That sinking feeling about health care

[Questor]

I think I figured out something important about the health care legislation. It has to do with the way it's paid for. By putting surtaxes on people making over $500K, all Congress has to do is work to inflate the currency so that every kid working at McDonalds is making over 500K per year, and then tax everybody.

Income tax deductions work that way. If you've been getting, that three-thousand and some-odd dollar per year deduction per person, it's been an awfully long time since that has been adjusted. Adjusted for inflation you should be getting over $8,000 for each standard deduction. It's a well hidden tax increase.

[MGMorden]

Income tax deductions work that way. If you've been getting, that three-thousand and some-odd dollar per year deduction per person, it's been an awfully long time since that has been adjusted. Adjusted for inflation you should be getting over $8,000 for each standard deduction. It's a well hidden tax increase.

The standard deduction is actually adjusted every year .

2009 is $5700
2008 $5450
2007 $5350
2006 $5150

The little changes like this is why if you use the automated software to do your taxes you have to buy a new copy every year.

[Questor]

MGMorden:

I'm either going to have to stop repeating what I hear on the radio, or stop believing what I read on the internet! Aggh! Maybe I just misinterpreted what I heard about the tax rates. It was on a Cato forum, which typically have high veracity. Perhaps it was meant that the deductions had not kept up with inflation. Thanks for the correction, though.

[Casull]

Questor, MGM is talking about the standard deduction, and you are talking about the personal exemption.  Two different critters.