I was thinking about what and commented about why the government withholds our earnings to pay taxes for us.

said
“I think the IRS started withholding because people would not be able to pay their taxes if they just got a bill at the end of the year.”

said
“It’s something about our “gotta-have-it-now” American consumer mentality. If we don’t have our taxes systematically deducted from our paychecks, we’d blow all of that money on frivolous things during the year (NOT living Foolishly!) Also, we like the idea of getting a big check back at the end of the year because it’s like Christmas in April. I know it’s wrong, but that’s just the way we’re programed in this society.”

I agree with both of them, of course.

But what if there were a middle ground?

What if we set up the equivalent of a mandatory 401(k) or IRA for taxes? Every paycheck, the amount they usually withhold for taxes would be put into a tax-deferred account that we couldn’t withdraw from, but we could earn interest on, or perhaps even invest in stocks, bonds, etc? The stocks and bonds would probably be a bad idea since the time horizon is so short (1 year at most). But at least money market or CD interest could be garnered.

At tax time, the money gets transferred to the IRS, and then it works like normal. If you’ve got too much, you get some back. Too little, write a check.

Bingo. No shopping sprees that leave you hanging around tax time, but no zero-interest loans to the gov’t.

I’m giving Kerry a call right now.

has already chronicled our adventures from Sunday/Monday of this week. But, though married, we are two separate people, and our journals should stand alone.

Plus, she left out the funny bits.

Ryan’s Version

(11:33:11 AM): I was thinking I might take Taylor with me when I travel, and make sure he’s in every shot.
(11:33:33 AM): Who’s Taylor?
(11:33:38 AM): My sock monkey.
(11:33:42 AM): Excellent.
(11:33:46 AM): He usually resides in the middle theater seat.
(11:33:51 AM): Sock monkeys are and underserved theme, for sure.
(11:35:30 AM): I daresay.
(11:35:53 AM): There was a photographer in the 80s who used a red couch.
(11:37:00 AM): Unwieldy. Stick to the sock monkey.
(11:37:13 AM): Well, yeah.
(11:37:17 AM): Of course, if you could find that guy and his couch, a good picture would be the sock monkey on the couch.
(11:37:34 AM): But the great thing about this guy was that his photos were all landscapes of remote, inaccessible locations.
(11:37:46 AM): But the couch would be there in the middle of it all.
(11:37:50 AM): How did he access them?
(11:37:55 AM): If they were inaccessible?
(11:38:00 AM): Aircraft, I think.
(11:38:06 AM): Ah.
(11:38:11 AM): And the couch was helicoptered in.
(11:38:36 AM): I think you should helicopter your sock money in somewhere.
(11:38:48 AM): Just so you can say "I’m waiting for my sock monkey to be helicoptered in."
(11:39:02 AM): That’s your answer to everything.
(11:39:22 AM): "Why isn’t this project done yet, Mr. Lucas?"
(11:39:40 AM): I’m waiting for my sock monkey to be helicoptered in, sir.
(11:40:02 AM): And there’s no argument that can rebut that.
(11:40:10 AM): No, there isn’t.
(11:40:20 AM): I may never do a lick of work again.
(11:40:31 AM): Because, let’s face it, that sock monkey is NEVER going to be helicoptered in.
(11:41:47 AM): True dat.
(11:42:01 AM): They don’t even make the harness that would carry him.
(11:42:47 AM): And you need a good harness, because, dear god, what if he fell.
(11:46:29 AM): Nations would fall with him, I tell you what!

So, take note folks. The perfect excuse is “I’m waiting for my sock monkey to be helicoptered in.”

All the other divisions of our company have today off, except for Atlanta. And there’s not a lot of folks here.

And yet, my boss (who is technically off today) is still responding to emails in realtime.

This is the guy who called me from the line leading to Space Mountain to check on stuff. I mean, I guess that’s not too bad… the line is long, and what else are you going to do? Talk to your family? Right.

My extended family is in town, so I’m going to cut out early. steakums‘s sister Rene, her husband Frankie, son Jovanni, daughter Devyn and new daughter Julia (6 months) stopped by on their way from New Jersey to Louisianna (where half of Frankie’s family lives). We watched Cheaper by the Dozen last night, which had a funny bit or two, but otherwise blah.

It’s steakums‘s b-day today! She’s turning 43! She’ll try to tell you she’s turning 35, but that’s just vanity. Don’t listen to her.

Last night, Jovanni, Devyn and I walked down to the creek behind our house. Our conversation the whole way there and back was centered around the identification of “poison ivy”. Is that poison ivy? No. Is that? No, that’s a tree. Is that? No. Is that? Yes. AAAAH!

I’m going to mail in my taxes now.

One note on that point… The Fool discussion that started with the Net Worth table I presented in an earlier post ended up as an exchange of stories of the financially-unastute. There were a lot of folks who had gotten frustrated trying to argue with people who felt if they got money back on their taxes, then they “hadn’t paid any taxes”. When the Fools asked these folks about all the money that had disappeared from their paychecks all year long, the folks just looked blankly at them and showed them the refund check.

A few people said we should just get all of our paycheck all year long, and get a bill at the end of the year. I wonder what that world would be like? Undoubtedly, the taxes would have to be lowered just to quell the screaming somewhat so we could get some sleep.

Someone posted this data on a Fool discussion board, and lamented the poor state of savings in our country.

Median net worth for U.S. households by age as of 2000



                 With Home      Excluding     
 Age             Equity         Home Equity      
75 and older    $100,100        $19,025      
70-74           $120,000        $31,400      
65-69           $114,050        $27,588      
55-64           $112,048        $32,304      
45-54           $ 83,150        $23,525      
35-44           $ 44,275        $13,100      
34 and younger  $  7,240        $ 3,300


Source:  U.S. Census

It is kind of scary. When Social Security goes, who’s going to take care of these folks? Do I need to start saving for their retirement, too?

*sigh*

The water is, indeed, on. So kudos to the water gods.