June 2009 Spending Report
Another month past and a pretty ordinary month at that. Here are a few of the highlights.
Taxes – Because of the bonuses I relieved during the first couple months of the year and the requirement to tax them at the highest individual rate possible (35%) I thought I may have paid-in enough taxes. I ran a projected income to tax calculation and figured I didn’t need any more payroll tax withholding for the rest of the year. I made the adjustment to my W4 in May claiming “exempt” so my employer would stop withholding.
However, when I took a look at this month’s spending report and saw my taxes still at 6% it made me think. Although they are no longer withholding for Federal and State income tax purposes, I am still required to have taxes withheld for FICA purposes (Normally just above 7% for employee portion). I can’t believe that I am still paying 6% of my paycheck towards a program that I will never be able to participate in (that’s a discussion for another post). There are a lot of people that think if their effective tax rate is zero, they aren’t paying any taxes. As you can see, this isn’t the case.
Charity – We have been able to keep our giving at just above 10% which has been great considering the current economic conditions. We’d love to increase this in the future, but with our current situation this is what fits in the budget 
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