There is no rule of law, then what are we doing here? Why are we playing ball?
Ok, MAGA wants to burn it down. Good for MAGA, they still don’t get to decide for everyone.
I won’t be able to do this for long. Why aren’t we in the streets? What’s so great about your life that authoritarian rule is not a threat to you?
You are free to do whatever you want to do, however, there are consequences to your actions. If you believe that the US government will collapse and there will be no one to start garnishing your wages when you don’t report your taxes, then by all means, stop paying them.
Your reaction is “reactionary”, though. You come across as though you are looking for a reason to not pay taxes, and you think you’ve found one. Instead, you should be looking for ways to correct the problems you see. If you don’t like Musk, then find ways to undermine him. Refusal to pay your taxes isn’t it, though.
There is a whole government infrastructure in place to prevent musk which he has usurped. Why is it on me, and me alone?
You are giving false equivalency arguments. You are equating Musk’s abilities to some direct link in your taxes, as though the 25% you pay each paycheck is funding him. It isn’t. It is still funding garbage collection, national parks, welfare programs, and other critical infrastructure. Your taxes haven’t started going to new places. They are doing the exact same thing they have always done. You are being reactionary, and it comes off like you are either 15 years old and just learning about taxation, or 55 and learning about Libertarianism. Get a grip on yourself, realise that there is still work to be done, and being an infant about this shit isn’t doing anything but wasting people’s fucking time. If you don’t want to pay taxes, don’t. But don’t lie and say it’s about Musk. It’s selfishness. It’s because you can’t manage what money you have, and you think that little bit extra is going to make a difference. It won’t, though. You’ll still be broke because you spent all your money on weed and black light posters.
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You do realize you can still withhold federal, but not state taxes?
And I’m also aware of how much it will completely fuck you over if you do it.
You are not alone. You have the ability to make positive change. If you would wish to have a larger impact, organize, find strength with those in your community and it will grow.
Because of everyone does the thing with all the might necessary to do it themselves, then together they will do the biggest thing that’s ever been done.
Honestly - set your paycheck withholding to zero, hope others do the same to defund the government… and when tax day comes next year double check if the IRS still exists before submitting your payment.
100% doing this.
I’ll be an old man telling 16 year olds to withold 0 and create a savings account for tax day sounding like a depression era grandma telling you to reuse the trash bags.
What? You have it backwards. 0 withholdings means the largest amount withheld on your paycheck, and a higher refund end of year.
Just so you know, you will likely face underpayment penalties doing this.
I suggest you avoid giving 16 year olds tax advice.
No you won’t.
Yeah I will
Damn, guess you got em
That’s quite the hope to risk prison for on someone else’s advice.
I don’t think you’ll want to risk prison time, especially when you risk being locked up alongside MS-13 gang members.
Trump has agreed a deal with Nayib Bukele that will effectively allow him to deport illegal immigrants of any nationality to El Salvador and transfer US prisoners to their facilities.
Just make sure to set those taxes aside so if it does still exist you don’t end up in jail for nonpayment.
Most employers don’t give you that option.
If you’re an employee, you should have filled out a W4 when you started your job to indicate your tax withholding. You are able to submit a new W4 at any time
This is bad advice. The annual income you report on your taxes indicates how much you should have been setting aside throughout the year. Failing to do so can result in fines. There are exceptions for when your income increases part way through a year, but if you do what you describe, they WILL ding you for that.
You misunderstand how tax withholding works. When you sign up for tax withholding, the IRS gets a portion of your wage each paycheck and sets it aside for you to cover your tax bill the following year. The IRS is only holding that money for you during that time before your annual bill is due, in what amounts to you loaning the government money interest-free. Many people do not withhold taxes and just pay it all at once. And yes, at this point, whether the IRS will exist as a functioning entity in 2026 is a legitimate question, so not giving them a free loan might be a good idea
You don’t pay all at once, you need to pay quarterly tax estimates or you will be constantly paying penalties.
