I just filed my tax return for 2021, and what a crock of shit.
Paid over $13K in taxes withheld from work (roughly 15% of my income), and because I sold some stock (maybe $7000 worth) at the beginning of the year, I get literally $324 dollars back – to make it even better, I had to pay for an extra service of $119 just to file because I sold my stock. Even without the stock sale, I would have only gotten back about $1900 (only about 14% of what I paid in). I didn't get 86% worth of my investment this country, and that's for damn sure.
My stock trading was an investment – a risk I took that paid off. Would I have gotten some sort of bailout or compensation had it failed? Fuck no. Why should my reward for risking money be paying money? What's the incentive in working and paying taxes when they literally are used to pad sleeping politicians' pockets and build new billion dollar stadiums instead of, you know, education, roads, public services? Why should my taxes go into their pockets for pushing their agenda, meanwhile, there are plenty of scumbags who don't pay taxes at all and get away with millions of dollars.
Fuck this stupid system that oppresses people in every way possible. It would be different if I could see it being used properly, but it's just one more way to control money and keep people struggling. It may not seem like much to some, but I was counting on getting a refund so I could treat myself to something nice for working hard and saving. Fuck me, right?