[speaker001:] I don't think anybody pays too little
[speaker002:] no I would tend to agree very highly I think that we're all paying a little bit too much taxes and not seeing too much good come out of it
[speaker001:] do you get hit up for local taxes there
[speaker002:] yeah we sure do here in Indiana we pay uh we pay county income tax state income tax we pay five percent sales tax uh you name it they tax it
[speaker001:] oh so you you you get the whole smorgasbord
[speaker002:] that's right we
[speaker001:] well I I actually live in New Hampshire
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] tax free or die uh-huh
[speaker002:] right which is probably pretty nice but I'll bet that means your state sales tax is pretty high
[speaker001:] no actually there's no sales tax in New Hampshire either
[speaker002:] there's no sales tax either
[speaker001:] no what there is is very high property taxes because that's how they fund schools and everything
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] the only problem is I work in Massachusetts so they they hit me up for the five percent there
[speaker002:] right Taxachusetts
[speaker001:] yep but it well you know we it's it's only a state taxes no local we've got a five percent sales tax
[speaker002:] uh-huh right
[speaker001:] but um the problem is that so I'm paying state tax even though I don't live here but at least on things like stock options and things like that they don't tax me
[speaker002:] right uh-huh
[speaker001:] so that's not too bad
[speaker002:] no I uh I really think that here in Indiana at least we pay a a whole uh just too much tax I worked in a factory uh last summer and on the average I was losing twenty percent of every paycheck to taxes and I don't feel that I really get a whole lot of return from that I mean I don't utilize all you know it really any government welfare services of course I drive on the roads and I you know went to the schools and stuff but I really feel that that I'm just getting overtaxed
[speaker001:] yeah oh I I I mean I I'd consider twenty percent lucky because just on I mean you know when you figure out just on feds you know I actually hit the thirty one bracket this year which was no fun
[speaker002:] uh-huh no that's that's not any fun
[speaker001:] right and also you know then you figure out seven or eight percent for FICA
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] which is taxes where you most people forget about them because you've got you know you can't always get your FICA back at the end of the year but so you know and then you know like a five percent FICA I'm paying forty percent tax
[speaker002:] right right yeah which is just outrageous and a lot of it and if you look at the way the government is run these days it just seems like a lot of its going to waste
[speaker001:] yeah well I I mean I think there's some people there you there clearly are some things where you need infrastructure and you need
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] you know you know there are things government does better you know I think government does a better space program
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] than you're gonna get out of private individuals but you know I think you know you look at things like you know tax subsidies to tobacco farmers because Jesse Helms wants it that way or
[speaker002:] right that's right got to keep those farmers happy
[speaker001:] you know and and just tremendous amounts of you know so much of it is now just going to service debt or you know is going in
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] into into programs that you know yeah they are they are fat you know I think the military is really fat I think that a lot of the the HEW services although they're providing necessary services have too much fat in them
[speaker002:] right there is there is just way too much bureaucracy and so much of that tax money is going just to keep that bureaucracy running keep the paper shuffling around instead of real you know good programs
[speaker001:] you know like we we um yeah I mean we we spend a fortune for things like VA hospitals and you know then you look at how well they're managed you know I don't think we're getting our money's work out worth out of there I think it's all going into into bureaucrats
[speaker002:] right and a lot of it's feeding uh just I just I really especially in the election year I mean I'm really thinking a lot about this the economy and questions like that and and just the whole it seems like everything is really screwy right now as far as the economy of the government goes and our our whole economy in general and our taxes just are gonna keep rising no matter what happens and especially when you've got the Bush administration who has increased government and expenditures uh beyond beyond what any other President since World War Two has done and yet he supposedly
[speaker001:] well between between between him and Reagan yeah
[speaker002:] right right yeah I mean I just read something that two thirds or three quarters I'm not exactly sure of our national debt
[speaker001:] the great communicator
[speaker002:] are was created during the Reagan Bush era who are supposedly supposedly fiscally conservative
[speaker001:] oh oh yeah they think oh yeah and then they go and say that Congress Congress they're the fault for it
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] but you know the other thing is it's tricky though because like in New Hampshire they say oh all right let's cut the military budget well yeah then you lose half your jobs in New Hampshire you lose Grotten Connecticut goes so you know it's like
[speaker002:] right um-hum
[speaker001:] you know it's very tricky to balance that stuff off because then you hurt you know if the if the if people lose their jobs then they become a load and they're not contributing taxes
[speaker002:] that's right
[speaker001:] so you know it's it's very hard to say you know this is what we should cut
[speaker002:] yeah it's really that is the especially that defense cuts in the defense is really a catch-22
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] double whammy because like you say if you cut defense well that's great that's gonna lower our national expenditures but then you're gonna have people on welfare and they're not putting taxes in
[speaker001:] who who aren't contributing right yeah
[speaker002:] so that's that's really
[speaker001:] and uh in our
[speaker002:] it's I'm glad I'm not the one who has to come up with these policies
[speaker001:] right  but what's very funny is in our town meeting they were voting this this this guy had both for our school district meeting and our town meeting had this proposal which unfortunately violates New Hampshire constitution for our local town to do it to uh have you have people line item their taxes
[speaker002:] uh-huh right
[speaker001:] they say I want to pay for this and this and this and this and this course the only problem with that is then nobody pays for the necessary services that they don't use
[speaker002:] that's right
[speaker001:] yeah