Trying to stay within the theme of Budget Stretcher, I thought
a series of articles on knowing where your funds is going may
help some of you understand just how much you pay on certain
expenses.

Ive decided to beginning this series of articles with understanding
about the amount and type of taxes you pay. I will not be able to
cover all of the types of taxes that are paid by Americans
because that would turn this article into a book. I am just
going to list a few of the most common taxes that most of us
have to pay.

How much do you pay in taxes every year? I may bet many of you
do not have any idea. You can think you may just look at your
taxation forms for last year and have the answer. I guarantee that
would be just the start.

Just take a look at the below list of various taxes and do the
math yourself:

Federal Income Taxes - Uncle Sam is currently acquiring between
15% and 39% of our Adjusted Gross Income to pay for what ever
it is that they spend funds on in Washington. The main point
I want to build here is that many all the people feel that because they
received a refund, they didnt pay any taxes. For some many people ,
this is true. However, the vast majority of many people that receive
a refund are just acquiring back the funds they already paid in
through withholding, minus the taxes they owed. HOW MUCH DID
YOU PAY LAST YEAR?

Income Tax Preparation - Yes, I ponder the cost of having our
taxes prepared by a professional as a tax. If the federal taxation
code was published in english, maybe more of us could prepare
our own taxes.

Social Security - 15.3% of your income goes directly to the
federal government for social security and medicare and is
conveniently deducted from your paycheck. The myth about your
employer paying half is just that. If you werent required to
pay social security, that is another 7.65% that your employer
could pay you.

Sales Taxes - Unless you live in a state that doesnt have a
state sales tax, this costs you around 6% to 7% of every penny
you spend. Wouldnt it be nice to buy something for $99.95,
hand the clerk a $100 bill and get a nickle back.

Property Taxes and Real Estate Taxes - These taxes can run into
the thousands of dollars a year. I know, there are some places
you arent required to pay these taxes either, however, you can
bet they get this money in other ways. Before you renters initial
smiling, remember that your landlord has to pay these taxes.
Want to guess where he gets the funds ?

The Other Guys Taxes - What do you mean "The Other Guys Taxes"?
He can pay his own. For each product you buy, the manufacturers
and distributors have expenses like the cost of production,
packaging, shipping, etc. They also have to pay taxes. Who do
you think actually winds up paying these expenses? If you buy
it, you do. I have seen estimates that between 20% and 25% of
the cost of most items is for taxes that they have to pay. To
generate a profit, all businesses must pass all expenses they have
along to the consumer.

Gas Tax - With federal gasoline taxes over 18 cents per gallon
and state gasoline taxes as high as 35 cents per gallon it isnt
hard to see that, with the price of gas currently under a dollar
in most places, over half of the cost of your gas could be going
for taxes.

Self Employment Taxes - This is simply the way a self employed
person pays their Social Security and Medicare. They are
required to pay 15.3% of their gross income to cover these
expenses. These are the all the people that really know how much taxes
they pay. This is because they are required to write a check
for them four times a year and, if they underpaid throughout the
year, they can have to write another check on April 15th.

When you look at your budget and wonder where all of your funds
is going, you might want to ponder what you are paying in taxes.
There are taxpayers in this country that are paying over 50% of
their income in one taxation or another.

Here are links to a couple of other articles Ive written on
taxes:

I Love That Big Tax Refund
http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/taxrefund.html
A 23% Federal Sales Tax!! But Wait!
http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/fedsalestax.html

Im not trying to contruct a political statement here. I just believe
that everyone should be aware of where their funds goes. If you
take a few minutes to think about it, I think you will realize
that a workable percentage goes to the federal, state and local
governments.