Sunday, February 3, 2002

before...I didn't take the after

"Riches are for spending."
Francis Bacon

I have the whole Sunday to do whatever I like. I have things I need to do like editing this journal to release to a few people and organizing my backups better. But I'm not going to force it, I'm going to do whatever I please.

I have some coffee and newspaper time and eat some of the sauce leftover from last night on some bread. I call my mother and tell her I will come over and help her with the computer after a bit.

On my way to Mom's I go over to Lamar to a computer store I've been reading ads for. They have a lot of secondhand and closeout stuff and, apparently, repair computers. A guy is talking a mile a minute to people at a counter and on the phone about repairing stuff. Good for future reference if I need a part or cable. They have been advertising cheap wireless stuff but it isn't 802.11b.

Mom's problem is that she has lost the shortcuts on the bottom bar. I don't know how nor does she. I get them back with the properties menu but they are on the opposite side from the active windows. I don't know why and don't have the energy to figure it out. I help her find the Web site for a miniature thing she's received in snail mail. The problem for her is typing something long correctly. I configure her screen saver to show more pictures. They enjoy watching the screen saver slide show.

Dad pats me on the shoulder and says it made his day for me to come visit and shows me that he is gathering up stuff for his income taxes. I think if we reach a certain age they ought to let us just forget about income taxes if our income is less than $50,000. Like 85. When one person in the couple is 85 and the joint return would have less than $50,000 gross income, just allow the return of a postcard that says, "I claim that I'm too old and too poor to put up with this foolishness any longer."

Yeah, I know. You are saying that this would bankrupt the system. By the way, the IRS is from time to time asked by Congress to look into the distribution of adjusted gross income and amount of taxes paid. This helps Congressmen see if 'the rich get all the tax breaks' or 'the middle class pays all the taxes' and to estimate the effects of proposals (like the one above). I share these numbers with you so that when you argue about taxes (don't we all?) you can have some facts rather than fantasy. (Sorry about the missing percent AGIs. The article I clipped didn't have all the details. It did say, though, that the top one percent of taxpayers paid slightly more in 1999 than 1998 (their percent of taxes in 1998 was 34.8%). To me it's pretty obvious that the half of taxpayers with the highest AGIs really bring in the income. Processing the rest of the folks probably isn't worth the time. Let them submit a claim that their AGI is x. If the IRS can prove otherwise, then they owe taxes and penalties. Otherwise, don't bother. And certainly find a way to take the paperwork burden away from old people. This is too rational, of course, and won't be done. Anyway, next time your friends are saying that 'rich people don't pay any taxes' tell them that, in 1999, people in the top one percent (those making more than $293,415 AGI in that year) paid nearly twenty percent of all taxes collected. And if you go to the top 5%, they paid over half the taxes. Yeah, there might be some rich guy somewhere not paying taxes. But there are lots of people with high incomes ponying up huge amounts to make these collection rates true. We have a progressive income tax system. It has been made more so in recent years by elimination of deductions for high income taxpayers. Yes, elimination of deductions. Many of these taxpayers only get a standard deduction because of percentage of income limitations. All the whining about letting people with low incomes double dip and take standard plus charitible deductions? Well, higher income taxpayers have to give away a rather large percentage of their income to qualify for any deduction. So, yeah, it's great to be rich. But I think it's harder to avoid (legally) not paying taxes than one might think.

% payers	% taxes	% AGI
1%	36.2%	19.5%
5%	55.5%	34%
10%	66.5%	?
50%	96%	?

So, how did I get off on that, anyway? I don't know. I told you I was letting myself do whatever I wanted today, even in my thoughts.

I decide to go to Fry's after I leave Mom's. I haven't been there and while I'm not in the market for anything but some wireless gear, it's good to know what they are offering. I wander the aisles, amazed that they not only carry computers and components but food, refrigerators, office supplies and toys. Weird. I don't buy anything.

Then I stop at Eckerd's and get shampoo and hair gel and a UPS film organizer. When I get home, I settle in for some newspaper reading and idle glances at the Super Bowl. Forrest says he "thought I was bringing him a pizza." Um, no.

Forrest exclaims from the kitchen, "What no chips?" He's already shopped for groceries today. I volunteer to go get chips. The list expands to cheese, a frozen pizza and a jar of jalapenos. I think no one will be at the store but there are a surprising number of shoppers and a lot of them do appear still headed for watching the game although it's underway because they are buying beer, soda, hamburger buns and chips.

Then I really do settle in and read. I do see a few commercials and a few plays ("Watch this replay," himself says) and at the exciting end I watch the improbable drive for a field goal. Gutsy.

So, yeah, I just read whatever I wanted in the papers. Read some articles in an issue of The Economist that I bought on the trip to New York. I didn't really accomplish anything except a little house cleaning. But it's OK.

I go to bed early. For me. Before midnight. I read a Joseph Epstein book of essays that has been by the bed side for a while. And fall asleep. Still catching up, I think.

JUST TYPING
Doing just what I please.
Having to figure out what that might be.