U.S. Fiscal Cliff

[Talint]

Oh i get it. It's unwanted/unrelated when it's pork for a district/state that isn't the one you live in. And even if that's not what you mean, most people who complain about pork are idiots.

This happens all the damn time. Constituents want money to be brought into their districts/states for a variety of reasons, and when representatives do that, constituents like it. But constituents tend to feel that money brought into other districts/states that aren't theirs is a waste. It's also the same reason why people consistently rate their own representatives positively, but they rate Congress overall negatively, because in essence they don't like every other Representative except their own representative.

Everytime i see someone complain about pork i can't help but roll my eyes. It never seems to occur to them that pork is also the money that goes into their own towns to create the jobs and fix the infrastructure they keep asking for. Worse still is the politician that rails against pork publically because they know the public hates the word pork.

I generally agree about pork projects, though there are some egregiously bad appropriations that happen sometimes. See: The Bridge to Nowhere.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Fun fact: The bridge to nowhere wasn't actually a bridge to nowhere. It was simply a rather expensive solution to the isolation of a very small community.

[Dantrag]

Taxes aren't based on pay periods, it's based on when you collect the income. This is why you can actually do most of your taxes based off of your last check. That's what your W2 information is derived from; if you worked for 3 or 4 days after your last paycheck but in the previous year but get paid for those days in the new year, that income is reported in the new year because...well, because that income is collected in the new year even though it's earned in the previous year.

Most paychecks don't account for pre-tax 401k. So it makes it a lot harder to do(yeah calculator etc but just easier with W-2).

[*Shinzon*]

I think that actually depends. My fiancee is an accountant and she was explaining to me the other day that a lot of businesses report the income when it's earned, not when payment is rendered. Not sure if you have the option of doing it that way for personal income taxes though unless you're self employed. /shrug

It depends on the method. There's the cash method, where income is reported when it is earned in a cash transaction, and the accrual method which basically means income is counted when the sale occurs, and expenses are counted when you receive the goods or services. You don't have to wait until you see the money, or actually pay money out of your checking account, to record a transaction.

[quannum]

the isolation of a very small community.

a.k.a. nowhere

[Tyche]

I think that actually depends. My fiancee is an accountant and she was explaining to me the other day that a lot of businesses report the income when it's earned, not when payment is rendered. Not sure if you have the option of doing it that way for personal income taxes though unless you're self employed. /shrug

Report the income for books/accounting purposes or for tax purposes? I know some businesses will report what's earned at the end of their fiscal year even if it hasn't paid out to keep some balance to their sheet. We used to reconcile accounts that way at a job I worked at 5 or 6 years ago. For our W2's though, we always based it off income paid out that year. I wasn't aware it was optional, maybe it is, it just seems odd to me that you could be taxed on income not yet received.

Our fiscal year and calendar year didn't coincide, don't know if tht mattered.

[Melena]

Question, shouldn't everyone's checks that are going out today be for the pay period prior to 2013? As in, the last week of December? So why are there increases already? Some weird fiscal loophole? My paycheck didn't seem to change yet (direct deposit), but I will have to compare the taxes when I go in tomorrow and collect the check.

Reason I ask is that our pay period ends/starts on Mondays (so, Dec. 31st) and we don't collect until later that week. Wasn't sure if that's similar to others that are reporting already.

Depends on how payroll is calculated. My employer, your paycheck is two weeks behind (meant I went a month without pay when I first started) so even though today's check covered the days I worked from Dec 9 - 22nd, since that pay came on Jan 4th, it was the first paycheck of the year.

[Xno Kappa]

Fun fact: The bridge to nowhere wasn't actually a bridge to nowhere. It was simply a rather expensive solution to the isolation of a very small community...

Of 50 people.

[BaneTheBrawler]

And?

[Xno Kappa]

Just curious if you're advocating a 400+ million dollar project for 50 people. It'd be much cheaper to move them but then Congress' favorite construction companies wouldn't be able to bid for such a lucrative contract.

[Jaybar]

Depends on how payroll is calculated. My employer, your paycheck is two weeks behind (meant I went a month without pay when I first started) so even though today's check covered the days I worked from Dec 9 - 22nd, since that pay came on Jan 4th, it was the first paycheck of the year.

I understand this, however how does the accountant know what the tax rates will be two+ weeks in advance? My taxes are always withheld on my paycheck, so there's no way that the accountant can tax me Jan 4th rates for the pay period that s/he recorded for Dec. 31st (let alone if it was the pay period ending Dec. 24th).

I suppose that if your taxes are not withheld then you'd have to pay the new rates on Jan. 4th through your example.

[Kuya]

Just curious if you're advocating a 400+ million dollar project for 50 people. It'd be much cheaper to move them but then Congress' favorite construction companies wouldn't be able to bid for such a lucrative contract.

Isn't spending money on needy people something that you democrats love to do? Why the change of heart?

[Melena]

I understand this, however how does the accountant know what the tax rates will be two+ weeks in advance? My taxes are always withheld on my paycheck, so there's no way that the accountant can tax me Jan 4th rates for the pay period that s/he recorded for Dec. 31st (let alone if it was the pay period ending Dec. 24th).

I suppose that if your taxes are not withheld then you'd have to pay the new rates on Jan. 4th through your example.

Honestly they guess based off of estimates from the irs and if they estimate is high they lower the contributions from your next check or vice versa if it's too low.

[Jaybar]

Honestly they guess based off of estimates from the irs and if they estimate is high they lower the contributions from your next check or vice versa if it's too low.

Sounds dumb and inefficient. Thanks for the answer, though.

[noblemountain]

That's what all you suckers get for paying payroll taxes. 1099 ftw.

[archibaldcrane]

Just curious if you're advocating a 400+ million dollar project for 50 people. It'd be much cheaper to move them but then Congress' favorite construction companies wouldn't be able to bid for such a lucrative contract.

The point of the bridge was to connect a town of 14,000+ to their airport (which was on an island where 50 people happened to live).

I've been to Ketchican, Alaska, and I've seen the span the proposed bridge was going to be built over.

You can argue that it's an outsized expense to replace the ferry, but framing the argument as a bridge that only 50 people would use is exceptionally disingenuous. Don't be that person.

[Niiro]

Who's idea was it to put an airport on an island with no bridge?

Is there some shortage of vast open space in Alaska that I'm not aware of?

[Xno Kappa]

Wouldn't building a new airport in that community, even if just regional, be cheaper?

[archibaldcrane]

Probably. Maybe that's why they didn't build it.

[BaneTheBrawler]

You can't put airports wherever you please. There are terrain/weather conditions to consider. Hell, even local wildlife has to be taken into account, although generally only as a secondary consideration. Maybe the island is an ideal space.

Just wanted to point out that the most frequently used example of useless pork isn't actually useless at all. Probably not the ideal solution, but still not useless.