Taxes 101
I got taxes on my mind - lets cover some basics
First - A big thank you to everyone who picked up a copy of “Zero To Some - Your Finances UnFukt”. I have got lots of good feedback so far. Please keep it coming (and yes, I know the price is low for how much is crammed in there).
Second - check out the official sales page for the ebook - shout out to @BowTiedCicada for putting it together.
With those out of the way…
This week I finally sat down, poured a few fingers of Averna, and finally opened up the tax filing from our accountant to look it over. So taxes are on my mind.
We all pay income taxes. And if you are like me, every April at the very last minute you spend half a day getting all your filing material together and rush off to mail it on the last day before the deadline your CPA sets.
Income taxes have always been there. Money comes out of your paycheck, it goes to the government who definitely doesn’t squander it, and then you certainly don’t go out and blow a tire on a pot hole and make some off-handed comment about taxes hard at work to an acquaintance who goes on a diatribe about why taxes are super important to support whatever the current thing is …
But much like how you don’t want think about how the sausage is made while you are enjoying breakfast (it is floor sweepings and rat poop and a lot of hair…just…so so much rat turds), you probably don’t think much about taxes.
Well, this week I’m going to give you a little peek at the hairy sausage [Editor note - reconsider this line]
Nothing is Certain But Death and Taxes
Taxes have been around forever. If you only know pop-history you probably know that it was a tax on gross sub-par coffee (tea) that started the revolutionary war in 1760s. After which the US gov’t immediately started its longest and finest tradition of being tone-deaf and implemented its own taxes to fund the war.
So in response to those Brits taxing tea, the US gov’t taxed stamps, paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea…wut?… (Yes - we know the Tea party was actually due to the Brits cutting the tea tax to undercut US illegal tea smuggling…but its funner this way).
Anyway, much of the US history, taxes were on imports, property, and actions. That all changed in 1913 with the 16th amendment, although there were periodic income taxes before then.
