Mustachian People Problems (just for fun)

[Shinplaster]

I would have asked the person directly in front of the dipwad to also put his seat back as far as it would go.  And not move it forward again until/unless dipwad did the same.

[Dollar Slice]

I signed up for a credit card with a mere $50 bonus because the 3% rewards categories were so specifically tailored to my lifestyle. It makes me inexplicably happy to have a card with those categories, but I still feel a little bad that I wasted a credit card slot on it. There's just no winning with this brain sometimes.

[wannabe-stache]

What "problems" do you have as a result of your mustachian lifestyle? Here's one of mine:

My single garage is nicely organized, with plenty of room for our car and bikes. Since the driveway is always empty, maybe a thief will think we're out of town, break in, and be very disappointed with our few outdated electronics and complete absence of jewelery.

my hair is getting too long b/c i keep putting off haircuts.  and no i can't shave my head and no my wife won't cut it (she's scared she'll screw it up).

[Zaga]

Worst flight I was on, I was 14, coming home from a church event out west.  Layover in Las Vegas.  I ended up sitting between this couple on the leg from Vegas to Cleveland, they were probably in their 30s or 40s, drunk.  Had just met the week before, then spent the weekend in Vegas, got progressively drunker on the flight (they started out fairly tipsy).  One insisted on the aisle seat, the other the window seat.  They talked/yelled over me the entire flight!  The rest of my church group was like 10 rows behind me, and when we got off the plane they were full of stories about the couple that I was sitting between.  They were so loud that my group 10 rows back could hear them!

I think I'm still a little traumatized by that plane flight.

[Fomerly known as something]

Having to wait (impatiently) until the close of business today to see if I need to make adjustments to my new Roth TSP (I have been making contributions to the traditional for years.) 

[elliha]

Worst flight I was on, I was 14, coming home from a church event out west.  Layover in Las Vegas.  I ended up sitting between this couple on the leg from Vegas to Cleveland, they were probably in their 30s or 40s, drunk.  Had just met the week before, then spent the weekend in Vegas, got progressively drunker on the flight (they started out fairly tipsy).  One insisted on the aisle seat, the other the window seat.  They talked/yelled over me the entire flight!  The rest of my church group was like 10 rows behind me, and when we got off the plane they were full of stories about the couple that I was sitting between.  They were so loud that my group 10 rows back could hear them!

I think I'm still a little traumatized by that plane flight.

I ended up next to (thankfully not in between) a Norwegian couple who were really drunk once on a flight to England. They were loud, smelled of alcohol, drank more alcohol on the flight and the man became really really drunk. He kept asking me questions but was too drunk to understand Swedish (Swedes and Norwegians generally understand each other well). He asked me what I was doing in England after telling me he was going to a football match and after having sung some support song for the team and I told him I was going to a conference. He could not understand this word at all and I tried it in English and repeated it in Swedish several times. It wasn't until his wife told him what I was doing in Norwegian that he understood what I meant. The Swedish and Norwegian words for conference are almost the same... When we were landing the man looked very much like he would vomit. I was next to him and feared having my clothes and shoes covered in vomit mostly consisting of booze. Thankfully he made it without vomiting. My colleagues felt very bad for me having to sit next to these people.

[Trifle]

My MPP is that once every couple of months my employer, as a perk, emails us some discounts and special deals that they have worked out with local merchants.  And they are never anything I can use. 

I have all the "stuff" I need; I wouldn't go to the XYZ fancy spa or the ABC jewelry store and use their 10% discount.  And I don't need services like lawn mowing or carpet cleaning. 

I wish for once they would get us a discount at a grocery store or Tractor Supply, something like that.  I'm going to suggest it -- we'll see.   

[Linea_Norway]

My MPP is that once every couple of months my employer, as a perk, emails us some discounts and special deals that they have worked out with local merchants.  And they are never anything I can use. 

I have all the "stuff" I need; I wouldn't go to the XYZ fancy spa or the ABC jewelry store and use their 10% discount.  And I don't need services like lawn mowing or carpet cleaning. 

I wish for once they would get us a discount at a grocery store or Tractor Supply, something like that.  I'm going to suggest it -- we'll see.

Sounds familiar. We sometimes have a deal for sports clothes. The prices I see are usually higher than what I use to pay for the same item on discount elsewhere.

