. It's enough to feel like a splurge but I've avoided having to pay more at the end, and I've been able to keep most of my money for myself all year.

Originally Posted by MissyJ

Melissa -- I do not understand why you are disputing the quote from Bonita. Unless someone is personally handling her (or anyone else's) family's budgeted income and expenses for the year (federal, state, sales, property taxes -- mortgage, utilities, food, phone/cell, internet, medical expenses, clothing, fuel, and the many other things that family's spend money on), how can any of us dispute whether a cost of $1000 / month for insurance or $200/month in additional taxes is not a strain on their family??

Im not disputing that. I'm saying I don't believe that she pays federal income taxes based on the annual income she states her family of 5 makes.

Originally Posted by Potter75

Im not disputing that. I'm saying I don't believe that she pays federal income taxes based on the annual income she states her family of 5 makes.

What possible reason do I have to lie to you?

Originally Posted by Potter75

Im not disputing that. I'm saying I don't believe that she pays federal income taxes based on the annual income she states her family of 5 makes.

What about payroll taxes? Just the payroll taxes have increased for us more than $200 a month.

Originally Posted by Spacers

You should adjust your withholding to get more money in each paycheck. Getting a refund means that you made an interest-free loan to the government. I change my withholding at least twice a year to make sure I have enough taken out but not too much. If I get a $300-$500 refund, I'm happy. It's enough to feel like a splurge but I've avoided having to pay more at the end, and I've been able to keep most of my money for myself all year.

My federal refund is a pending deposit in my bank account for Wednesday
I adjusted my withholdings but my problem is that unless I claim like 11 on the I'm still going to end up loaning the government money interestfree.

Gloria's post just made me realise that we might be talking about two different things. I said I paid more in taxes (income, sales, and other taxes) in general than I got back in a return. Not just talking about federal income taxes.

Originally Posted by AlyssaEimers

What possible reason do I have to lie to you?

I'm not saying you are lying......but its very possible you are confused or don't understand what I am talking about.

Originally Posted by AlyssaEimers

Gloria's post just made me realise that we might be talking about two different things. I said I paid more in taxes (income, sales, and other taxes) in general than I got back in a return. Not just talking about federal income taxes.

Do you track your state sales tax for the year? That shocks me. I'm specifically talking about federal income taxes.

Originally Posted by Potter75

Do you track your state sales tax for the year? That shocks me. I'm specifically talking about federal income taxes.

I do not track my sales tax exactly, but I know that they are 9% of everything I spend. Tennessee does not have an income tax (although we still pay income tax because DH works in GA), so they have very high sales tax. I was not talking about federal income tax, I was talking about taxes in general. The statement that the people who get upset about how there tax dollars get spent do not pay any taxes (again, paraphrasing) after a refund is not necessarily true. Even if you get a larger refund back than you pay into your federal income tax, you are still paying taxes. TN has low property taxes, but my parents pay almost $500/month in property taxes in addition to the rest of their taxes. You can't tell me that they do not pay more taxes then they get back.