So I Did My Taxes and.....

I didn’t know this until recently, but last year I was poor and this year I am middle class. Over the years, I have grown accustomed to looking at how much I gave in federal taxes and using that to estimate what I would get in my refund. My refund was usually a few hundred dollars less but still within the same thousand dollar range. That was before this year. This year, I made the official leap in to the middle class. I gave far more in federal taxes than I have ever given. I was excited. I was looking forward to a big tax refund this year. I usually get my taxes done in February or March, once I did them in April, but this year was different. I couldn’t wait to get my refund and pay off a few bills then put the rest in my savings and just admire it from time to time. I went to see my tax guy and was surprised to find that not only was I getting far less than I thought I was getting, but I was getting less back this year than I got last year! I didn’t understand it. My tax guy tried to explain it to me, but I didn’t like what I heard.

Before my recent refund debacle, I was baffled by comments that I read online. I didn’t understand how it was better to either be poor or rich in this country. Before you make a comment about how being poor sucks, I want to stop and say that I’m sure being poor sucks, but when you’re poor, you can get financial assistance. Sure, you might have to wait a few months, but at least help is on the way. When you’re rich, you can hire someone to help you keep more of your money in your pocket and less of your money in the government’s pocket. When you’re in the middle class, there are far fewer options for help because you usually “make too much” even if you’re barely living paycheck to paycheck. When you’re in the middle class, you don’t need a guy who’s good with numbers to help you hide your money because you don’t have any substantial money to hide.

I went online and looked up the tax rates and I saw that as my income increased, I, in fact, did owe more. This happened over the weekend, but I’m bringing it up today because of President Obama’s State of the Union Address last night. If I have to fork over my hard earned cash then so should wealthy Americans. I agree with the President. I mean come on! I could understand if people were complaining because President Obama wanted to tax the rich at some obscene rate, but that’s not what I heard in the speech and that’s not what I read in my research (because I know better than to simply trust a politician’s “facts”). Why are we continuing the tax cuts for the people who need it the least? Please don’t quote “trickle-down economics” because America is still clawing its way out of a recession and the last time I checked, the Bush tax cuts were in place during the entire free fall of our country. I know that it is unfathomable that the tax cuts would save us from a recession, but you’d think that they would at least offer a safety net…you know, since the rich are all using their extra money to create more jobs and drive the economy forward…oh wait, did I say all? I think you get the point.

Though it pains me to say this, I agree that people who make more should pay more. I don’t like how small my refund is going to be this year, but I want to be a good patriot and help my country. That said I don’t want to feel like a fool either. It’s not right to tell me to pay my “fair share” when the only people in this country who pay their “fair share” are the unlucky ones like me, who fall in the wrong income tax bracket. You can call it class warfare if you want to, because that sounds more salacious, but I’m going to call it what it is: unfair.

Addendum: After my initial post, someone asked me if I thought it was fair to only repeal the tax cuts for the wealthy but leave the other tax cuts in place. Considering the fact that I literally got a couple of pennies back for my dollars, I say I don’t really care either way. Why not take it all? And yes I’m a little bitter right now.