[BTDretire]

PhilB: It may be US vehicles. I've driven roughly 20-25 manual vehicles in the US (owned 9 of them), and of those, the only one that would start without the clutch pedal fully depressed so that the clutch was disengaged was a backhoe. And it appeared to have been manufactured in the north of England.

 My '62' Ford Falcon Futura was like that, I bought that when I was 15 and put 50 miles on it in a 50ft driveway :-)

[stoaX]

The strong emphasis on bicycling on this blog has caused me a mustachian people problem: when I walk to the grocery store I feel guilty that I didn't ride my bike!

[Slow&Steady]

Worst flight I was on, I was 14, coming home from a church event out west.  Layover in Las Vegas.  I ended up sitting between this couple on the leg from Vegas to Cleveland, they were probably in their 30s or 40s, drunk.  Had just met the week before, then spent the weekend in Vegas, got progressively drunker on the flight (they started out fairly tipsy).  One insisted on the aisle seat, the other the window seat.  They talked/yelled over me the entire flight!  The rest of my church group was like 10 rows behind me, and when we got off the plane they were full of stories about the couple that I was sitting between.  They were so loud that my group 10 rows back could hear them!

I think I'm still a little traumatized by that plane flight.

I was on a flight between an Asian grandmother and her grandson, neither of them wanted to switch me seats but they did want to pass their food back and forth over the top of me the entire flight.  It smelled wonderfully, they never offered to share it with me.

[GuitarStv]

I would have smiled at you.

Top 5 worst passengers
1) person reeking of perfume
2) person reeking of secondhand smoke or BO
3) kid kicking nonstop behind me
4) middle seat
5) non-stop screaming baby

I think you got 4 wrong. 

I was recently on a long haul flight in the middle of the day (take off 10am) and a guy near us had an absolute nightmare.

The person in front of him dropped their seat back to full recline as soon as we got in the air.  It was one of the new boeing planes and in economy when the seat in front is reclined, it completely wipes out your leg room and puts your screen on a near horizontal angle about 5 inches from your face.  It seems like it's meant for overnight flights when everyone wants to sleep.

Despite repeated pleas from both the cabin crew and the poor guy who now had literally zero space.. the other passenger refused to even put it half way back up.  This might not sound like a big deal but the guy couldn't even eat his meal because there wasn't enough room for the tray table to go down. 

He had the patience of a saint, I don't think I'd have been able to deal with that for 11 hours.

Having been on dozens of long haul flights on all sorts of carriers and aircrafts, I have never once seen a situation as you describe.

Economy seats never recline very much, and unless one is really, really overweight, or really, really tall, there is no way to end up with zero legroom and the seat inches from one's face.

Which route was this on?

And to add to that list, the worst passengers are the parents who take their screaming baby up and down the aisle to make sure they wake everyone up instead of just the immediate neighbors. Drug your babies before flights, people, it's not going to kill them.

Baby died.  Now what?  I assume you’re gonna make me a new one?

It's quiet on the plane now.  You're trying to punish the guy for solving the problem?  :P

[dragoncar]

I would have smiled at you.

Top 5 worst passengers
1) person reeking of perfume
2) person reeking of secondhand smoke or BO
3) kid kicking nonstop behind me
4) middle seat
5) non-stop screaming baby

I think you got 4 wrong. 

I was recently on a long haul flight in the middle of the day (take off 10am) and a guy near us had an absolute nightmare.

The person in front of him dropped their seat back to full recline as soon as we got in the air.  It was one of the new boeing planes and in economy when the seat in front is reclined, it completely wipes out your leg room and puts your screen on a near horizontal angle about 5 inches from your face.  It seems like it's meant for overnight flights when everyone wants to sleep.

Despite repeated pleas from both the cabin crew and the poor guy who now had literally zero space.. the other passenger refused to even put it half way back up.  This might not sound like a big deal but the guy couldn't even eat his meal because there wasn't enough room for the tray table to go down. 

He had the patience of a saint, I don't think I'd have been able to deal with that for 11 hours.

Having been on dozens of long haul flights on all sorts of carriers and aircrafts, I have never once seen a situation as you describe.

Economy seats never recline very much, and unless one is really, really overweight, or really, really tall, there is no way to end up with zero legroom and the seat inches from one's face.

Which route was this on?

And to add to that list, the worst passengers are the parents who take their screaming baby up and down the aisle to make sure they wake everyone up instead of just the immediate neighbors. Drug your babies before flights, people, it's not going to kill them.

Baby died.  Now what?  I assume you’re gonna make me a new one?

It's quiet on the plane now.  You're trying to punish the guy for solving the problem?  :P

Making babies is now a punishment?

[GuitarStv]

I would have smiled at you.

Top 5 worst passengers
1) person reeking of perfume
2) person reeking of secondhand smoke or BO
3) kid kicking nonstop behind me
4) middle seat
5) non-stop screaming baby

I think you got 4 wrong. 

I was recently on a long haul flight in the middle of the day (take off 10am) and a guy near us had an absolute nightmare.

The person in front of him dropped their seat back to full recline as soon as we got in the air.  It was one of the new boeing planes and in economy when the seat in front is reclined, it completely wipes out your leg room and puts your screen on a near horizontal angle about 5 inches from your face.  It seems like it's meant for overnight flights when everyone wants to sleep.

Despite repeated pleas from both the cabin crew and the poor guy who now had literally zero space.. the other passenger refused to even put it half way back up.  This might not sound like a big deal but the guy couldn't even eat his meal because there wasn't enough room for the tray table to go down. 

He had the patience of a saint, I don't think I'd have been able to deal with that for 11 hours.

Having been on dozens of long haul flights on all sorts of carriers and aircrafts, I have never once seen a situation as you describe.

Economy seats never recline very much, and unless one is really, really overweight, or really, really tall, there is no way to end up with zero legroom and the seat inches from one's face.

Which route was this on?

And to add to that list, the worst passengers are the parents who take their screaming baby up and down the aisle to make sure they wake everyone up instead of just the immediate neighbors. Drug your babies before flights, people, it's not going to kill them.

Baby died.  Now what?  I assume you’re gonna make me a new one?

It's quiet on the plane now.  You're trying to punish the guy for solving the problem?  :P

Making babies is now a punishment?

Is it supposed to be fun?

[Paul der Krake]

No baby making on the plane please.

[Hirondelle]

I thought I had lost my phone charger after a day at the beach as I couldn't find it in my bag. My other charger was at work, so I had to wait till I got to work to charge my phone (it happened on a weekend). 

Three days later I find the charger in my wallet. So I basically thought I lost my charger because I hadn't used my wallet in 3 days.

[Dicey]

My MPP is that once every couple of months my employer, as a perk, emails us some discounts and special deals that they have worked out with local merchants.  And they are never anything I can use. 

I have all the "stuff" I need; I wouldn't go to the XYZ fancy spa or the ABC jewelry store and use their 10% discount.  And I don't need services like lawn mowing or carpet cleaning. 

I wish for once they would get us a discount at a grocery store or Tractor Supply, something like that.  I'm going to suggest it -- we'll see.

This was me at a long-ago job. I spoke to the person who was tasked with making these arrangements. She said I was free to make my own deals on behalf of my co-workers and she would add them to the program, so I did. I can't remember the specifics, but it was something I wanted to buy anyway. She got some fresh ideas and i got my discount on [whatever] for the win.

[Just Joe]

PhilB: It may be US vehicles. I've driven roughly 20-25 manual vehicles in the US (owned 9 of them), and of those, the only one that would start without the clutch pedal fully depressed so that the clutch was disengaged was a backhoe. And it appeared to have been manufactured in the north of England.

Somewhere in the early 90s the gov't passed a rule in the USA that required the clutch pedal to be pressed in order for the starter motor to function. My late 80s manual transmissions did not require that and none of my 60s or 70s vehicle needed the clutch pushed to start the engine. 

A few more years and the kids will be asking what a clutch is. Similar confusion to references to Hee-Haw, Captain Kangaroo and rotary phones.

[Just Joe]

DH and I broke our bed last night, again. It is one of the places that holds the slatted base. DH repaired it before. Obviously when we lay together on the same half of the bed, we are too heavy for the tiny screws. Or the bed is just getting old. I think we bought it in '96 or '97.
I have now decided that I want to replace it as I don't like risking to break the bed.

DH is tall, so we need a 210 cm bed rather than the standard size 200 cm that Ikea sells. Maybe we can make something ourselves that can hold the base.

Check out the Ana-White website for free bed plans - or just make new side rails for your old bed.

[Rural]

PhilB: It may be US vehicles. I've driven roughly 20-25 manual vehicles in the US (owned 9 of them), and of those, the only one that would start without the clutch pedal fully depressed so that the clutch was disengaged was a backhoe. And it appeared to have been manufactured in the north of England.

