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> Include sales taxes Make more money -> spend more money -> pay a lot in sales taxes. > payroll taxes Make more money -> pay more in payroll taxes > preten

by xienze 9y ago

> Include sales taxes Make more money -> spend more money -> pay a lot in sales taxes. > payroll taxes Make more money -> pay more in payroll taxes > pretending that "tax" and "income tax" mean the same thing. I dunno about you, but income taxes take the biggest bite out of my ass. You're right that the top 20% doesn't pay 95% of _all_ taxes combined, but I guarantee you they pay far more than 20%. More than 50%, even. What point are you trying to make? That the top 20% don't pay enough in taxes?

mikeash 9y ago
> I dunno about you, but income taxes take the biggest bite out of my ass. If that's true, it's because you're in the top 20%. The average person pays far more in payroll tax than income tax, not to mention other taxes. Remember, payroll tax is 15.3% starting from the first dollar of income. There are no deductions like there are for income tax. And payroll tax goes down to 2.9% on earnings above $127,200/year. The median wage in the US is around $45,000/year. A single person making that much money with no dependents and no special deductions will pay about $4,700/year in federal income tax and about $7,000/year in payroll taxes. Dependents and other deductions will cut the income tax amount but will not touch the payroll tax.
pwinnski 9y ago
I'm not the GP, but the point I would make is that the top 20% pay an appropriate amount of tax commensurate with their (our) income. They (we) pay about two-thirds of all taxes, and make about two-thirds of all income. So headlines claiming that they (we) pay disproportionately-high taxes are trying to make a point, and lying to do so. As another commenter said, if income taxes are your biggest bite, that says more about you than you realize. Depending on what you earn, FICA often ends up being the biggest bite at 15.3% of every dollar your earn. For some people, sales tax could be the biggest bite, or at least a bigger bite than income tax.

by xienze 9y ago

mikeash 9y ago

> I dunno about you, but income taxes take the biggest bite out of my ass. If that's true, it's because you're in the top 20%. The average person pays far more in payroll tax than income tax, not to mention other taxes. Remember, payroll tax is 15.3% starting from the first dollar of income. There are no deductions like there are for income tax. And payroll tax goes down to 2.9% on earnings above $127,200/year. The median wage in the US is around $45,000/year. A single person making that much money with no dependents and no special deductions will pay about $4,700/year in federal income tax and about $7,000/year in payroll taxes. Dependents and other deductions will cut the income tax amount but will not touch the payroll tax.

pwinnski 9y ago

I'm not the GP, but the point I would make is that the top 20% pay an appropriate amount of tax commensurate with their (our) income. They (we) pay about two-thirds of all taxes, and make about two-thirds of all income. So headlines claiming that they (we) pay disproportionately-high taxes are trying to make a point, and lying to do so. As another commenter said, if income taxes are your biggest bite, that says more about you than you realize. Depending on what you earn, FICA often ends up being the biggest bite at 15.3% of every dollar your earn. For some people, sales tax could be the biggest bite, or at least a bigger bite than income tax.