Gavin, Rest assured, I pay my fair share and then some... I have 3 adult kids that live with me, and I cant claim them on my income tax. Do I claim them anyway, no. Is it fair? Hell no, its not. (I worked 2 jobs, 1 FT, 1 PT, and my wife worked full time, and we had to pay both the state and federal this year.
Let me ask you this, have you ever bartered anything?
Here is an example.
Over 15 years ago, I helped guy out by installing a electrical breaker box to replace his old fuse box. The deal was that I pay for the materials and do the labor, and he would trade me a '78 Monte Carlo he had. The materials cost me about $125.00, and I had about 8 hours time in it. When he filled out the title he listed the sale price as $125.00.
So, to "do the right thing" I should have billed him for the parts (Which I had paid sales tax on), plus lets say $60.00 an hour for labor (And thats cheap), for a total of $605.00, then turned around and handed him the $605.00 for the car, and paid sales tax on $605.00. (Even though the actual cash didnt exchange hands) >> According to what I have been told and read, this is how it should be handled as it was "Value + goods" traded for "tangible Property" thus it is all taxable. How would you have handled that exact situation? (Just as one example)
Not trying to argue or cause problems here, but we all try to save money where we can. As for changing the laws, I would gladly vote for the change, (Not the Obama change) but the government will never agree to anything that takes money away from them. When you are working 60+ hours a week, plus taking care of a home, doing repairs on it, etc.., yes it can make you a bit disgruntled when you are paying a double tax.
