We The People

I've been meaning to post about this since the November 2008 elections. Melissa Etheridge had insinuated that she was planning on not paying her 2008 State taxes and ended her statement that suggested the same for Federal. I don't know what she actually ended up doing. I imagine that she paid her taxes responsibly. Or at least I hope she did.

With the passage of California's Proposition 8, Etheridge stated the above in this blog post. She believes that she is being treated as less than a full citizen, therefore, she should not have to pay full taxes and that by doing so it smacks of 'taxation without representation'.

I tend to side with that notion, but not with holding back on taxes owed.

But I do think that there may be some sort of option to put at least a little bit of hurt, into Uncle Sam's Hetero-ego. On the State or Federal side; and mind you I have no knowledge if this is plausible or not, I just like the idea of it - I suggest paying the taxes, but holding them back from the IRS in an escrow account. The State and the Federal government are our landlord's, if you will. So if you can escrow your rent from a landlord for not acting in good faith on your tenancy, why can't you do the same to Uncle Sam?

This would mean that taxes have been paid, but held from our government to benefit from using that large sum of money in a timely fashion. Every little bit would hurt from the GLBT communities throughout the U.S.A. Just imagine the punch if supportive members of the Non-GLBT community followed suit.

Now, if I knew for sure that I could legally do that, you would see my name on the early list.

Hey Melissa Etheridge - are you listening?

Economic Stimulus

Economic Stimulus Package Payments Begin

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DIRECT DEPOSIT
Last 2 SSN digits..... Payment by
00 through 20......... May 2
21 through 75......... May 9
76 through 99......... May 16

PAPER CHECK
Last 2 SSN digits..... Payments by
00 through 09......... May 16
10 through 18......... May 23
19 through 25......... May 30
26 through 38......... June 6
39 through 51......... June 13
52 through 63......... June 20
64 through 75......... June 27
76 through 87......... July 4
88 through 99......... July 11

Filing a return after April 15 will delay your stimulus payment, probably about 2 weeks later than the schedule shows. A return must be filed by October 15 in order to receive a stimulus payment. See online calculator for an estimate of the amount you will receive.

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Everyone seems to be expecting their $600 or $1200 whole dollar amounts. The wording actually says you will receive "UP TO" those amounts. I worked the online calculator with my 2007 tax information and it said "You may receive." So I guess I'll have to wait and see how much stimulating Uncle Sam believes I deserve. But, I'll get to wait the longest for my paper check and my SSN ending in the 90's. Woot!

Kia wins

Recently I posted about my state tax return. Now is the Feds turn. Still quite happy that I bought a house and get reap a higher return. Don't get all giddy, in the scheme of things it doesn't make me rich. But it will help me pay the bills. As I was speeding along I-64 today I noticed my odometer and it was creeping close to 50,000 miles. The picture above is a very close likeness of what I drive. Sadly it's not my Mercury Mountaineer I once had, but it hauls my fanny to and fro. Anyhow, at 50,000 miles I have to get a mandatory servicing completed. I had to have one of those at 25,000 miles. Nice and expensive warranty requirement. Well over 1/3 of my return will go to pay KIA for that service. It will be timely though, right before a trip to see mother and daddy in New York and in time for my state inspection all wrapped into one big bundle of cash for KIA - goody for them. Oh, so I need some of that cash for trip. And I have some bills earmarked for the money. Not sure I'll be getting a laptop Jadielady. And I'm not sure I'll be getting a newer desktop, but I'm still thinking about it. The realization that I have that car stuff hit me before I spent like a child. But the warranty is definitely worth because I had to get a brand new transmission last summer. That would have set me back over $3,000.00. Since I kept the warranty current, KIA had to suck all that up. So it pays to sacrifice on occasion.

VA State Tax Return

I mailed my 2007 Federal and State Tax returns the second week of February. Today I received my Virginia State return in the mail. Side note: My dog put a nice bite mark in the end of the check but I can still cash it. I'm rather thrilled when I get my state return. Yes thrilled. It is the smaller of the two checks and your thrilled Thomas? Yes, because for years I would have to pay Virginia. I never understood how I could owe the state money and still get money from the Fed's, but I'm no CPA. Well since I purchased my house, I get money back from the state and that just makes me giddy. Though Richmond City worked my last nerve jacking my house assessment by 94% (yes, that's the correct number, but I was able to fight them to reduce that figure). So anyhow, I'll put that money toward my bills and be responsible. My inner child wants to waste it on something frivolous, but I know I will be better off listening to the adult in me. Hey hey hey, the adult exists!!!

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So I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Virginia Housing Development Authority. They helped make it possible for me to be a homeowner. They have a first-time home buyers course you can take at their Belvidere Location. After completing the course, you can then qualify for certain loans that others might not be able to. If you have ever owned a house you can still qualify as a first-time homeowner if you have not had a mortgage payment in over three years (last I knew). I really encourage you to seek out their programs if you're considering buying a home. Just do it. Renting goes into someone else's pocket and you're paying them rent that you could be paying for a mortgage and you'll never see that money again. Unless you buy, you're saying 'so long' to your State tax return money. Thank you VHDA.