A day in the life of Fred

Four More Years!
I filed my taxes yesterday. Total federal income tax: $0.00. Total state income tax: $0.00. This makes four years in a row without paying a dime in income tax. Ever since the "retirement savings contribution credit" went into effect as a bone thrown to the poor as part of the tax cut for the rich in 2001, I've lived below taxable levels. I strive to maintain this as a form of protest against the actions of the federal government in recent years. I want to continue through 2008; we'll see if I succeed.

Yesterday, I figured out a simplistic threshold to keep in mind for this purpose. That threshold is $15000 Adjusted Gross Income, which is the level below which $2000 or more contributed to a retirement plan yields a $1000 available tax credit to offset any tax. If $2000 is the contribution amount, this would give a gross income of $17000. I contribute the maximum to my IRA each year, which means I can have up to $19000 gross income and still pay no tax. All these numbers are for a single filer.

Dave wrote up a web page which describes this succinctly:

http://www.sniggle.net/Experiment/index.php?entry=howto

To summarize, it's impressive just how extravagant a perfectly legal tax-resister's lifestyle can be!