All in

All in

Here’s a funny expression for you: “all in.”

We use this when we talk about numbers, when we talk about totals . Think of a situation where there’s a big cost, but then there are some small, related costs too. And you have to add them all up to get the full picture of how much something really costs.

Let’s start with eating out . Let’s say you look at the menu, you choose the item you want, and it costs $20. Are you leaving the restaurant, and paying $20 exactly? No. Why not? Because you will probably get something to drink. And then when the bill comes, there’s tax added to the bill , at least in the U.S. And then you leave a tip . So, all-in, that meal might cost you $30.

“All-in” means, “add all of the components of the experience and this is how much it costs.”

You would not believe how many taxes we pay in the United States. I’m not talking about how much we pay in taxes; I’m talking about how many taxes there are. The federal government levies an income tax . Most state governments have their own income taxes, too. Some cities have an income tax—New York City has one. Special taxes fund the national pension system ; another tax pays the national health insurance plan for the elderly .

If you own property, you pay taxes to the county, the town or city, and then you pay special taxes for things like the local water district , the school district, the library district, the park district. I’m not saying we pay too much money in taxes; I’m just saying, there are a lot of different taxes that we pay.

A family that makes $100,000 per year would probably pay about $18,000 in taxes, all in. How much does average family pay to the local park district tax? I have no idea. Not every county has that tax. It would make your head hurt to calculate the average of every type of tax the typical family pays. But you can say they pay $18,000, all in. That means, add it all up, the big ones like the income tax, the small ones like the library tax , add it all up and the total is about $18,000. So they pay $18,000 in taxes, all in.

Getting your car fixed is stressful . For a long time, I had an old car. It was great, a 1998 Toyota Corolla. I had it until—what was that?—2013 I think. It was fifteen years old when I sold it. It didn’t need many big repairs ; it was a great car. But toward the end , I did need to have some work done.

So what happens when you get a repair estimate ? You go in, and they say, “Well this is the estimate for the parts . This is the estimate for the labor . Plus, there’s tax. All in, you’re looking at $400.” That means, if you add up all the things you have to pay for in this repair, here’s how much you’ll pay.

Oh, cars. I once had my car towed—the same Corolla. I parked in the wrong spot ; they towed the car . Listen to what I had to pay. I had to pay the ticket . Right? I parked in an illegal spot ; I had to pay a ticket. Next, I had to pay for the tow truck ! Talk about adding insult to injury ! I had to pay for the service of the city taking my car away .

By the time I realized the car was gone, it was after 9:00 at night, so I couldn’t get the car back that night. Guess what I had to pay the next day? I had to pay a storage fee ! To keep the car in the tow yard overnight ! Like it was a hotel!

And then I may have let my parking permit lapse , and I had to pay for a new one of those. All in? I don’t even want to think about it. That one parking mistake probably cost me $300, all in.

See you next time!

Oh man. If I had instead parked in the correct spot, invested that $300 in the stock market , let it grow for eleven years…I could take a European vacation with the money. Such is life. Let it go!

All right, that’s all for Plain English today. This was lesson number 693. JR has uploaded everything to PlainEnglish.com/693—by “everything,” I mean the quiz, the exercises, the translations, transcripts, practice area, slow and fast audio—truly, everything. PlainEnglish.com/693.

We’ll be back next week. We’ll talk about two more regions of the U.S. We’ll talk about the Midwest and we’ll talk about the South. The Midwest and the South—the southeast. That’s next week on Plain English. See you then.