>I thought of something this week that really irked me. Every year I do my taxes, and every year I get irked by this one fact: we are taxed on the same money over and over again. Let me illustrate using percentages from my most recent paycheck:

I go to work. I make $1. The government withholds the following:
6.3 cents for income tax
2 cents for Medicare
6.1 cents for Social Security
3 cents for State income tax
1 cent for county tax.

I enjoy health insurance, so I elect to have my employer take out 5.5 cents on every dollar to cover my premium so my family is insured.

What does this mean? For every dollar that I make at work, 18.4 cents goes to the government and 5.5 cents goes to insurance. I get to take home 76 cents for every dollar I earn. Out of that 76 cents, I tithe 7.6 cents to God, and I am left with roughly 68 cents to spend on things like food, mortgage, car, education, etc.

But wait, there’s more! Anything I spend that money on, from cars to clothing, or whatever, is hit with a SALES TAX of 7%! So five cents out of the remaining 68 cents goes to sales tax. I only get 63 cents of every dollar to spend on stuff I want to buy.

This is all bad enough. But then, when I do my taxes, I am reminded that I have to pay taxes on my money that I get back from the government. Let me reiterate: I make money. The government withholds some in taxes. If they withhold too much, then I get it back as a refund. Here’s the kicker: this money that I get back as a refund (remember, this is MY money that the government withheld too much of)….I have to pay taxes again on the refund as if it were income! This really irritates me. It’s like the government is borrowing my money, and not only do they not pay me interest, I pay them a penalty for them borrowing my money.