IRA contributions are subject to FICA taxes, as are employee contributions to 401k, etc. FICA taxes withheld from your paycheck regardless of your contributions

IRA contributions are subject to FICA taxes, as are employee contributions to 401k, etc. FICA taxes withheld from your paycheck regardless of your contributions, and there’s no credit to give some of it back to you on the 1040 because you made an IRA contribution. As for definitions, here’s an official, non-arbitrary one for poverty that’s widely used. I’m sure you’ll just declare it arbitrary, which is fine, but my point is that you just came up with a random definition without anything to back it up or any reasoning as to why that’s the right threshold. Federal poverty guidelines aren’t perfect but they’re not a number out of a hat, which is what you’ve got. https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelines https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelines