Tax Avoidance

Posted by LionelHutz 11 years, 10 months ago to Economics
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I started this as a reply to the TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX post, but it took on a different direction and I felt it worthy of a new post.

I have made it my policy, since the Nov election, to do my best to starve the govt of any tax revenues wherever possible.

I have found the following useful:

1. No eating out at restaurants, EVER. Not even a Mcdonalds coffee. Buy only groceries, which are untaxed where I live.
2. Though my car is a decade old, I will not buy another car. I will keep the one I have running until it dies. When it dies, I will buy a used one in a person-to-person exchange with someone that is willing to be paid in silver or gold, plus $1 in federal reserve note. The registration will duly note that I paid $1 for the car.
3. I will not take my car in for maintenance at a mechanic. I am learning to do all my own repairs.
4. Anything I purchase, wherever possible, is purchased used (but tax-free) from Craigslist.
5. Anything I purchase new, wherever possible, will be purchased online from an out of state company, thereby denying my state the sales tax.
6. The home phone bill has been cancelled. I refuse to pay a USF fee so overweight women in Cleveland can rant about how great it is that Obama gave her a cell phone, when the money to pay for it was collected from me.
7. The cell phone contact expires soon. I have, for the past few months, been running Skype on this phone. My phone bill will soon be reduced to a data-only plan, eliminating USF. I send/receive calls by virtue of the wireless access points around me. When there are no wireless access points, I reach Skype via my 3G/4G data connection.
8. I intend later this year to take an unpaid two week leave of absense from work, deliberately to deny the government that tax revenue. From here on out, as my taxes go up, the amount of taxable work I do in a year will go down.

What are you all doing? Let's pool brainpower here!


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  • Posted by UncommonSense 11 years, 10 months ago
    One vehicle is 12 years old and running strong, the other is 10 years old and doing just as fine. BOTH are paid off and shall remain in mine until I can't get parts for either of them. (Got Toyota? :) )

    No homephone, Trac Phones only. Yes, sometimes paying the $$ for the cards are annoying, but NO taxes going to the Fed or utility companies. Plus, I no longer get Phishing calls, like the last call I ever had, back when I used to have a home phone.

    Also, I do not have a smartphone, though it would be nice since I do have a couple of requirements that trac phone doesn't meet. BUT, until a REAL company STANDS UP and can provide me with TRUE SERVICE without BS "fees" for this and for that, often several MONTHS after I signed the agreement AND THE PHONE DOESN'T DIE BEFORE THE END OF THE CONTRACT, I will continue to use trac phone.

    No cable, dish, satellite TV at all. Been like this for over 5 years. Other than a handful of shows, most of the stuff on TV is junk, I have better things to do with my time. Everything I need is through the internet, and through meetings with my fellow conservatives. Those afraid of guns need not apply.

    Here is something you may want to keep in the back of your mind concerning silver and gold. Depending on how exactly civil manner is cast aside once the crap hits the fan, dealing with them via those two commodities won't get you much except to get mugged. For example, did you know that in areas of St. Louis (north side and in East St. Louis), huge bottles of laundry detergent is being used for barter? THAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. This isn't any different than back in the days of the Roman Empire that Honey was used as a form of currency.

    Fixing your own vehicle is great, if you have the tools, the garage, and the time to do it. I use known, LOCAL talent. Yes, the stupid State gets tax, but I enable continued employment of good people. I don't go to National companies, local only.

    My family and I eat out, but only at known conservative resturants. Yes, we have had to stop going at several places after we found out they either didn't support the military and/or were very open about their support of Ovomit and his stupid death care bill.

    There's my .02.
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    • Posted by DragonLady 11 years, 10 months ago
      You might want to look at Boost Mobile for a cell phone company. I've used them for several years, and they've always been reliable(they're now part of Sprint). I have a BlackBerry (couldn't live without it!), for $55 per month, unlimited everything. Yes, I do pay tax on it, but I figure it's worth it not to have to worry about how many minutes I have left. I paid about $225 for my phone (you have to buy it), but there is no contract and they do have less expensive phones.
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    • Posted by 11 years, 10 months ago
      Thanks for sharing. I'll have to read up on Trac Phones. I hadn't heard of them.

      On the TV front, I'm also without cable. I do over the air HDTV through an attic antenna, although I agree about most of the stuff not worth watching. I have a Netflix streaming connection, which I think is a steal at $7.99/month. They even have the Atlas Shrugged movie on there :-) Unfortunately, this service is taxed at state sales tax rates. But it's way cheaper than a cable TV bill, so the tax is similarly much lower.

      I've got a decent collection of old movies and TV series on DVD to keep me occupied when I want to idle the brain. Plus, you can get a HUGE volume of this stuff on Craigslist because everyone seems to be ditching their physical media these days.
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    • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 11 years, 10 months ago
      Very impressive to both of you. Where we live, CT, there is personal property tax. So you pay tax on your initial purchase, then yearly, on a diminishing scale. So as your car gets older and loses value, your taxes go down as well. I hate it. As soon as it's possible for us to leave, we will. My car is paid off and has been, and it's 4 1/2 years old. My husband's is newer, but diesel, which he needs for gas mileage, as he travels 1 1/2 hours each way, to and from work. We refuse to live in MA, though. I utilize local businesses almost exclusively, and shop markets that sell products from the local farms. Grow veggies and fruit in the summer, can as much as possible.
      Where we live, it's not possible to go without a land line. No cell service. Wish we were at the point of a shrug, though. Not quite.... Sigh......
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      • Posted by 11 years, 10 months ago
        Thanks for sharing.
        Growing your own food sounds like a great idea as well. I've thought of this, but as the groceries here are tax-free, it wouldn't meet my objective of tax avoidance. Although I'm sure you're happy knowing the freshness on what you're eating.

        Good for you leaving that state. Vote with your feet, people!

        I am moving to Texas this year, even if I have to sell my house for a loss. I will make up any loss quite quickly by virtue of no state income tax.
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  • Posted by $ rockymountainpirate 11 years, 10 months ago
    I live in a state with no sales tax. There is property tax & state income tax unfortunately. One vehicle is free & clear and old enough I did a permanent registration so don't have to pay that every year. The other is nearly paid off (couple more months). 2 more years before it can be perm registered. I live in an agricultural area, so we can grow it, raise it or shoot it for food. There is a HUGE number of moochers here. It's very unfortunate and generational. My big indulgence in cable TV. I haven't had a land-line in nearly 10 years. I do still have Verizon, but it's out of contract so I can quit when I want to. It's cheaper to contact family as we're all on Verizon. My Blackberry is in a drawer and I just use a simple phone. I shop local the majority of the time. All locally owned.

    I like seeing what others are doing to deprive the looters of as much as possible while supporting local producers.
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