Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!
Our offices will be closed from Wednesday, November 21st through the weekend, coming back to work from our post-turkey comas Monday the 26th. We hope you all enjoy your feasts and family! We know the Taxman will be enjoying the festivities with you;
Image source: Venice2point0.blogspot.com
As you prepare to lay out a feast for your family to celebrate Thanksgiving, I’m sure you think about what you’re thankful for. But have you ever thought how happy the holiday makes the taxman? Me neither. Instead, I’m usually focused on my family.
He’s thankful that we spend billions of taxable dollars celebrating the turkey-fueled holiday. Consider what you spend and how much of it is taxable and you’ll quickly see that the federal and state revenuers may be even more thankful than we are – with good cause. Consider these fast facts about what aspects of your Turkey Day are a tax boon:
Image source: NYDailyNews.com
Travel Costs - This year gas costs are up and airfare as well. Airfare costs are up 9% over last year and if you wait too long to book, it could tack $100 on each leg of your flight. The average Thanksgiving flight fare runs $386-$600 and 15% of this is made up of taxes according to a MIT study. And even if you eschew air travel in favor of the good old family road trip, you may avoid long lines at airport security, but you won’t avoid the taxman. Nearly 30 cents per gallon goes to state and Federal taxes!
Food Costs – We spend an average of $49.48 on our holiday feast according to the American Farm Bureau, up 28 cents from last year. I don’t doubt their math, but I know at our house, we spend a lot more than that. The turkey alone runs $25, homemade mac and cheese another $5, homemade rolls are cheap at about $1, cranberry sauce (love the canned version) is another $1, fresh green beans run $3, dressing ingredients are around $5, sweet potatoes and marshmallows for the sweet side dish are about $6 – bringing us up to $46 before I begin my desserts.
A good pumpkin pie costs at least $5 to make and my signature apple crumb pie (fave of my mom and me) costs closer to $8. Then there’s cool whip, pecan pie, and you’re up closer to $60! Depending on your state sales tax on food, you could pay anywhere from 0% up to 7.25% sales tax on your food costs.
Image source: TXU.com
Utility Costs – This is one cost I never really considered, but over Thanksgiving, we consume lots of gas and electricity as well as turkey and leftovers. We crank up our ovens non-stop for the day, keep the TV running for the Macy’s parade and the ensuing bowl games, run all the lights, add lots of extra toilet flushes from visiting family and go through gallons of water to clean pots and pans. The estimated increase in electric costs alone for Thanksgiving are $25 million nationwide and that’s taxable to you. You’ll pay a minimum of 3% and typically much more on the costs of your utilities expended for the holiday!
Image source: IndyWeek.com
Alcohol Costs – With Thanksgiving comes football and with football comes beer. As well, many families like to enjoy wine with their holiday dinner. I usually tip some amaretto into my pecan and apple pies and an occasional nip of Baileys on ice keeps the cooking stress at bay… You’ll pay between 11 cents and up to $2.50 in tax per gallon of wine purchased, beer comes with taxes of between 8 cents up to $1.07 per gallon. Hard liquor (including the aperitifs I cook with) are taxed at much higher rates of up to $20 per gallon depending on where you live. These are known as sin taxes and were once employed to discourage drinking, but now to line the taxman’s pocket!
Reviewing all these costs (including all the taxes I’ll be paying) and thinking about how long it’s going to take me to cook for everyone has me reconsidering my Thanksgiving plans altogether. I’m tempted by the lure of a trip south of the border to somewhere like Costa Rica where I can be waited on hand and foot and the only turkey I have to worry about is the one I’m married to lying on the beach beside me. Hmm… No, I guess Thanksgiving is inevitable, as are the taxes we’ll pay to enjoy our feast and the tryptophan-induced post-turkey comas that will follow.
Security Tax Services LLC
North Sound South Sound
2802 Wetmore Ave, Suite 212 33530 1st Way S, Suite 102
Everett, WA 98201 Federal Way, WA 98003
425.339.2400 253.237.0751
fax 425.259.1099 fax 253.237.0701
No comments:
Post a Comment