Reply #2: Every April when I sit down to figure out my taxes [View All]

I'm painfully reminded of this truism. So many deductions are structured so that you can't take them unless you're financially wiped out. All that crap about theft losses and medical expenses having to exceed a certain percentage of income before they're deductible. It's all bullshit. Meantime millionaires get to deduct mortgage interest and property taxes on vacation homes. It's all a racket.

It's true. As a "little guy" no one gives a flying fuck about you or your situation or your rights. Last year a guy down the block who owns a limo company decided to park his entire fleet on my street in a quiet residential neighborhood. It was terrible. Limo drivers coming and going at all hours. Changing their clothes in front of my house, etc. This is a small community with no real local government. That's at the county level. Multiple complaints to the police and county supervisor's office got me nowhere. The attitude was basically "tough shit. There's nothing we can do. Live with it." I had to research county ordinances on my own, find the one that applied since this was clearly a zoning law violation, get and submit the correct form, and then wait for a response which was not forthcoming. Fortunately the guy eventually sold the company and the limos disappeared. I just use this as one small example of how utterly powerless the average person is.

It's not whether you will be fucked. You are fucked. It's a question of how much and how often.