... and Taxes

[anarchist_nomad]

Okay, the Death has been discussed quite a bit lately, whether it be of a parent, a cat, or a guinea pig. Time to switch to the other topic.

Last month, I was suprised when my boss informed me that I was being considered for a merit raise. I'd had this job for less than nine months at the time, so the news was completely unexpected.

Last week, my supervisor informed me that my raise had gone through. He handed me my new payroll slip, which I expected to show some small increase in salary. Turns out, after nine months at this job, I was given a 7% payraise. Go figure! Wonder what I did to merit that! As I said, the streak of bad stuff seems to be over now.

The raise was effective as of July 1st, and we get paid monthly, so today I got my first paycheck at my new salary. My gross pay has increased by $250/month, so I was curious as to what the net would be. Turns out, it is only a net increase of $155/month. Damn, that's 38% of the raise lost to taxes! That sucks!

Overall, this qualifies as good news, but right now I'm feeling bitchy about how much of my money is going to fund weapons production and corporate windfalls in the "good old" US of A. Feh.

Comments

[langs-place.livejournal.com]

"Overall, this qualifies as good news, but right now I'm feeling bitchy about how much of my money is going to fund weapons production and corporate windfalls in the "good old" US of A. Feh."

And since it's a government lab, doesn't some of it eventually get back to the lab? Just thinking out loud...

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

Let's see... Out of an annual Federal budget of about one trillion dollars ($1,000,000,000,000), the lab is funded with $250 million, or about 0.025%. So from the approximately $700 that were taken out of my current paycheck for Federal taxes, about eighteen cents ($0.18) will find its way back to the lab. Oh joy, I can hardly contain myself. :P

[langs-place.livejournal.com]

I didn't expect that knowing that a percentage, however small, going back to the lab would delight you. It's kind of like my employer saying, "By the way, we're going to take back $X for our operating costs." Irksome.

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'd be less irked by taxes if I felt that they went to something useful. But the single biggest chunk goes to building up our military machine, which annoys the living $h!+ out of me.

And you touched on another sore spot with your original reply, namely the continuous decline of funding for basic research in this country.

See you later today?