Big beautiful 25 tax return

[Tronner]

We got a refund this year, however we take 0 withholdings and come to collect at the end of the year. The surprising part was how much we got back from state. I was disappointed, that after buying our house, itemizing the interest was not enough to make taking the itemized deduction worthwhile. took the standard and walked away happy.

I'm with Chris though, it is theft with 0 accountability of the govt to spend it in a manner that makes anything better. At least what they did keep probably funded some more drivers licenses to people who cannot read road signs.

 

[lBasket]

My refund was nice this year. The perks of paying an assload in mortgage interest!!!

 

[chili_pepper]

There's nothing big or beautiful about the government giving money back to you that they stole in the first place.

The pickpocket who's nice enough to return the wallet after they've taken what they want, and goes out of their way to convince you they're decent for doing so.

 

[Chris]

The pickpocket who's nice enough to return the wallet after they've taken what they want.

Exactly! It’s theft is what it is, plain and simple.

 

[kmas0n]

I paid a few thousand less than previous years.

 

[InOmaha]

An obscene amount taken throughout the year. Coupled with a Roth conversion. Ends up averaging more than $1,700/week for State and Federal income tax. Another $125/week in house property tax. We watch quarterly when we do conversions and send in extra checks that quarter.

Then sales tax, car registration fees, misc fees, wheel tax, ticket fees at venues, tax on fees paid to utilities, fees paid on taxes for eating out, .... you name it. Probably equates to a 10% VAT on all goods and services.

Our gas tax is "only" 18.4 cents federal and 31.8 cents state. Ish. The city charges a $50/year wheel tax on anything with wheels (car, trailer,camper, etc) to pay for roads. They add another fee on top of the wheel tax to collect from EV/PHEV drivers who avoid gas taxes.

 

[ColoJeep]

There's nothing big or beautiful about the government giving money back to you that they stole in the first place.

Of course it's much worse if they are keeping the money they already stole from you . This is the first time in 42 years of marriage that we haven't paid any tax to federal or state .

 

[InOmaha]

Everything I'm doing now is tax avoidance strategy. But it's hard. Most strategies are just giving your money to someone else to avoid the government.

After my dad died last month, I'm doing that will and trust planning. I could get fucked over big time with taxes if I end up with a section of prime Nebraska farm ground set up wrong. I need to find a tax strategy so I don't have to sell the farm to pay the taxes. I may have to give it up to my kids immediately.

I hate this crap. If I buy a huge house to save taxes, I pay the banker 70 cents in interest instead of .gov 33 cents in taxes.

I'm all for a flat 10-20% VAT to get everyone paying in. No property or income tax. No .gov programs local or overseas anymore. 100% tax credit for voluntary charitable deductions to hospitals and institutuions.

Audit the military, cut it's budget in half. Hand out an AR loadout to every eligible military person, a case of ammo, and a yearly training. Lock down the border, kick everyone out who shouldn't be here, hang criminals. That should fix most of our problems.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

I usually tailor my w4 to shoot for a small refund so I never pay in but I don't loan the gov too much. I hit it pretty close and got about $2k refund after paying for the TurboTax fees.

2025 was my highest income ever and it became hard to enjoy when I saw my total tax liability for the year.

 

[InOmaha]

Sorry if I'm in a bad mood. Budgeting shit in a detailed calculation while paying $75,000/year to blow shit up, pay for fake daycares in MN, and fake hospitces in CA, so I can be called names for not paying enough grinds on you.

I'd pay off my daughter's STEM student loan and donate the rest to charity if they gave me a choice. Simply let me donate my taxes to cancer and heart research and I would.

My parents lived in poverty scraping by for decades to pay off their farm. I spent my childhood with nothing but hand me downs then didn't qualify for college loans because my parents owned land. I doubt they made enough to pay income taxes half of their first 25 years. But paid property tax even if they didn't make much income. I remember wearing my cousin's hand me down clothes and the first new pair of shoes I got from a store in high school. I bought my own pair of dress boots I wore to school working odd jobs.

Now that the parents are old and dying, the vulture government is circling.

I needed a kick in the pants to punt on this crap and retire at 57, 58. I saved like they did, no reason to not cash out early

I feel nothing for young complainers. We had 9% interest in my first house. We went out to eat once a year and furnished the house with garage sales. No cable, no crap like door dash or uber, 15% to retirement. I lived with roaches crawling on me in school to pay my way through because I didn't get any student loans. I tried to donate a couch to charity and they wouldn't take it, so I cut it up in small pieces to throw away.

My fucks are in a field over there right now. And I'm not giving anyone one.

Taxes cause the american dream to turn into a nightmare.

I get wages suck, stuff cost too much. It's always sucked for me. Grind it out and eventually someone will come by to kick you in the nuts, tell you you were lucky, and try to take whatever you have.

 

[ColoJeep]

Sorry if I'm in a bad mood. Budgeting shit in a detailed calculation while paying $75,000/year to blow shit up, pay for fake daycares in MN, and fake hospitces in CA, so I can be called names for not paying enough grinds on you.

I'd pay off my daughter's STEM student loan and donate the rest to charity if they gave me a choice. Simply let me donate my taxes to cancer and heart research and I would.

My parents lived in poverty scraping by for decades to pay off their farm. I spent my childhood with nothing but hand me downs then didn't qualify for college loans because my parents owned land. I doubt they made enough to pay income taxes half of their first 25 years. But paid property tax even if they didn't make much income. I remember wearing my cousin's hand me down clothes and the first new pair of shoes I got from a store in high school. I bought my own pair of dress boots I wore to school working odd jobs.

Now that the parents are old and dying, the vulture government is circling.

I needed a kick in the pants to punt on this crap and retire at 57, 58. I saved like they did, no reason to not cash out early

I feel nothing for young complainers. We had 9% interest in my first house. We went out to eat once a year and furnished the house with garage sales. No cable, no crap like door dash or uber, 15% to retirement. I lived with roaches crawling on me in school to pay my way through because I didn't get any student loans. I tried to donate a couch to charity and they wouldn't take it, so I cut it up in small pieces to throw away.

My fucks are in a field over there right now. And I'm not giving anyone one.

Taxes cause the american dream to turn into a nightmare.

I get wages suck, stuff cost too much. It's always sucked for me. Grind it out and eventually someone will come by to kick you in the nuts, tell you you were lucky, and try to take whatever you have.

Your folks are the example of the American dream , they busted their ass for decades and hammered out a living for their family . The character you have today was formed by the hard times and lack of resources you grew up with . It drives me nut to watch the gov. try to steal what they built . This is about the haves and the have not s . However , in my opinion , even though the uber rich folks in the government appear to have the upper hand over us . You and your family are the real haves . Don't let the bastards get you down .

 

[Zorba]

Of course it's much worse if they are keeping the money they already stole from you . This is the first time in 42 years of marriage that we haven't paid any tax to federal or state .

42 years of marriage? Same here!

 

[rasband]

42 years of marriage

42 years of marriage? Same here!

Goals! I am just hitting 14 in October, so have a ways to go.

 

[ColoJeep]

Goals! I am just hitting 14 in October, so have a ways to go.

If you both married the right one , it will happen ! There will be problems and you guys will hammer your way through them . Congrats on the first 14 !

 

[freedom_in_4low]

Goals! I am just hitting 14 in October, so have a ways to go.

I was gonna say, 42 years of life for me lol.

13 years married in December.

 

[Mike_H]

Don't get me started on taxes...they irritate me to no end. On one hand, I realize my blessings in that I am able to pay those taxes. My dad would ALWAYS tell me he'd gladly pay the taxes on my bonuses, if he got to keep the bonus (and he's kinda right). Owning a business though...holy smokes! My tax bills are eye wateringly high and they require quarterly payments from me, in addition to the standard payroll taxes. Plus, I live in a state with a sales tax and income tax, live in a village with its own taxing authority, and a township with taxing authority.

I do feel that taxes are an OK way to ensure people pay their fair share. For every person that says they would donate if they didn't have to pay, there are probably 10-20 that would hoard everything. Our tax laws are so broken though, and the politicians writing them are even more broken, that I am getting to a point where I think the country SHOULD rebel...and have another Tea Party. I don't know how else to do it, when both sides of the aisle think compromise means more spending, just on different things and at different levels. We need LESS spending, less gov, less debt.

