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I was looking at my paycheck the other day and here’s what I found:

On my check, before taxes are taken out on my 401K, insurance, etc., it showed $2,109! (Sounds good, huh — biweekly?)

Now with taxes taken out, insurance, 401(k) and other benefits, my check came down to $1,511.

Take $1,511 divided by 40 hours (to make it a weekly check) equals $755.40.

I lost $4.29 an hour on my check — an hour! Between taxes, insurance, 401K, etc., that’s a lot of money. $4.29 an hour.

It’s not just the Democrats or Republicans — look at our local government. I went to go and get my car tabs, and here’s the finding on this ordeal:

• Tabs were $94

• $20 wheelage tax (used to be $10)

• $2.25 tech surcharge

• $8 state deputy filing fee — this is a new fee

• $1 VS deputy surcharge — this is a new surcharge

Total: $31.25 extra in fees and surcharges, plus the $94 for the tabs.

Last time I got my tabs Freeborn County even charged me $1 extra to use my own courthouse that I pay taxes on instead of doing it online.

So I’ve come to the conclusion that our local and state and federal governments don’t live within the budgets.

I personally think it’s time that the people in charge of my money (or taxes) live on my pay of five figures instead of six figures or more. Then maybe they would understand these fees and surcharges and taxes add up fast and take a chunk out of my check, and this also goes for the federal government when it comes to all my taxes that come out of my paycheck.

Dawn Meislahn
Albert Lea