Re: Why I Pay Too Much in Taxes

[J�ri Kaljundi <jk@stallion.ee>]

 Sat, 4 May 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:

> Not wanting to join in this bashing of taxes--my views are clear, as
> evidenced in the title of this thread--but I have to point out that I paid
> approximately 60% of everything I made last year to the tax collectors!
> This counts the Federal income tax (about 32%), the California income tax
> (about 11%), the "self-employment tax" (FICA) for some consulting I did
> (15%), property tax on my old residence ($2200), property tax on my new
> residence ($4200), sales tax on purchases (8.25%), gasoline taxes (about
> 30-40 cents per gallon), a special tax on my Ford Explorer ($300), and
> probably some miscellaneous other taxes I have neglected.

Here in Estonia there was a proposal made in the parliament to remove
taxation on corporate income (right now there is a proportional corporate
income tax of 26%), which should bring more foreign investments into
Estonia and also make Estonian economy develop faster. Estonia I think is
one of few countries where there is a possibility of accepting this kind
of law. Of course European countries, USA and different international
financial organisations are very against this kind of law. This law would 
apply both to companies and to self-employed private persons (farmers for
example).

Other main taxes in Estonia are 26% proportional income tax for private
persons and 18% sales tax. There is also 33% tax on salaries paid which
includes social security and medical insurance.

Of course the government taxation is not working very effectively and a
big percentage of private persons and companies pay much less than what
they are supposed to. I believe this is common to many young Eastern and
Central European countries. Off-shore companies are also popular,
including Delaware, where people as I understand just do not pay the taxes
they are supposed to. Also many people use one-time off-shore corporations
for just one bigger business deal.

Juri Kaljundi
jk@stallion.ee
AS Stallion