Somewhere in the early 90s the gov't passed a rule in the USA that required the clutch pedal to be pressed in order for the starter motor to function. My late 80s manual transmissions did not require that and none of my 60s or 70s vehicle needed the clutch pushed to start the engine. 

A few more years and the kids will be asking what a clutch is. Similar confusion to references to Hee-Haw, Captain Kangaroo and rotary phones.

Interesting. My manual cars and trucks have ranged from the mid-'60s to a 2001. Clutch disengaged to start on all. Hm. Except maybe a '64 Ford Econoline van. I'm not sure that one had to have the clutch depressed. Can't remember.


A few more years and none of the kids will be able to drive in Europe, I guess. They already don't know what the "save" icon is supposed to be a picture of. :)

[Hula Hoop]

Yes, here in Europe, or at least Italy, it's pretty much all manual cars.  I just learnt to drive a manual and was taught clutch pedal depressed and car in neutral to start.

[Trifle]

My MPP is that once every couple of months my employer, as a perk, emails us some discounts and special deals that they have worked out with local merchants.  And they are never anything I can use. 

I have all the "stuff" I need; I wouldn't go to the XYZ fancy spa or the ABC jewelry store and use their 10% discount.  And I don't need services like lawn mowing or carpet cleaning. 

I wish for once they would get us a discount at a grocery store or Tractor Supply, something like that.  I'm going to suggest it -- we'll see.

This was me at a long-ago job. I spoke to the person who was tasked with making these arrangements. She said I was free to make my own deals on behalf of my co-workers and she would add them to the program, so I did. I can't remember the specifics, but it was something I wanted to buy anyway. She got some fresh ideas and i got my discount on [whatever] for the win.

Cool Dicey -- thanks.  I will keep that in mind for when I talk to them.  We do have a couple big purchases coming up for our house construction and it would be great to get a discount on those.   

[SwordGuy]

A few more years and the kids will be asking what a clutch is. Similar confusion to references to Hee-Haw, Captain Kangaroo and rotary phones.

A few more years and none of the kids will be able to drive in Europe, I guess. They already don't know what the "save" icon is supposed to be a picture of. :)

Saw a video of a US state department briefing in which the youngish spokesperson was discussing the strong bonds between the US and Germany.  Her example was "Tomorrow is the anniversary of the D-Day invasion."

Pretty awesome.

Not up there with the all time best of the US diplomat who had the Arabs and Israelis in a room, who started to bicker, and he suggested they sit down and discuss the matter like good Christians.

[techwiz]

They already don't know what the "save" icon is supposed to be a picture of. :)

I am sure that old floppy disk icon is in the process of being replaced with the "cloud" icon. 

The enterprising over marketing of the "cloud" is one of my pet peeve's. Just the other day I had to explain to someone that they don't have to worry about a plane running into their data!  ....and no we are not building large data centres floating up in the sky! (well not yet anyways)

[Paul der Krake]

I have considered getting a French driver license (they last a lifetime, no expiration) just to avoid the concerned looks at the rental counter in Europe when presenting a US license.

I was taught to remain in gear unless necessary, so that’s how I park and start a car too.

[elliha]

I have considered getting a French driver license (they last a lifetime, no expiration) just to avoid the concerned looks at the rental counter in Europe when presenting a US license.

I was taught to remain in gear unless necessary, so that’s how I park and start a car too.

My former colleague has a French license. The old ones were more or less just a piece of paper. When she started driving in Sweden the police thought she was trying to trick them when she pulled out her little paper booklet and told them it was a driver's license. Now I think they are plastic like in most countries but she told me how she with her at the time limited Swedish had to try to explain that she was not shitting them and this was her very real driver's license and she had not just put something together herself on the computer.

[Paul der Krake]

I have considered getting a French driver license (they last a lifetime, no expiration) just to avoid the concerned looks at the rental counter in Europe when presenting a US license.

I was taught to remain in gear unless necessary, so that’s how I park and start a car too.

My former colleague has a French license. The old ones were more or less just a piece of paper. When she started driving in Sweden the police thought she was trying to trick them when she pulled out her little paper booklet and told them it was a driver's license. Now I think they are plastic like in most countries but she told me how she with her at the time limited Swedish had to try to explain that she was not shitting them and this was her very real driver's license and she had not just put something together herself on the computer.

Argh you're right, the old lifetime paper ones have been phased out, but they remain valid. I should have gotten it before they rolled out the new plastic cards.

