Tax Myths You Probably Still Believe
The deadline to file your taxes is creeping around the corner. Yes, taxes can be confusing, but there are a couple of very common myths you need to know are not true. And this comes from Business Insider, not me, so you can trust it.
- Getting a tax refund back is bad. You hear this one a lot nowadays. You are basically giving Uncle Sam an interest free loan with your money. Let's say the number is $600. If you were to get interest on that $600, even on a high interest loan, you'd be making a whopping $1.50. Now, maybe you think you should just have that money to begin with. Well, unfortunately for most people, they would spend that money on something they don't really need because it would be in such small increments. But when it comes in a large chunk, like a refund, it's more likely to go to bills or something important.
- It's better to NOT make more money to avoid taxes. There are tax brackets, but it doesn't work the way lots of people think. If you jump from one tax bracket to another, you aren't taxed evenly on your entire salary. So you aren't going to somehow make less by getting a raise, because you're paying more in taxes. It's called 'marginal tax brackets'. You can read up on them HERE. The quick explanation is the amount of money you are in the higher tax bracket is the amount that is taxed higher. So if the line is $50,000, and you make $55,000. It's only $5,000 that will be taxed on the higher rate.