What a way to start a Wednesday...

 

[InOmaha]

Don't get me started on taxes...they irritate me to no end. On one hand, I realize my blessings in that I am able to pay those taxes. My dad would ALWAYS tell me he'd gladly pay the taxes on my bonuses, if he got to keep the bonus (and he's kinda right). Owning a business though...holy smokes! My tax bills are eye wateringly high and they require quarterly payments from me, in addition to the standard payroll taxes. Plus, I live in a state with a sales tax and income tax, live in a village with its own taxing authority, and a township with taxing authority.

I do feel that taxes are an OK way to ensure people pay their fair share. For every person that says they would donate if they didn't have to pay, there are probably 10-20 that would hoard everything. Our tax laws are so broken though, and the politicians writing them are even more broken, that I am getting to a point where I think the country SHOULD rebel...and have another Tea Party. I don't know how else to do it, when both sides of the aisle think compromise means more spending, just on different things and at different levels. We need LESS spending, less gov, less debt.

What a way to start a Wednesday...

The sad part is the taxes collected don't even come close to covering what they spend. In 2024, $6.75 Trillion spent vs $4.92 Trillion collected. So we should all be getting taxed 40% more than what we paid in just to break even.

My brother owns a business, and has limited hiring additional people just because of the added taxes and paperwork. If they freed up taxes and regulations there would be huge increase in jobs and economic activity. Like the shadow economy going on now working under the table.

We have been looking at whether it's worth the extra money having 2 incomes gives us after taxes. One of us could stay home, get stuff done, reduce stress loads, and we might come out close to the same net income.

Oh and we got a notification of a penalty because we didn't have enough taken out throughout the year. But reading through it several times, they said they recieved the return late. Ha. We have USPS receipts showing it was recieved days before. But now we get to do more paperwork with the IRS.

 

[Mike_H]

The sad part is the taxes collected don't even come close to covering what they spend. In 2024, $6.75 Trillion spent vs $4.92 Trillion collected. So we should all be getting taxed 40% more than what we paid in just to break even.

My brother owns a business, and has limited hiring additional people just because of the added taxes and paperwork. If they freed up taxes and regulations there would be huge increase in jobs and economic activity. Like the shadow economy going on now working under the table.

We have been looking at whether it's worth the extra money having 2 incomes gives us after taxes. One of us could stay home, get stuff done, reduce stress loads, and we might come out close to the same net income.

Oh and we got a notification of a penalty because we didn't have enough taken out throughout the year. But reading through it several times, they said they recieved the return late. Ha. We have USPS receipts showing it was recieved days before. But now we get to do more paperwork with the IRS.

My wife stays home. We talked about it and it didn't make sense to her work, and then us scramble to do all the housework and shopping and laundry and all the other chores that you need to accomplish to run a household. We can live very nicely on my income, and she does all that stuff. It works for us. We don't have children, but I think it makes even MORE sense for households with kids when you add daycare expense on top of the additional costs that you take on when you have a job (taxes, vehicle expenses for the commute, eating out more often, etc).

 

[Rut Row]

The sad part is the taxes collected don't even come close to covering what they spend. In 2024, $6.75 Trillion spent vs $4.92 Trillion collected. So we should all be getting taxed 40% more than what we paid in just to break even.

My brother owns a business, and has limited hiring additional people just because of the added taxes and paperwork. If they freed up taxes and regulations there would be huge increase in jobs and economic activity. Like the shadow economy going on now working under the table.

We have been looking at whether it's worth the extra money having 2 incomes gives us after taxes. One of us could stay home, get stuff done, reduce stress loads, and we might come out close to the same net income.

Oh and we got a notification of a penalty because we didn't have enough taken out throughout the year. But reading through it several times, they said they recieved the return late. Ha. We have USPS receipts showing it was recieved days before. But now we get to do more paperwork with the IRS.

you got it! I'm a fan of the balanced budget. If we have to balance our budgets, the guberment should too.

 

[Frank M]

35 years married and always received a refund. Lucky I guess.