[Rural]

They already don't know what the "save" icon is supposed to be a picture of. :)

I am sure that old floppy disk icon is in the process of being replaced with the "cloud" icon. 

The enterprising over marketing of the "cloud" is one of my pet peeve's. Just the other day I had to explain to someone that they don't have to worry about a plane running into their data!  ....and no we are not building large data centres floating up in the sky! (well not yet anyways)

Oh, ffs. There's just no hope for humanity.

[LennStar]

They already don't know what the "save" icon is supposed to be a picture of. :)

I am sure that old floppy disk icon is in the process of being replaced with the "cloud" icon. 

The enterprising over marketing of the "cloud" is one of my pet peeve's. Just the other day I had to explain to someone that they don't have to worry about a plane running into their data!  ....and no we are not building large data centres floating up in the sky! (well not yet anyways)

I would be careful with that. We DO build them underwater nowadays.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/01/technology/microsoft-underwater-data-center/index.html

her little paper booklet and told them it was a driver's license. Now I think they are plastic

That certainly was/is the case in Germany.
My mother's is still the paper - it does not expire - while I got a plastic one.

@Cloud storage:

That is just a fancy way of saying All your data are belong to us!

[FIRERoad]

Anyone else thought they found their long lost tribe when they found this site or read the comments on this topic?

[dragoncar]

They already don't know what the "save" icon is supposed to be a picture of. :)

I am sure that old floppy disk icon is in the process of being replaced with the "cloud" icon. 

The enterprising over marketing of the "cloud" is one of my pet peeve's. Just the other day I had to explain to someone that they don't have to worry about a plane running into their data!  ....and no we are not building large data centres floating up in the sky! (well not yet anyways)

Oh, ffs. There's just no hope for humanity.

Not a plane, but watch out for flying backhoes!

[FIRERoad]

When something aggravating happens at work I have an irresistible urge to say "FU, I'm out here: I'm gonna retire".

I've had the thought of needing to get some sort of debt so that I do not actually do this right now.....

[shelivesthedream]

I had no idea Trump was visiting Britain until today. I had been making plans for a day trip on the day he arrived that would have walked me right into protests. We changed the date.

...but I still love my low-information diet.

[Slow&Steady]

They already don't know what the "save" icon is supposed to be a picture of. :)

I am sure that old floppy disk icon is in the process of being replaced with the "cloud" icon. 

The enterprising over marketing of the "cloud" is one of my pet peeve's. Just the other day I had to explain to someone that they don't have to worry about a plane running into their data!  ....and no we are not building large data centres floating up in the sky! (well not yet anyways)

Oh, ffs. There's just no hope for humanity.

Not a plane, but watch out for flying backhoes!

I find this hilarious but that is probably just because in the past I have made way too many calls to have lines marked and I have seen way to many workers marking lines.  I am pretty sure there is a good % of those line markers that are just guessing, my backhoe operators have agreed with me.

[Linea_Norway]

I had no idea Trump was visiting Britain until today. I had been making plans for a day trip on the day he arrived that would have walked me right into protests. We changed the date.

...but I still love my low-information diet.

There is usually so much fuss about American presidents visiting. My DH was once running across a street in Oslo to catch a train and he got a machine gun pointed on him by some military police person. Turned out that Bill Clinton was visiting and the police was nervous for running people. Not a nice experience when you live in a country where machine guns are usually not used.

[Freckles]

Not a nice experience for anyone!

[Chris22]

My car flashes an "oil change soon" light every time you start it up when it gets down to 15% oil life remaining.  You have to hit a button to avoid having to look at the orange message on the dash.  Given how much I drive, it will take 3-4 months to get to 0-5% remaining (when I will change the oil) so I have to clear the light every time I drive until then.  Ugh. 

[Zaga]

The pants from Goodwill that were labeled in DH's size weren't, and they don't take returns at all.  The inside label clearly said size 42, but they were really 36's.  There's a few bucks down the drain!  I redonated :-D

[Dragonswan]

If you redonate the pants can't you use the price of the pants as a charitable contribution and use for tax purposes?  I mean you have a receipt proving their worth to the charity.  By itself not worth it, but with other chartible donations might add up to enough to claim.

[Roadrunner53]

With the new tax system, if you take the standard deduction can you still deduct charitable donations?

[zolotiyeruki]

With the new tax system, if you take the standard deduction can you still deduct charitable donations?

