Don't reduce your Pay!!!!!!!! Just learn how to pay less taxes, do it legally and keep good records. You need to put together a plan to reduce your taxes. No I'm not kidding. Try this link: http://markjkohler.com/products/what-you.... My tax attorney has a book out called "What your CPA isn't Telling You". He has it in Paper, .pdf, and on audio. This is the only book on taxes that I know of that is actually fun to read or listen to.
My disclaimer: Mark is my tax attorney, I am not an attorney or CPA. I do not get anything for referring this to you other than that I will be happy if it helps you. Good Luck

woot :)

One more thought: lobbying should be a capital offense, with all the abusers hung along K street and left to rot as an example.

Oklahoma just instituted a system that requires a supermajority to change the tax base. OK has almost a flat tax, since it has about a 5% standard rate with a very low income start (<$15,000). The goal is to eventually eliminate the income tax by reducing it in proportion to growth in other state revenue sources. By making the requirement a supermajority, the Governor is automatically out of the loop, since the deal is already veto-proof.

It looks like you are talking about withholding in particular, not just total taxes paid. Regardless of exemptions you can specify the amount they withhold from your salary for taxes. If too little is withheld then you have to pay the difference on April 15, but that is better than the government taking out more than you owe all year without paying interest.

and they think that this behavior is just natural,
a normal response to opportunity!!! -- j

Move to a different state. The longer you stay there, the more moochers will be added to the rolls, and the higher your taxes will rise, to pay for all of the freebies, and high salaries of government workers, until your income puts you under the poverty line. Then you will be to broke to leave.

It's only "ridiculous" until you get surprised by a tax bill bigger than you expected. The tax code is being tinkered with all the time, and of course changes in your income situation can create surprises too.

Thanks, that's worth knowing!

The big problem with the tax system is all the rent-seeking it attracts. (Rent-seeking is an economics term, it refers to the huge and expensive contest of lobbying to put special cases in the tax code. David Friedman explains why the money spent on doing this is a net loss to the whole economy.)

I could go along with a flat tax, but what I'd want to do is fix not only the rate but all the details in the constitution, so this rent-seeking can no longer occur. Have an emergency method to raise the rate but make it hard enough to use (say, 2/3 of both houses + president's signature) that it won't happen without a real emergency.

And don't let the politicians exempt themselves from it.

Nah, I'd do something more creative like buy a farm, lease out the land to the neighbor and use the mortgage as a personal tax deduction and put the lease payments on a farm schedule. It's common in Northern California with the vineyards, almond farms, etc.

If you rent the place out, you deduct the mortgage payments as a business expense on Schedule E. There's no need to lie and I don't recommend it.

Thought OS was dumb the first time, but it has grown on me.. cavalier attitude, wrapping the fish, and remodeling initiative! Still makes me smile. Regards.

A great compliment, but since I'm past 70 I doubt the media would let me get past that fact (even though my average family life span is over 90). If you think any of these are good ideas, push them hard with every honest politician (assuming you can find any), and get behind those you think you can support.

You are trapped between a rock of prior decisions and a hard place of not wanting to make changes that will negatively impact your current lifestyle - so any improvement you can make would seem to be marginal.

Your original question was 'what was the magic number'. If that is the only option left for you, hire a good tax adviser and do what you can.

Jan

lol. ok then. take a break. what nonfiction of Rand's have you read?

I've already read it 3x

read it.

thanks for the correction, fred.

Any chance you'd consider running for office?

Thanks, Jan. I actually get health insurance from my husband's employer, so that's not a problem. Unfortunately, in my field, it's pretty much s 40+ hrs/week gig. I have been in the business about 20 years, and I have never seen a part time position.