Comments | papergreen: praise the lord and pass the welfare benefits.

papergreen

praise the lord and pass the welfare benefits.

Mar 16, 2007 15:43

apparently my taxable income this year comes to a whopping $5140the plus side of living on so little is that my tax refund will be an amount more than sufficient to cover a month's living expenses ( Read more... )

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robarchangel March 17 2007, 00:34:56 UTC

yeah, i'm familiar with the poverty line calculations. since in 1950 or maybe 1978 or some other year a generation or two ago, the average american spent about a quarter of their income on food, they calculate the bare minimum 'bread basket' amount and multiply it by four.

HOWEVER- the average american spends about 10-15% of their income on food these days (as michael pollan and other food writers have discussed in regards to the cheapening quality of food as well as subsidizations by the government). what that means is, in real dollars, people at the federal poverty line are actually at 40-60% of what the poverty line ought to be based on the still meager standards that they employed 25+ years ago. it also doesn't take into account varying costs of living in different places.

so in short, it's a shitty situation for the not rich

but i don't understand why you don't qualify for medicaid if your income is $5140. unless you meant $15140, which would explain both the above -mentioned "$15000" figure as well as why you mentioned the healthy ny costs...

sorry if that was misleading... papergreen March 17 2007, 01:34:22 UTC

my TOTAL income was just under $15,000. my "taxable" income, as calulated on my tax forms, was $5140.

the taxable income, as i understand it, is the "adjusted gross income" minus the $8,450 they have you subtract if no one can claim you as a dependent.

unless i'm doing this wrong...but i've looked the form over several times, and that's what it seems to be saying.
i'm still pretty new at all this.

Re: sorry if that was misleading... robarchangel March 17 2007, 01:56:42 UTC

ahh, i see. that makes sense. i think i'm in that same ballpark.

by the way, lots of free online tax programs exist for peopel meeting certainc riteria (such as income under $25k, under 50 years of age, etc.

I was using Turbo Tax's Tax Freedom, but their site is giving me trouble. I'm using Tax ACT now. check out reviews of the various programs here: http://tinyurl.com/3ajyvo

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