Clueless Federal Government

[llworking]

This applies to all states

I do not think that the congress or the executive office has the slightest clue just how much damage they have done to low income taxpayers.

The first problem, which of course is the fault of the taxpayers, is that they have overspent on Christmas and expect the make up their shortfalls with their tax return. They expect to be able to file ASAP (the IRS has just announced that they will not except tax returns until January 30th (instead of the normal 2 weeks or so earlier) they expect to be able to obtain refund anticipation loans (gone completely this year thanks to the federal government) and in a worst case scenario they expect to be able to get their refunds in 8-14 days. (not this year, the IRS is going to be reviewing a lot more tax returns and a substantial number of them will have to wait 21 days or more to get their refunds).

On top of that, all of their paychecks are also smaller because they are now back to full social security tax being withheld.

So, people who had hoped to cover past due December bills and current January bills with their refunds in January, may not even have the money early enough for it to be of any help in February. We are going to see tons of evictions, utilities getting shut off, people losing their jobs because they cannot get car repairs done, etc., etc., etc.

There are also other families who won't even be able to file until mid-february/early march. People may have made different financial decisions has they known that so many things were going to be different all at the same time. I feel very sorry for these people and I think it just demonstrates how far removed our federal government is from the "little guy".

[FullAuto]

I don't feel sorry for them. Of all the problems government has and continues to cause, this isn't one of them. Stupid, poor people will always find a way to stay stupid and poor.

[llworking]

I don't feel sorry for them. Of all the problems government has and continues to cause, this isn't one of them. Stupid, poor people will always find a way to stay stupid and poor.

Well, I hope that you never have any serious financial reversals in your life that end up with you being "stupid and poor".

[free9man]

Well, I hope that you never have any serious financial reversals in your life that end up with you being "stupid and poor".

Perhaps FA would then simply be poor and not stupid and poor? It doesn't take a genius level IQ to know not to spend more than you can pay off, and that without relying on Uncle Sam to cover it with your refund.

[llworking]

Perhaps FA would then simply be poor and not stupid and poor? It doesn't take a genius level IQ to know not to spend more than you can pay off, and that without relying on Uncle Sam to cover it with your refund.

Uncle Sam isn't covering anything. A tax refund is money that belongs to the taxpayer. Yes, there are refundable credits but its still money that belongs to the taxpayer.

[cbg]

So why didn't they adjust their withholdings so that they had the money in their own paychecks and didn't provide the government with a short term, interest free loan?

[free9man]

Uncle Sam isn't covering anything. A tax refund is money that belongs to the taxpayer. Yes, there are refundable credits but its still money that belongs to the taxpayer.

Ummm....not for some(maybe even many). They are getting credits that wind up returning to them far more than they payed in, and they rely on that fact to cover spending.

[jk]

Uncle Sam isn't covering anything. A tax refund is money that belongs to the taxpayer. Yes, there are refundable credits but its still money that belongs to the taxpayer.

so, are you blaming the government or the people who will be injured by the actions for the conditioned response that, instead of having a refund, will now result in a delayed refund or delayed and smaller refund?


After all, isn't that what you are referring to; the conditioned response where they file a tax return and wait with giddy anticipation for the check that usually follows? Maybe this will break the bad habit. A long time ago a farmer told me: don't count your chickens before they hatch. We might want fried eggs for breakfast tomorrow.

[Dogmatique]

Yes, I do believe the real problem is that same conditioned response.

Our #1 has done it every single year. They overspend every damn Christmas, BANKING on being able to take that juicy old tax refund (married, single income, food stamps, two kids) to make it all better.

I'm sorry - but while they are the epitome of the working poor (so really, I don't want to hear it - because believe me, I've been FAR poorer. Even in THIS country), they're also the epitome of bad planning.

[free9man]

I also don't get OP's apparent support of RALs here and down the street. Those things were horrible, horrible, horrible. Took advantage of the poor and impatient folks.