Well they certainly aren’t turning to the cash accumulation plans to give the employees a better deal. It’s certainly to help the profit margin of the company.
Some interesting stuff in that Obama tax return, at least until I fell asleep about half way through. The Obamas sold $1.7mm in government bonds last year. Wonder what they did with the proceeds. They are carrying forward a LT loss of over $100k (ouch). After offsetting all of their cap gains you can only deduct $3000 each year. Wonder what that debacle was, and wonder how much it was initially. They have a lot of itemized deductions. Mortgage interest enough for a $1mm mortgage, some pretty hefty property taxes and generous charitable giving. I wonder what the foreign tax credit is from. I haven’t even been able to itemize the past 2 years. It was kind of funny, and frustrating. I was logging 100s, ultimately 1000s of volunteer miles. Every time I got in the car I would diligently log the date, purpose of the trip and miles traveled. Added it all up at the end of the year along with all my other piddly deductions and our standard deduction was more!! What a waste of time!
I did click on @dstark 's links and skimmed over Pres. and Mrs. Obama’s tax returns for 2014 and 2013. I noticed that they barely received dividends, which means that they owns little to no equities – not even through a blind trust. Interesting.
If you look here, Obama’s big cap loss resulted from a 2009 sale of inherited shares of Bank of Hawaii at a loss of approx $125K:
At the rate of $3,000/year, that cap loss will be carried forward for some the next 40 years barring some capital gains!
I thought the foreign tax credit had something to do with the sale of his two books in other countries. But I am just guessing.
I filed an extension for the first time ever because a) there were big changes to handling rental income income this year, and I’m not sure how to handle it yet; and b) I’m sitting on the deck of my b&b in New Zealand looking out over the Pacific, where we’ve been spending our kids’ inheritance for the last two weeks. 
They’ll be a big fat check going in with the extension though. It’s over $20k. I really should start doing estimated payments for DW so we don’t get nailed every April.
“I’m sitting on the deck of my b&b in New Zealand looking out over the Pacific, where we’ve been spending our kids’ inheritance for the last two weeks.”
Ah, what a showoff! And you didn’t even ask us to come along! :((
I’m very jealous.
@notrichenough, It’s nice of you to check in with us from a beautiful spot!
New Zealand and Australia are on my bucket list. But Uncle Sam keeps taking our discretionary income!
^^Oh come on now, you’re supposed to say, “I feel so happy that I have the privilege of paying so much in taxes! I don’t need no stinking vacation before I die. I just get a huge lump in my throat when I write that massive check, and say God Bless America!” (And those politicians that are writing the tax code so I can fund whatever their hearts desire).
How much of that were you able to type before throwing up in your mouth a little bit? 
DH did his years in the military he gave to his country. Its someone else’s turn!
This thread is disintegrating into garbage.
Have fun.
deleted…
Ha! I haven’t had breakfast yet, so nothing to come up.
Whatever you and H have given, it’s never enough. Because it’s not your money, it’s not your life. It belongs to those with the power, and they will let you know what they will allow you to keep.
On that note, now I do feel a little ill. Though I’m actually fine with the amount I pay in taxes, when I listen to these guys talking, they make it sound like I’m getting away with paying almost nothing, and stealing from others. And that is sickening! Don’t lump in the people who get paid through employment and pay max taxes with those who get huge amounts of unearned income, and pay half the tax rate. Easy to fix by taxing all income the same, but that isn’t going to happen.
Played the song “Taxman” and glad I don’t have a 95% marginal tax rate like Britain in the 1960s! (Thanks, Mr. Wilson and Mr Heath, name checked in the song)
This thread has been so informative I would really like it to stay on topic and not risk closing. Thanks.
Why would the thread be closed? It’s tax season, so people are talking about taxes. It affects retirement decisions too. I wasn’t expecting such a huge tax bill, and it affects our cash flow. Take a deep breath, folks.
I thought what we were leaving our kids was a [world without Ice](http://www.worldwithoutice.com) and an overpriced housing market.
As I’ve mentioned on another thread, I know several people who are " retiring" early, because their companies are moving their depts over 2,000 miles away. It’s in quotes because they then will need to find alternate work, at 55-63 yrs old.
I always was taught that it was better to pay April 15, than get money back, but we have only had one year, when we needed to write a check. I’m not quite through with this years taxes, but as our income was less than last year, I hope we won’t have to.
*Of course * it’s better to pay than to get money back. Why would giving the govt an interest free loan of your money ever be good??
Really! Complaining about paying taxes is a favorite thing to complain about, and taxes are definitely relevant to a retirement thread. I think we can all agree that we all pay too many taxes, but everyone else pays far too little. ;
I think the problem is that the question of too little, just right, or too much in taxes leads very quickly to what the tax money is used for. I can’t determine how fair my tax situation is unless I consider what is being paid for with my taxes. That’s where the disagreements begin, and it becomes a political discussion.
We can all agree that it’s good to legally and ethically reduce our taxes before and during retirement, and that’s, IMO, the point of this thread.