Conservative defenders of dish washing detergent, unite!
Erick Erickson is mad as hell and asks “at what point do people revolt?”
At what point do the people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off the couch, march down to their state legislator’s house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?
At some point soon, it will happen. It’ll be over an innocuous issue. But the rage is building. It’s not a partisan issue. […] Were I in Washington State, I’d be cleaning my gun right about now waiting to protect my property from the coming riots or the government apparatchiks coming to enforce nonsensical legislation.
At issue here is . . . an environmental regulation relating to dishwasher detergent.
On a similar note, conservatives are going to be “protesting” taxes on April 15th in Madison with a “TEA PARTY!”, because, you know, making corporations use combined reporting for tax purposes is just like when American colonials were protesting the fact that they wanted to be taxed only by their own elected representatives.
And naturally, it’s being led by right wing talk radio. So if you hate taxes, or perhaps fear that Wisconsin could join the socialist movement towards banning certain chemicals in dish detergent, bring a couple tea bags to Madison in a few weeks and let everyone know how (selectively) outraged you are!
I live in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI with my wife Jen, our daughter Emerson, and sons Carter and Colton.
Your snarky posting piqued my interest and raised the question: am I undertaxed?
I’m a single person, retired, living on a modest pension and income from investments. Per my 2008 1040 my AGI was $43,766.
Out of this, I paid federal tax of $4,432 and state tax of $2,040, a total of $6,472 in income taxes. But there’s more; the 2008 real estate tax on my 58 year old, 1200 square foor house was $3,267. Then there’s the federal and state gasoline tax ($0.513 per gallon,
combined). I drive about 10,000 miles a year and get about 25 miles per gallon, so I consumed 400 gallons of gasoline or $205 in gas taxes. Then there’s the sales tax on the clothes, meals out, electronic
equipment, furniture, and everything else I bought in 2008, probably $400.
This totals $10,344 but doesn’t include the various state and federal excise taxes (diesel fuel, alcohol, beer, wine, etc., etc. thank God I don’t smoke) I also paid (either directly or indirectly). Then there’s assorted user fees and auto registration. Let’s be conservative and say another $200.
Thus, on an income of $43,766 I paid taxes of $10,544 or
24% of my 2008 income (this is probably a low ball estimate). These taxes will only go up as Governor Doyle hikes the tax on everything in sight and cap and trade goes into effect. Too, my investments plummeted 44% in the past year so I’ll have less money available.
So yeah, I do think I pay too much in taxes and it’s only going to get worse. A bleak prospect for a retiree. So I don’t care that these taxes were imposed by duly elected representatives.
I’m sorry, these are bad, anti-government, anti-tax thoughts I’m having.
Smitty, I don’t think I’m being snarky, and that’s definitely not what I’m going for. At any rate, do you do your own taxes? Curious, but where did you retire from, because depending where and when, certain pension benefits aren’t taxable in WI. You can also deduct several thousand dollars from your income tax depending on which kind of investments you’re living off, like an IRA. You’re not collecting SS yet?
I just ask. I hear what you’re saying and understand where you’re coming from.
bony: you continue to totally rant without regard for the topic. Two questions: who are the “unordinary citizens” you speak of who aren’t taxpaying workers? Is there some class of citizen out there that I’m unaware of who works without paying taxes?
The other thing I’m wondering about is whether you’re cleaning your gun to defend dish detergent like Erickson. This is serious stuff and someone needs to defend the sanctity of phosphorous in patriotic bottles of Cascade(tm) across America. If not you, who? And if not now, when?
Dan, I know to you think a protest isn’t legitimate unless it is funded by a union or leftist organization. Ordinary citizens taking time off of their taxpaying jobs to protest government is very repulsive to you I see. So you think we are all going to Madison to protest “combined reporting”. Maybe you can trick your people into thinking that raising taxes on Wisconsin business will somehow not affect their employment. Maybe you can trick them into thinking that when you raise the cost of business, they dont have to pass the cost on the consumer. Maybe you can trick them into thinking a tax on “evil oil companies” isnt just a hidden tax on the price of our fuel. You have no idea what kind of overburdensome tax and regulation climate we have because your existence is relyant on sucking of the taxpayer tit. Ill try to limit the snarky comments when you stop your pretentious insults.
Dan,
I have a friend, a CPA and former IRS employee, do my tax returns, he’s very good. Believe me, I pay very close attenton to what is, and is not, deductable on my federal and state returns.