The system is the same (it's either/or), it's just that the standard deduction option is much higher now than it was.  You either take the standard deduction, or itemize.

[Roadrunner53]

Never did the standard deduction before, always itemized but the new numbers for standard deduction may be better for us.

If you use the standard deduction, is there anything you can take off like property tax?

[Sibley]

Never did the standard deduction before, always itemized but the new numbers for standard deduction may be better for us.

If you use the standard deduction, is there anything you can take off like property tax?

No. Anything that you could have deducted as an itemized deduction is replaced by the standard deduction. It's either/or, not both.

[ixtap]

Never did the standard deduction before, always itemized but the new numbers for standard deduction may be better for us.

If you use the standard deduction, is there anything you can take off like property tax?

There are above the line deductions, but property tax is no longer a deduction.

I think the only one I ever used was student loan interest.

[Bracken_Joy]

Never did the standard deduction before, always itemized but the new numbers for standard deduction may be better for us.

If you use the standard deduction, is there anything you can take off like property tax?

Wikipedia's article on Above the Line deductions has a list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Above-the-line_deduction#List_of_the_above-the-line_deductions Not that many beyond the obvious ones (pre-tax retirement accounts). I'm sure the IRS list is more reliable but I struggle navigating their site.

[zolotiyeruki]

Never did the standard deduction before, always itemized but the new numbers for standard deduction may be better for us.

If you use the standard deduction, is there anything you can take off like property tax?

There are above the line deductions, but property tax is no longer a deduction.

Property taxes *are* still a valid deduction, but 1) only if you don't take the standard deduction, and 2) you're now limited to a total of $10k of deductions from SALT (state and local taxes), including property taxes.

So at the end of last year, there were a lot of people pre-paying their property taxes in high-property-tax states, to maximize their deductions over two years--stack up the itemized deductions in 2017, take the standard in 2018.

[ixtap]

Never did the standard deduction before, always itemized but the new numbers for standard deduction may be better for us.

If you use the standard deduction, is there anything you can take off like property tax?

There are above the line deductions, but property tax is no longer a deduction.

Property taxes *are* still a valid deduction, but 1) only if you don't take the standard deduction, and 2) you're now limited to a total of $10k of deductions from SALT (state and local taxes), including property taxes.

So at the end of last year, there were a lot of people pre-paying their property taxes in high-property-tax states, to maximize their deductions over two years--stack up the itemized deductions in 2017, take the standard in 2018.

Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that.

[LennStar]

Never did the standard deduction before, always itemized but the new numbers for standard deduction may be better for us.

If you use the standard deduction, is there anything you can take off like property tax?

There are above the line deductions, but property tax is no longer a deduction.

Property taxes *are* still a valid deduction, but 1) only if you don't take the standard deduction, and 2) you're now limited to a total of $10k of deductions from SALT (state and local taxes), including property taxes.

So at the end of last year, there were a lot of people pre-paying their property taxes in high-property-tax states, to maximize their deductions over two years--stack up the itemized deductions in 2017, take the standard in 2018.

Wait a second.

You can deduct direct taxes like property tax from your tax payment?

Means if you are poor and not paying property taxes, you pay more taxes.
 
And there are still people saying the system isn't rigged towards the rich!

[FIRE@50]

Never did the standard deduction before, always itemized but the new numbers for standard deduction may be better for us.

If you use the standard deduction, is there anything you can take off like property tax?

There are above the line deductions, but property tax is no longer a deduction.

Property taxes *are* still a valid deduction, but 1) only if you don't take the standard deduction, and 2) you're now limited to a total of $10k of deductions from SALT (state and local taxes), including property taxes.

So at the end of last year, there were a lot of people pre-paying their property taxes in high-property-tax states, to maximize their deductions over two years--stack up the itemized deductions in 2017, take the standard in 2018.

Wait a second.

You can deduct direct taxes like property tax from your tax payment?

Means if you are poor and not paying property taxes, you pay more taxes.
 
And there are still people saying the system isn't rigged towards the rich!

Yes & No

No, if you are poor, you pay almost no taxes.

Yes, the system is still rigged.

[Dragonswan]

To be more precise: Direct taxes are deducted from the income.  The resulting adjusted income is then taxed.  This normally results in a lower tax payment.  The system is rigged but given that it is graduated upward with income it begs the questions against whom is it rigged?  The poor, the middle or the rich?