Between the Feds trying to tax your state refund and the state trying to tax your Federal refund, I always felt like a Venn diagram would help.
Sales tax is a double taxation from the get go.
We had a flood and one of the reasons a landlord did not take a forgiveable state loan (5 years) is that he would have to pay income tax on it up front! If he had the liquid assets to do that, why would he need the loan to rebuild in the first place?
Flood aid IS taxable and there is sales tax on repair materials. Unemployment is taxable.
I'm not "that age" yet, but I recently found out that if a person had a GOOD income (MAX SS payin) for 30 years but then due to the economy their income plummets for 7 years before retiring, the amount they get is MINIMUM.
I had always mistakenly thought that good income and payin years would boost what you get but somewhere I heard that it only matters what your income and payin is for the last 7 years before you retire.
I've known several people who worked at somewhat lowly jobs in the last few years before they retire.
I feel like they got ripped off after paying the max rate for many decades earlier in life.
But if the economy takes a major DUMP on jobs for 7 years, doesn't that ease the Social Security funding problem in a big way by slashing the payout?