[speaker001:] [Beep] [breathing] Um, what's our topic?
[speaker002:] Taxes.
[speaker001:] Taxes.
[speaker002:] Do we pay too much?
[speaker001:] Right. Right. Um [LAUGHTER],
[speaker002:] Well, do we?
[speaker001:] What do you do?
[speaker002:] Um,
[speaker001:] I guess that, I mean it all depends really on what kind of bracket you're in.
[speaker002:] My tax bracket is, is pretty high up there. I pay the, I generally pay the maximum tax bracket.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And, uh, I think that we're paying too much because I don't have any children.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] And I pay a lot of property taxes.
[speaker001:] Oh, sure.
[speaker002:] I don't have any, um, [lipsmack] I don't, you know, I don't use an awful lot of city services. It, it, you know [LAUGHTER]
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] it's like I have to work m-, I have to work all the time
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] just to make enough money to pay the taxes.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] And, um, y-, there's so many people who want a, a dib of the federal money
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] or the state money or whatever it is and I just, sometimes, many times I end up feeling like I'm paying too much in taxes.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] How about you? Do you pay too much?
[speaker001:] Uh, well, no, I can't really complain. I'm a student, um, and I d-, I work as a co-op at, uh, Georgia Tech Research Institute. And, uh, I'm going to get back most of what I earned, I mean most of what I pay in taxes and, uh, and, uh,
[speaker002:] Well, when you
[speaker001:] on-, one of my parents is still claiming me. Huh?
[speaker002:] when you go out into the, uh, when you go out into the working world
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] it, it changes quickly.
[speaker001:] I'm sure [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Um, you look at your paycheck and you go, oh, my gosh where did it all go [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Um, what kind of, what kind of, uh, well have you pay a lot of in ta-, have you been out working and then gone back to school or are you, did you go directly from high school into, into college?
[speaker001:] I went, well I did work, um, just very for some time but I didn't make enough money to really [breathing] make,
[speaker002:] To worry about it.
[speaker001:] too much of a difference. Right.
[speaker002:] Have you, have you been active in, in politics trying to, concerning this? Have you like worked on political action committees or something like that?
[speaker001:] No, no, I haven't.
[speaker002:] I, uh, I haven't done any of that type of work myself.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Um, but every once in a while when I hear up here at, at, uh, in D C area, um, one of the radio stations has been talking about the, the Congress, um, [lipsmack] Congress has added too towards the Members Bank there, you know, there's a bank that they all bank with, and I guess it went defunct recently.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And one of the Congressmen has, has written in the last three years al-, about a thousand bad checks.
[speaker001:] Huh.
[speaker002:] And we, we the taxpayers float him a loan for all tho-, all those bad checks,
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] no interest, no repayment schedule.
[speaker001:] Really?
[speaker002:] And, um, it's causing quite a stir up here,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] because we're so close to D C anyway.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] It's really kind of curious to watch this thing occur.
[speaker001:] Oh, sure.
[speaker002:] Um, I, I, I think we pay too much. And I've, I look at my paycheck and I make, well, let's see. They take out in state and federal taxes
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] [Lipsmack] I think I pay forty-two percent.
[speaker001:] Wow.
[speaker002:] Forty-two cents out of every dollar I make goes to the government,
[speaker001:] [Noise].
[speaker002:] and then they charge me sales tax and they charge me gasoline taxes,
[speaker001:] [Very faint] Uh-huh. taxes.
[speaker002:] and they charge me all these others, and it's just too expensive.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] I can't believe that I, I'm just thankful that I don't get all the government that I pay for.
[speaker001:] Huh.
[speaker002:] You know what I mean?
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Do you, have you used, um, student loans and things like that that were guaranteed by the government?
[speaker001:] No, no, I haven't. Uh, I, uh, my father pays for my, my schooling, my tuition. So, uh, I'm, I haven't made use of that.
[speaker002:] What are you studying down there?
[speaker001:] Physics.
[speaker002:] Physics.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Oh, that sounds like a fun, fun field.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Everybody says that [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Scientific.
[speaker001:] Huh.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Heavy science.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Are you like in the particle, particle research or [breathing] anything like that or is it more, um, applied physics?
[speaker001:] Um, I haven't, I haven't gotten too terribly much into my major yet. Actually, um, [breathing] the, the degree I'm getting is physics. There's a different one for applied physics so I guess you could call it more straight stuff
[speaker002:] Okay.
[speaker001:] than applied.
[speaker002:] Well maybe, maybe you can figure out how we can stop this inertia that's,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] come rolling towards, whatever it's rolling toward.
[speaker001:] I doubt about that. Are, are, is America, I mean are we pretty, pretty steep compared to most countries?
[speaker002:] Actually, I don't think we are.
[speaker001:] No, I don't think so either.
[speaker002:] Um, like, like Europe,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] um, England.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] I know the taxes are a lot higher.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] But they do have socialized medicine and things like that.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And, um, I know I was reading in the paper I believe yesterday that, um, they're talking, or maybe it was on the radi-,