Isn't this raising taxes?

[Jim50]

If the government takes $125 from you but then finds $25 of that was fraud (so you really only "owed" $100) but instead of giving you the $25 back (like they should since you didn't "owe" it) use it to pay for something else ... isn't that raising your taxes?

[political hack]

If the government takes $125 from you but then finds $25 of that was fraud (so you really only "owed" $100) but instead of giving you the $25 back (like they should since you didn't "owe" it) use it to pay for something else ... isn't that raising your taxes?

nope.

[Jim50]

nope.

Why not?

[Jim50]

Well were you already paying $125 before?

OK, say the electric company charges you $125 for $100 of electricity. You pay the $125 and then find out the bill was only $100. Wouldn't you want $25 of it back? Or would you use the argument "well, I already paid them $125"?

[Jim50]

I'd want it back, but if they've been charging me $125 for that same amount of electricity every month all along, they didn't raise the price since it's still the same. You could say the true value of the electricity is $100, but the price of it is $125 because of a markup- like in all retail. They're just being bastards.

Oh, so Comrade President Obama is being a bastard???? Come on, say it isn't so. But I can see you don't want to see the truth. Kool aid(tm) blindness has gotten to you.

However, somehow I suspect you'd be suing the electic company to get your overpayment back.

[Jim50]

I probably would, but at least I didn't overpay my taxes like you.

:)):)):)) Really? I guess you don't pay for Medicare then where Comrade President Obama is going to cut fraud and waste. :)):)):))

[psuedostratified]

If you overpay your taxes, you can file an amended return and the IRS will issue you a refund.

[grapabeaux]

If the government takes $125 from you but then finds $25 of that was fraud (so you really only "owed" $100) but instead of giving you the $25 back (like they should since you didn't "owe" it) use it to pay for something else... isn't that raising your taxes?

What do you mean by "something else"? Something else you owed, like back child support? Late student loan repayments?

[Jim50]

What do you mean by "something else"? Something else you owed, like back child support? Late student loan repayments?

Like a new government program. Say ... Socialist healthcare reform.

[grapabeaux]

Like a new government program. Say ... Socialist healthcare reform.

The only way you would be entitled to a refund is if you were actually taxed more than the law allows. Sadly, you don't have a claim to how the government decides to spend it. I don't know what kind of fraud you're talking about, but the decisions on how to tax and the decisions on how the money gets spent are two separate universes.

[Jim50]

The only way you would be entitled to a refund is if you were actually taxed more than the law allows. Sadly, you don't have a claim to how the government decides to spend it. I don't know what kind of fraud you're talking about, but the decisions on how to tax and the decisions on how the money gets spent are two separate universes.

You are saying if I pay $125 and the government spends the $125 but discovers $25 is fraud and gets a refund from the thief then they don't have to give that money back to me? How do I get into that racket. And even if I don't get a refund then next year I should only pay $100 (since the fraud has been eliminated).

Or, they charge me $125 this year but discover $25 is just waste. So they eliminate the waste. That means next year I pay them $100 (since the eliminated the waste).

But next year they STILL charge me $125 ($100 for the original and $25 for the new program). Either way, the government is taking MORE than they should or would be entitled to. If it weren't for the new programs I'd be paying the correct amount which is less without the new program. And how is that not a tax increase???

[E7ALR]

If the government takes $125 from you but then finds $25 of that was fraud (so you really only "owed" $100) but instead of giving you the $25 back (like they should since you didn't "owe" it) use it to pay for something else ... isn't that raising your taxes?You have to remember, the government finding that they have extra money in a program is like a drunk merchant sailor in front of a $2 cat house finding an extra $20 deep in his pocket. He isn't going to save it.

[Jim50]

You have to remember, the government finding that they have extra money in a program is like a drunk merchant sailor in front of a $2 cat house finding an extra $20 deep in his pocket. He isn't going to save it.

And as you can see by reading in this and many other places some people are so brain dead they actually think tax money belongs to the government. I'd feel sorry for them if they weren't trying to rob me too.

[agent_86]

printing money is a tax, and what the OP describes is a tax.

Wake up people.