this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2023
913 points (97.8% liked)

Memes

45670 readers
2050 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 30 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 69 points 1 year ago
[–] llamapocalypse@lemmy.world 54 points 1 year ago (1 children)

interest on student loan paynents, not even the full amount you pay.

[–] Vent@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Paying off principal is essentially shifting money from one pocket to another so it doesn't really make sense to get a writeoff for that.

[–] thesmokingman@programming.dev 27 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Why? If I am required to pay a certain amount of money back each month with interest and I have absolutely no way to wipe that debt away other than repaying it, why am I also getting taxed on that money as income? I am required to have a degree to earn money and I cannot pay for a degree without federal loans so why am I getting charged twice for them?

[–] Kokanee08@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago

The idea is that you were "given" that money when you got the loan and you weren't taxed on the value of the loan when it was provided to yoy, so you can't deduct it when you pay it back.

[–] SkyNTP@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

In at least some parts of Canada, for example, there are tuition credits which you can claim against income taxes later on.

I am required to have a degree to earn money

Not really true. You are required to have a degree to have a particular job of your choice. It's up to your government to decide if having that choice is something it wants to encourage, with income tax breaks equivalent to the cost of tuition (the loan principle) or if that is a luxury that is taxed like any other luxury.

The interest on loans is not a tax. It's the expense of accessing capital immediatly. Again, it's up to your government to decide if accessing capital immediatly is a necessity eligible for tax breaks, or a luxury that comes out of your after tax income.

Also don't forget consumption tax which may or may not apply (usually not on loan interest).

Income tax is a tax on everything, basically.

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

you are also only required to breathe air if you choose to carry on breathing as a choice. you can simply stop.

[–] thesmokingman@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

You can buy a house in Canada on a low skill job that doesn’t require a degree and doesn’t destroy your body? You certainly can’t in the US. Your statement is also incorrect in the US because of a flood of entry level folks with degrees. This has been a problem here since the 2008 crash. Jobs that didn’t require a degree ten years still don’t but won’t hire without one because of the hiring pool.

You’re totally right on paper. The real world is not theory though.

[–] Vent@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

When you pay principal, you are gaining that much value back as equity. It makes more sense if you think of a loan for something physical like a mortgage. If you pay $100 of principal on your mortgage, that money turns into equity that you own in your home so that when you sell you get that much more (in a simplified way).

You aren't losing the $100 you pay in principal, it's just transferring into an asset rather than liquid cash. With a student loan, that asset is your degree/education. It's a little different than a mortgage because the bank can't repossess your degree, but the underlying logic is the same.

You could also think of it like paying for your degree on a payment plan. You wouldn't expect to get a tax writeoff on your couch just because IKEA let you pay in monthly installments.

[–] Sabre363@sh.itjust.works 53 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Private jets = rich Student loan debt = low socioeconomic peasant (aka: Fuck you)

[–] Facebones@reddthat.com 2 points 1 year ago

Rowan has entered the chat 😂

[–] Mongostein@lemmy.ca 46 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Come on guys, it’s for business

[–] TheRaven@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 year ago

Think of the jobs they’ll create if they don’t pay their share of taxes! /s

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 37 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The only way student loans work in the United States is if they were designed to be a financial tool to prevent educated members of the working class to save up enough money to actually do anything with besides surviving the next few months.

[–] Four_lights77@lemm.ee 29 points 1 year ago

Well…they had to pay off the politicians that would write these nice little laws for them so it’s not all free, right!? /sarcasm

[–] pottedmeat7910@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Now that's not fair. All of those school teachers and construction workers can write off their private jets too. Laws are for everyone!

/s

[–] the_sisko@startrek.website 9 points 1 year ago

I once heard that argument in a different, yet equally rage inducing context: "outlawing same-sex marriage isn't discrimination! Everybody has the right to marry someone of the other sex" 🙄🙄🙄

[–] Unicode13051@lemmyf.uk 25 points 1 year ago (3 children)

You can write off a private jet, which is terrible for carbon emissions, but you can't write off an electric car?

[–] Cerothen@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can write off an electric car in the same way you can write off a jet. It's a company expense and required to perform your role in that company.

See the following steps to write anything at all off, note poor people may not have the prerequisite assets to make buying more assets tax free.

Step 1, create marketing company Step 2, assign income to that company from your other companies (you do have other companies right?) Step 3, do fun shit with stuff you bought Step 4 have accountant write it all off as marketing delivery expenses and client schmoozing.

[–] erogenouswarzone@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This is exactly right. This is why rich people don't pay taxes, because everything can be written off in service of a company. But it can only be written off against the taxes collected on the gains of the company, so unless your company makes money, it doesn't really make sense.

[–] Patches@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago

Since when did you think we care about carbon emissions?

[–] Morkyporky@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There is a tax rebate for electric cars.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Only up to $7,500, or none if your AGI is too high.

Also, capital losses

[–] neptune@dmv.social 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Inb4 all the "oh poor me, politics in my memes!" crowd

[–] sexy_peach@feddit.de 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

unfortunately almost everything is political.

[–] namesaregreat@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And politics lately are a meme.

[–] ComradePorkRoll@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

They always have been.

[–] unagi@feddit.nl 3 points 1 year ago

Ahh this was from one of the infamous YouTube Rewinds right?

[–] muischakl@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago