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Tax Season: Why I loathe paying taxes since moving to CA from the UK

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Re: Tax Season: Why I loathe paying taxes since moving to CA from the UK

#41

Post by dgildeh »

stouset wrote: post #29
dgildeh wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the comment. I wasn't aware of that point on the high top marginal tax rate, I can only comment that it's been in place for a long time (since I moved here) and I don't get any sense personally that it will be expired when California is constantly looking for ways to increase taxes. Re. healthcare, from past people I've hired and let go and friends who've been unemployed, perhaps as they're all in tech wit…

> And there are penalties for withdrawing before 59.5years, which I would call the "retirement age" on these plans. Sort of, but in practice not really if you're smart about it and plan a bit in advance. If you want to retire early and access 401(k) or traditional IRA funds, you can do so without incurring additional taxes or penalties. The strategy is called a "Roth conversion ladder". It takes advantage of the fact…

Thanks for the info - funnily enough after I posted this I spoke to a tax strategist this morning who also laid out a bunch of things we could do to reduce our tax bill. The problem as you say, is this type of person isn't accessible to most people, and expensive!

Re: Tax Season: Why I loathe paying taxes since moving to CA from the UK

#42

Post by giantg2 »

dgildeh wrote: post #34
tebbers wrote: post #30

As a Brit this article is laughable. People are literally dying in the UK because so called wonderful 'free' public healthcare doesn't have the ambulances to send to them. Tons of potholes everywhere too. Outside London and major cities, public transport is non-existent to very poor.

I know us Brits like to complain, but when I drove there last year the roads were all brand new and fantastic compared to what we have over here in California! I did think to add some caveats about the NHS, my sister works there so I'm aware of all the issues there. However, I would rather choose that system, over the one here, which is extremely expensive, and doesn't even look after you if you lose your insurance f…

You both are funny. You haven't seen potholes until you've driven in PA.

Re: Tax Season: Why I loathe paying taxes since moving to CA from the UK

#43

Post by callahad »

bikeformind wrote: post #38

The fact we do not receive a simple pie chart from the government that shows exactly where every penny we pay in taxes goes is a criminal travesty.

The UK's tax authority actually does send out individualized letters to taxpayers with a pie chart showing how much you paid in and where it was allocated. It was a pleasant surprise after immigrating from America.

Re: Tax Season: Why I loathe paying taxes since moving to CA from the UK

#44

Post by dougmwne »

atlasunshrugged wrote: post #25
999900000999 wrote: post #21

>We need the basics that deliver true equality, as I experienced growing up in the UK: free healthcare, good public schools, and good public transport. Maybe even ban the private options like they banned To be fair. You picked California. Chicago , NYC, DC and I'm sure one or two other American cities have functioning public transportation. The other two issues will never ever be fixed. Tbh if your quality of life wa…

Having lived in SF, London, Berlin, and now DC, I can tell you that DC's is totally subpar in comparison to any I encountered in Europe. Not only in the year that I've been there have there been multiple shootings on the subway in that time but I can't remember a single instance where I didn't see someone hopping the turnstile and the trains are quite slow (in terms of number of trains per hour).

Are you saying that DC was worse than SF? I find that hard to believe. SF has worse coverage, fewer trains and felt much more dangerous.

I was able to live in DC for 4 years without a car but with a bike and my walking shoes and found it a mostly happy experience. The trains could have been more frequent and some areas of the city had sparse coverage, but it was not so bad. Europe and NYC is a leap better of course.

Sounds like I missed a crime wave though. That’s a shame, I remember the metro system being safe and clean during the 2010’s.

Re: Tax Season: Why I loathe paying taxes since moving to CA from the UK

#46

Post by seanalltogether »

Since moving to the UK I've wanted to do a breakdown of taxes I paid in Colorado vs UK. Even though taxes are higher here and VAT is 20% I'm still convinced I have more income at the end of the year then I would in CO.

Some things I've noticed -

    I surrendered a good chunk of my paycheck to health insurance in the states that's already folded into income tax in UK

    Car insurance in UK is much cheaper because it only needs to cover damage to the car instead of hospital bills

    Council tax (property tax) is significantly cheaper here. For instance, a £1,000,000 home in manchester might pay £2200-£2700 per year in council tax, while a $1,000,000 home in my old neighborhood in Denver is paying $6000 per year

    Gasoline is more expensive here, but driving distances are not as high so I think that washes out even

    Fruit, vegetables and meat is definitely cheaper here then anywhere in CO

    Internet, cable, and phone plans are significantly cheaper here

Re: Tax Season: Why I loathe paying taxes since moving to CA from the UK

#47

Post by evilotto »

The author makes several really good points about how so much of our taxes that are levied and paid in good faith go towards enriching already-rich entities (healthcare, universities, the defense industry).

It's disappointing that the take-away is "join me in having a better way to avoid paying your taxes."

Re: Tax Season: Why I loathe paying taxes since moving to CA from the UK

#48

Post by pjc50 »

dgildeh wrote: post #39
pjc50 wrote: post #33

> Lastly, we won’t allow ourselves to be audited without our knowledge by the IRS by using a cloud-based personal finance app that could be subpoenaed behind our backs if they continue pushing for new powers. https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2020/08/... : under some circumstances HMRC can access your banking information without telling you.

Wow, didn't know that - but I guess it supports my point, that all Western governments are moving in the same direction!

Driven to a great extent by the US (they made Switzerland, the last bastion of secret Nazi gold, hand over information on bank accounts of US nationals). But no government is going to tolerate large amounts of money disappearing beyond the visibility of taxation. And if you like public services, they have to be paid for like this.

Re: Tax Season: Why I loathe paying taxes since moving to CA from the UK

#49

Post by robopsychology »

tebbers wrote: post #30

As a Brit this article is laughable. People are literally dying in the UK because so called wonderful 'free' public healthcare doesn't have the ambulances to send to them. Tons of potholes everywhere too. Outside London and major cities, public transport is non-existent to very poor.

They moved strokes to a 'Category 2' condition that requires an ambulance to arrive in 45 minutes. Having a father who had a stroke early in his life, this sickens me. My trust in the NHS is minimal and seeing how good the healthcare is in California I will be going private when I return. It is night and day, and my private insurance is less than my NI contributions were in the UK. If I message my doctor on my healthcares mobile application I could get an appointment within 2 hours. If I want a blood test I can go to the local office at Stanford and get one within 30 minutes, with my results sent to the healthcare app by the time I get home. It's just so so much better, the NHS really has failed when I look at it from here.

Re: Tax Season: Why I loathe paying taxes since moving to CA from the UK

#50

Post by antognini »

bikeformind wrote: post #38

The fact we do not receive a simple pie chart from the government that shows exactly where every penny we pay in taxes goes is a criminal travesty.

If you take a look at the instructions for your 1040 there is a pie chart at the very end which shows where your taxes go. Take a look at page 108: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf
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