[speaker001:] Well Jackie, uh, on taxes, I, I guess I would have to say, that I, that my opinion is that I do think Americans are paying too much in taxes. Uh, what's your feeling about that?
[speaker002:] I agree. I think taxes are high.
[speaker001:] Right, uh, where you live do you have a state income tax and a sales tax both?
[speaker002:] Oh, yes. Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Uh, uh-huh. In New Hampshire we have, uh, uh, no, no, what we call broad base taxes. No income tax and no sales tax.
[speaker002:] Huh.
[speaker001:] Uh, we tax business, uh, eight percent, businesses are taxed eight percent and we have what we call the five B s. Uh, th-, for our taxes. Booze, uh, butts, cigarettes, beds, uh, hotel room tax
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] bellies, a meal tax and bets, gambling.
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] So, uh, we do have a very low tax rate, but you know, combined with the federal income tax. I think that Americans generally do pay too much in taxes and.
[speaker002:] Right. Yeah, I, I agree and I, think it's about the time of the year when you just start getting, well if you do get money back from [throat clearing] like jobs, I'm still a student
[speaker001:] Uh-huh [very faint].
[speaker002:] so, uh, I only work part time, so I, I get a check back so
[speaker001:] Well that's nice.
[speaker002:] from, from taxes but,
[speaker001:] Nice, nice to get a refund.
[speaker002:] Yeah [LAUGHTER]. It is, but [LAUGHTER] it's not much. [LAUGHTER] So.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. Do you think that, uh, for whatever taxes we do pay that, uh, we are getting value for it?
[speaker002:] No.
[speaker001:] Yeah. Uh, my, my opinion of taxes is that we just send money to Washington or to the state and they say they are going to send some back, it's like giving yourself a tra-, it's like one arm giving the other a transfusion.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] You know what I mean?
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Uh, it, it really, uh, I should say one arm giving another arm a transfusion through a leaky tube because,
[speaker002:] Yeah. There you go [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Right because, uh, there's an old saying in amongst taxes and politicians that there's a fly paper effect and that is that money tends to stick where it lands first and when you send it to Washington or send it to your state capitol, uh, a lot of it stays there and not that much comes back to you.
[speaker002:] Right, yeah.
[speaker001:] [Cough].
[speaker002:] I don't know. I, don't seem like they are doing much with it, I mean there's plans there and now that they are voting and people, you know, getting into drug and that stuff.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] They have nice plans and, uh, but, [LAUGHTER] they don't always work and then you know they try to raise taxes more and I don't what happens with [LAUGHTER] all the money because if their plans don't work, you know, but taxes get raise so. I don't know. I'm not really into politics, uh
[speaker001:] That it,
[speaker002:] I don't really understand it
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] but it's just you know [LAUGHTER],
[speaker001:] Well, it does it, it does seem that the more taxes that are raised the more the politicians spend. Uh, it's almost like they will spend as much as the, they're allowed to collect. You know.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] Uh, there is an interesting proposal that's been going around now for a few years of having a flat tax. Uh, ten percent or thirteen percent. There would be no figuring. I mean you would take your income tax, you would have a certain amount, I mean you would take you total salary
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] those who made under a certain amount wouldn't owe any taxes, and then there would be a set amount for however many people, you know, dependent you have, and you would just pay a flat tax. No exemptions, no deductions or anything else after you know, after you figure up who's in your family.
[speaker002:] Right. Huh.
[speaker001:] And that would eliminate a lot of the bureaucracy in the I R S and it would eliminate all these loop holes that the fat cats get away with.
[speaker002:] Yeah. The could be nice [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Huh.
[speaker001:] I, I'd like to see something like that. I think it would be fairer and it would put a, you know, a lot of the tax attorneys our of business and I am sure they will fight it tooth and nail, but I really think a flat tax would be a lot fairer for all Americans.
[speaker002:] Right, yeah.
[speaker001:] I mean it doesn't seem right that somebody that makes twenty-five or thirty thousand dollars pays four or five thousand dollars in taxes while somebody that makes two hundred and fifty thousand dollars might pay nothing in taxes.
[speaker002:] Right, huh.
[speaker001:] It doesn't seem fair to me.
[speaker002:] Yeah, it isn't, there is not much out there that is fair, that's for sure.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] Huh. I will agree to that.
[speaker001:] I think your taxes in Wisconsin are pretty high. I, I, if I am not mistaken, aren't they? {E I
[speaker002:] Uh,
[speaker001:] mean } for your state. What is, do you know what your state income tax rate is?
[speaker002:] Um, no
[speaker001:] Twenty percent?
[speaker002:] I, I have no idea, I just. My dad does it all for me [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Just, you just pay it, huh [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] I use,
[speaker001:] You're like, you're like my daughter who is in college down in Massachusetts and, uh, she works as a waitress and she is attending college full time also
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and she sends her taxes to me and I figure them up. She really has no idea. She gets a refund check and,