HIDDEN TAXES HAVE VALLEY RESIDENTS WORKING HARDER.Byline: Carol K. Cunningham WE bought a coat this year to get ready for El Nino. That means another trip to the bank to transfer money from our savings account Savings Account A deposit account intended for funds that are expected to stay in for the short term. A savings account offers lower returns than the market rates. Notes: - money that was supposed to be used for our retirement. We're not unemployed. We're not down on our luck. We're just dealing with a tax system that seems to take an ever-increasing chunk of whatever we earn. Some of it's quite obvious. Our pay stubs stubs The shares of equity in a firm that is financed almost completely with debt. Stubs are often created when firms go through a leveraged buyout or pay big cash dividends in order to fend off a takeover. show federal and state income tax, disability, Social Security and Medicare deductions. But most of the taxation is invisible. It happens every time we use a service or go shopping. And if we try to get ahead of the game by setting up a small business on the side, Uncle Sam Uncle Sam, name used to designate the U.S. government. The term arose in the War of 1812 and seems at first to have been used derisively by those opposed to the war. Possibly it was an expansion of the letters "U.S. and his co-conspirators are right there with their hands in our pockets. When Judy Carter, dressed in her barking cocker spaniel cocker spaniel, breed of small sporting dog developed from English cocker spaniels brought to the United States in the 1880s. It stands from 14 to 15 in. (35.6–38.1 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs about 25 lb (11.3 kg). slippers, found the tax man knocking on her door demanding that she pay for the privilege of writing at home (Daily News, Nov. 17), she was just one of the millions of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, taxpayers who are paying more and more in unexpected taxes. Valley families aren't working harder and harder to have a more luxurious lifestyle. They're doing it to pay the taxes, fees and surcharges that steadily erode the spirit of propositions 13 and 218. Everyone knows we pay taxes on April 15 (actually, we pay with every paycheck, we just calculate the damages on the Ides Ides: see calendar. of April). Most of us are aware that we pay sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. for just about everything. But what about the invisible taxes we pay on a regular basis? Have you checked your phone bill lately? You'll find charges for Network Access for Interstate Calling, the High Cost Fund Surcharge, the Teleconnect Fund Surcharge, Universal Lifeline Telephone Service Surcharge, more federal tax, local tax, and assorted other surcharges, funds and fees, adding up to nearly 12 percent of your phone bill. The Department of Motor Vehicles In the United States of America, Department of Motor Vehicles (or DMV) is a commonly used name of the government agency of a U.S. state which administers the registration of automobiles (e.g., by issuing license plates), and/or the licensing of drivers (e.g. has its own assessments on whatever we drive. We are taxed at the gasoline pump. We are taxed at the airport. If you stay at home, you get to pay property tax, complete with assessments for schools, parks, the Fire Department, flood control, mosquito abatement, 911 service (in addition to the 911 tax on your phone bill), and a hefty portion for ``voted indebtedness.'' Mind you, I appreciate having paved roads and an able-bodied fire department. But what about those excesses that the Daily News uncovers on a regular basis: secret pay raises, hushed-up building projects and City Council members who just don't seem to care about our wallets? The Gas Company is used to impose a 10 percent L.A. city users tax, a state regulatory fee, and a Care Fund surcharge. The city of Los Angeles
It all adds up. Ask yourself, how much more time could you spend with your children, or puttering around the yard, or doing charity work, if you didn't have to work so hard to pay so many taxes? Make no mistake. If they call it a surcharge, a fee, an assessment, a special fund or a contribution, unless it's voluntary, it's a tax. |
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