Honestly you probably did it by the book which is I'm sure the way its supposed to be done. In my experience and statistically no one else does. Everyone should do what you did, which could be accomplished by simply closing loopholes.
We actually joke about it quite a bit. I know a few small contractors who skipped a little here and there, and then got caught. It cost them much, much more. In a way, though, that's why I can relate to the plumber in the article. I don't think the majority of our politicians know about that little self employment thing. Lot's of us out here. I don't mind paying my fair share, when it's fair. The fact that I'm a self starter requires me to pay tax on an amount that someone else doesn't because he is employed by another troubles me some. I blame both parties on this one! Edit: After consulting with the accountant, she thinks there is a min limit where I don't have to pay on profit. She's not sure, but thinks it's $400.
When I started trading, I was able to apply that 3k write off to my other business, so my only complaint was that I could only write off 3k. My first year of trading was ugly, especially the cost. Perhaps we should have considered LLC for the contract business. Maybe that would have provided the loopholes. We were never quite sure, so we went with what we knew. Not enough profit potential to hire a tax lawyer. Tax law = Hopefully I'll make it to that 250k with my trading in the next year or so. Just now starting to turn a net. Actually, I think I'll shoot for 249k.
Maybe I am not understanding this, but here is my question. If Warren Buffet is saying the tax system is unfair because he pay 17% tax, and his secretary or employee pay 32% to 39% and Buffet tax rate is on (dividend) which is I think 15%, and employee are paying (income tax rate..32% )then is Buffet saying dividend tax should be raised?
Did you see the last debate? You tell me who was the more non-committal about increased spending. Obama:And that's why I think it's important for the president to set a tone that says all of us are going to contribute, all of us are going to make sacrifices, and it means that, yes, we may have to cut some spending, although I disagree with Sen. McCain about an across-the- board freeze. That's an example of an unfair burden sharing. That's using a hatchet to cut the federal budget. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brokaw: We've run out of time. We have this one-minute discussion period going on here. There are new economic realities out there that everyone in this hall and across this country understands that there are going to have to be some choices made. Health policies, energy policies, and entitlement reform, what are going to be your priorities in what order? Which of those will be your highest priority your first year in office and which will follow in sequence? Sen. McCain? McCain: The three priorities were health... Brokaw: The three -- health care, energy, and entitlement reform: Social Security and Medicare. In what order would you put them in terms of priorities? McCain: I think you can work on all three at once, Tom. I think it's very important that reform our entitlement programs. My friends, we are not going to be able to provide the same benefit for present-day workers that we are going -- that present-day retirees have today. We're going to have to sit down across the table, Republican and Democrat, as we did in 1983 between Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. I know how to do that. I have a clear record of reaching across the aisle, whether it be Joe Lieberman or Russ Feingold or Ted Kennedy or others. That's my clear record. We can work on nuclear power plants. Build a whole bunch of them, create millions of new jobs. We have to have all of the above, alternative fuels, wind, tide, solar, natural gas, clean coal technology. All of these things we can do as Americans and we can take on this mission and we can overcome it. My friends, some of this $700 billion ends up in the hands of terrorist organizations. As far as health care is concerned, obviously, everyone is struggling to make sure that they can afford their premiums and that they can have affordable and available health care. That's the next issue. But we can do them all at once. There's no -- and we have to do them all at once. All three you mentioned are compelling national security requirements. Brokaw: I'm trying to play by the rules that you all established. One minute for discussion. Sen. Obama, if you would give us your list of priorities, there are some real questions about whether everything can be done at once. Obama: We're going to have to prioritize, just like a family has to prioritize. Now, I've listed the things that I think have to be at the top of the list. Energy we have to deal with today, because you're paying $3.80 here in Nashville for gasoline, and it could go up. And it's a strain on your family budget, but it's also bad for our national security, because countries like Russia and Venezuela and, you know, in some cases, countries like Iran, are benefiting from higher oil prices. So we've got to deal with that right away. That's why I've called for an investment of $15 billion a year over 10 years. Our goal should be, in 10 year's time, we are free of dependence on Middle Eastern oil. And we can do it. Now, when JFK said we're going to the Moon in 10 years, nobody was sure how to do it, but we understood that, if the American people make a decision to do something, it gets done. So that would be priority number one. Health care is priority number two, because that broken health care system is bad not only for families, but it's making our businesses less competitive. And, number three, we've got to deal with education so that our young people are competitive in a global economy. But just one point I want to make, Tom. Sen. McCain mentioned looking at our records. We do need to look at our records. Sen. McCain likes to talk about earmarks a lot. And that's important. I want to go line by line through every item in the federal budget and eliminate programs that don't work and make sure that those that do work, work better and cheaper. But understand this: We also have to look at where some of our tax revenues are going. So when Sen. McCain proposes a $300 billion tax cut, a continuation not only of the Bush tax cuts, but an additional $200 billion that he's going to give to big corporations, including big oil companies, $4 billion worth, that's money out of the system. And so we've got to prioritize both our spending side and our tax policies to make sure that they're working for you. That's what I'm going to do as president. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------