I really wish people would stop giving bad tax advice to strangers.
https://www.irs.gov/payments/underpayment-of-estimated-tax-by-individuals-penalty
This! Thank you! Apologies for getting the reason for the penalty wrong, but I have personally had to pay this and I was starting to feel gaslit. Turns out, when you go on unemployment, you should still withhold for taxes even if you feel like you need that money more while unemployed.
Thank you for posting something like this. It’s clear that some folks posting have no clue what they’re talking about.
You can underwithold income and payroll taxes through the year. There is no need to have periodic withholding it is just a convenience for budgeting.
The thing you cannot do if you don’t declare standard withholding is fall short or pay late (without a qualified extension). If you’re unable to pay the taxes you declined to pay through the year they will go after you. And if you’re late paying you will pay pretty significant interest on your owed amount.
Does it matter who has the monopoly on violence, if you don’t? Ultimately, you pay taxes because if you refuse to for long enough, burly men with guns will eventually take your stuff and lock you up.
Why aren’t burly men coming for musk? How can my neighbor sit by and let it happen to me when they see nothing happen to him? The man illegally sticking their hand in their pocket.
Why aren’t burly men coming for musk?
He has the support of the people with a monopoly on violence.
How can my neighbor sit by and let it happen to me
The fact that your neighbor can’t do anything is what makes it a monopoly.
The reason I would do it is not for monetary gain. I don’t believe I’m talking with someone who understands what the implications are of having musk in control all of the US’s appropriated funds.
You seem to think there is some kind of cosmic balance.
There is not.
Musk in charge, you aren’t. That’s why he gets to do what he wants and you don’t. And it sucks.
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We are probably past the point where any sort of small conflict or skirmish can change anything. We need to think how we can establish a long term, sustained, counter to what the trumples are doing.
This is just an example, but another poster wanted to say this is all a conflict of country vs city. Suppose that’s true, well then we a clear path to solving it. If rural people can attack city folks politically, there are certainly ways we can retaliate. Rural people are so isolated they have no idea how much they depend on the manufacturing and industry residing in cities. That doesn’t have to be the end of it either. We can leave the urban centers and do work from home or get by through other means.
These are just examples of how we need to be thinking. We tried really hard to change the laws that oppress people and what resulted was an attack on equity and people who believe in it. We need to regroup, understanding the law has never been on our side, and form new strategies that accomplish the same goals.
The last thing we should do is abandon our beliefs.
You will be fined or jailed if you do not.
Ok, but depending on your situation, you’ve already paid your taxes and filing them is you telling the IRS to give you a refund.
Because not paying your taxes will draw attention from what remains of the system. I’m not thrilled about paying taxes to the dead and looted corpse of our government, but it’s better to stay under the radar.
Stay under the radar for what? Praying I’m not next? So I can continue an unfulfilled life as a wage slave and blink out of existence having learned or felt nothing of importance?
For being a low-key menace. https://www.cia.gov/static/5c875f3ec660e092cf893f60b4a288df/SimpleSabotage.pdf
Menance away
Just throw away all your money and live like half the rest of us, broke. If you have no money, you have nothing to tax.
I am broke, no doubt, but they take the money from checks.
You get a check? Like, those paper payments?
I haven’t found one bank or establishment that’ll cash any of my former employer’s checks in over a decade. They tell me the companies I worked for aren’t registered as trusted employers/check issuers.
My past employers all had to cash their own damn checks and hand me cash money. And that’s largely why I quit repairing computers, tablets and phones back in 2017, apparently all the tech companies here are shady, to the point even their own banks don’t trust them.
Wish I knew what it was like to have an honest employer…
Edit: I was even denied direct deposit from my own bank. Why? Shit, even the bank manager didn’t know. So I closed my bank account and have been on paper cash money for about a decade. I have no reason to trust banks that won’t even let money be deposited into my account.
=/ not like a paper check, no. You ok, bro?
Read my edited comment.
No, I’m not exactly okay, my old bank and past employers all fucked me on getting paid.
Well musk is circling the wagons about to fuck us all, so I guess we have that in common.
Very sad timeline we live in…
Legit point.
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