My lib friend who moved to California with her husband when we moved (her husband works for my husband and we have all been friends for years) called me a few minutes ago. She always calls me up when she has questions about taxes. Anyway, she was in a panic. She received her husbands check today and it was $500 less than it has been since the move. My husband and the guys who work for him all got raises when we moved to this hell hole but it wasn't enough of a difference to cover the cost of living increase as houses are three times what they were in Dallas, 10% state taxes (if you include the State "borrowing" money from us) when Texas has no state taxes, increase in property tax because the cost of the house is three times what it was in Dallas, etc. She has been complaining of how it's not fair how expensive it is here and I have bit my tongue and not said anything until now.
I told her the following:
#1, the state is taking extra money as a "loan" because they are going bankrupt as they have blown the peoples money. They are supposedly going to "pay it back' (HA) when we file our taxes. Then I said that you wont get any money back anyway because you make too much money (she didn't like that comment) and the state wont have it when it comes time to give people a refund so they will probably get an IOU (which she wont get because again, they make too much money).
#2 From all the money the company gave them to move and the increase in his salary that they hit the max for social security probably right when they moved here (she should have known that, I didn't say anything about how stupid it was not to know that). She assumed the amount of his check right after they moved here was going to be the amount every payday from here on out. Then I said, "I don't want to get too political but Democrats want to change the limit of income they take SS out of from up to around $106k for 2009 (if I remember correctly) to unlimited so your husband's paycheck would be less $500 every paycheck from here on out if they get their way". She chuckled and said, "I told A (her husband) that you would say it was the democrats fault".
I wanted to tell her to go ahead and vote democrat again and see his check get even smaller but I resisted.
Oh a side note, I am afraid to do my taxes this year. I'm confused with what is considered income and what is considered an expense. Like they paid the realtor and all the fees to sell our house and all the fees involved with buying our new house (even paid the points on our loan). They paid for the move and they gave us money (which they did take taxes out of) for expenses above and beyond the house and the actual moving expenses. They also gave my husband a bonus (that we had to buy a house with within a certain amount of time) but it had the max of taxes taken out but I'm still worried that we are going to owe big time this year. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about it and to top it off Obama wants to take more.
I really wanted to scream at my friend and if she had been standing in front of me I would have visualized choking her but I have to remember she watches MSNBC and doesn't know any better. She thinks she poor (she always makes that comment) and I know what her husband makes.....they are what DU would consider as rich. She told me that they didn't benefit from Bush's tax cuts, I have done her taxes for several years, they got a tax break. She will see when they expire this year. I wonder if she will see the light then?
