Sunday: Oh, I see. I scheduled that post.

Saves me the time of tracking it down and linking to it here.  Anyway: taxes. On tax day. Even though they aren't due until later this week.  I finally sat down to do mine today, and discovered that I didn't withhold as much as I should have this year, despite having the exact same value as I have the past two years.  Somehow I got screwed by that this time around.  I suspect part of it is the end of the Making Work Pay tax credit.  Since we have the legislative branch run by people who would prefer that work not actually pay, that clearly had to go.

Sitting down and running through everything led me to the conclusion that as a fraction of my gross pay, I pay 5.6% in FICA/Social Security, 14.6% in federal taxes, and 6.6% in state taxes, making my effective tax rate 26.9%.  This puts me in a the class of people who pay a higher tax rate than both the current president, and the guy who also wants the job.  I don't think it needs to be said that I clearly support a Buffet rule style tax code change (like this guy), as should everyone else who makes less than I do (something like 60% of the country).

One more thing that I noticed doing my taxes today: unless you have capital gains, a home mortgage, a spouse, or dependent children, there isn't very much you can do to decrease your taxes.  That kind of seriously sucks, and suggests that I should sit down and figure out if the current tax system makes it more worthwhile to get fake married or adopt a kid than to not do those things (capital gains would require more money, as would getting a house here in Honolulu).

The final tax related point for the day: I live in one of the highest cost of living places in the country.  A quick check of a cost of living calculator comparing my income with (for instance) Austin, TX shows that I could have my current lifestyle on about half my current income if I didn't live in Honolulu.  However, none of this is reflected in the tax code anywhere.  Because I need to make more to live as I do here, I therefore pay a higher tax rate relative to what I would in a different location.  If this were to change, this would largely shift some of the tax burden from high cost of living places (cities, coasts, high density locations, generally places that vote Democrat) to low cost of living places (the countryside, middle of the country, low density locations, generally places that vote Republican).  Since the Senate allocates equal votes to all states, and state governments gerrymander congressional districts to break up cities and decrease the voting power of those areas, I doubt this will ever change.

On the food front, I skipped today's food plan in favor of getting Panda Express and cleaning my kitchen for tomorrow.  Kind of lazy, and after seeing how much I have to pay, I kind of felt poor, but I was hungry, and didn't have enough bread to make a sandwich to eat for lunch tomorrow and one to eat today.  I think this also means that foie gras is off the menu for awhile.

Links:

• I have a hard time being sad for stories like this.  They chose to market their books through a system that promotes middlemen, and are now unhappy that amazon works on the concept of disintermediation.  Theoretically this should save money on both ends of the supply chain, and promote a more efficient market.
• This is a squirrel on a record player, trying to eat some nuts.  It is a simple link.
• This thing looks like pikachu.  Also simple.
• Google claims the GDP of the US is 14.59 trillion dollars.  This claims that the estimated tax receipts are 2.173 trillion dollars.  This works out to 14.9%.  This means that I pay the average tax rate, despite the fact that the ~40% of people who make more than me make something like 95% of all income.  This is the actual reason I'm angry this tax season. 
• This pretty much matches my speculation yesterday.  People who want more gun rights are terrified that they are in constant danger despite statistical evidence to the contrary.