Like, if its collapsed, do I file? Do I even have to?
I am most certainly going to pay my state tax, but then what? What about stuff like my social security funds?
(I am asking for others because we’re at that point now I suppose)
Im not sure what you mean by we are at this point. The government will be collapsed to that level when it lacks the beuracracy and then you would not be getting the witholding done on your paycheck because there would be no system to do so. Alternatively if the government loses the capability of enforcing it that would let you get away with it. If the withholding is going on and if your not relatively rich, then odds are doing your taxes results in a refund.
Yes even if you are dead you have to file taxes
So that’s why it’s death and taxes, not taxes and death.
You are assuming you will still have a job, or that US dollars will still have value.
Always file. If the IRS collapses you paperwork means nothing. If it survives a collapse, having not filled will bite you in the ass.
if you think it’s all likely to fall apart soon, file asap if you’re expecting to get money back, but put it off as long as possible if you’re gonna have to pay them more. if the government is going down, might as well get your piece of it while you can.
IRS has plans listed for an apocalyptic event (basically they need to continue tax collection within 48 hours), but they do work for the government. Without the government; you wouldn’t need to pay taxes; but it would be the least of your concerns.
If the government collapses, you’re gunna have much worse things to worry about than taxes.
World peace?
You cannot escape the tax person.
They will come to you, either in suits, or in military uniforms. And they will collect what you legally owe to them.
(If the civillian government falls, the military will just take over and rule under martial law)
Rest assured, you will be paying taxes to somebody until the day you die.
Not if you’re a billionaire with an electric car company.
Musk may have paid little or no federal income taxes since at least 2014—despite his ballooning fortune—so the one-time payment of $8.3 billion (or even $11 billion) in essence covers multiple years. According to ProPublica’s analysis of IRS records, Musk paid no federal income taxes in 2018. Between 2014 and 2018 his wealth grew by $13.9 billion, yet he paid just $455 million in federal income taxes, a rate of only 3.27%.
Yep, that is how capital gains works for everyone, including you and me. You pay taxes on them when you sell, when you have income.
You and me cant use those unseen capital gains as collateral to buy a propaganda machine.
Put a percentage of every paycheck into an index fund (ex: VTI) and sit on them for a few years. You too will have capital gains.
Average returns on index funds are 6%-8%/yr, compounding. They are a solid long-term investment.
Tesla has sold quite a lot, yet paid almost nothing in taxes. So obviously it doesn’t work that way for “everyone”.
https://itep.org/tesla-reported-zero-federal-income-tax-in-2024/
Tesla is not Musk, yes companies are taxed differently than individuals. Notably by profit, not income.
Musk paid $11b in capital gains tax when he sold, that is how capital gains taxes work for everyone. Same as you and me.
You will end up paying the share of taxes to your state government that you currently do to the federal government. If the federal government collapses, all 50 states are now de facto independent. Those states can now start forming a new country or new collection of countries as they will.
Do people really think the US state and its monopoly on violence is going to collapse in the foreseeable future?
The US has been run by oligarchs since its formation as a bourgeois state after its bourgeois revolution (previously). That this is more nakedly obvious this week than last doesn’t really change that fact.
Every nation in the world is a capitalist oligarchy if you haven’t noticed. Every state is evil.
The only way to fix it, is to abolish statism worldwide.
To be fair, if you’re a W-2 employee, they already have your money from withholding. So it’s not like you’re taking dollars from the irs by not filing your return, it just means you don’t get your rebate.
On that note… it might make sense to set a really low withholding this year.
Try to set it so nobody owes anybody much. If you fall too short on withholding you can end up paying interest on the difference.
