>And anyone working for a salary in the U.S. is already heavily taxed, from 15.3% on their first dollar up to 37% of their income via FICA, plus state taxes of

>And anyone working for a salary in the U.S. is already heavily taxed, from 15.3% on their first dollar up to 37% of their income via FICA, plus state taxes of 5% to 10%, as well as property and other types of taxes. Counting FICA, federal, state and city taxes, someone earning $160,000 may, in many parts of the country, be paying a marginal tax rate nearing 50%. This is erroneous and misleading. First, if you are going to include the employer's 7.65% portion of FICA tax as a tax paid by the employee, then you also need to include that amount in the total employee income, which results in lower numbers. Then, after specifically mentioning someone "working for a salary", suddenly "property and other types of taxes" are dragged into it, which have nothing to do with income tax on wages. Lastly, the calculation is just plain wrong. A single U.S. taxpayer, no dependents, with standard deduction and $160K of wage income will pay 18.2% income tax, plus 7.65% FICA tax (on the $160K). And if they are a California resident, which most people consider a "high tax" state, the state tax will be 6.9%. So the total tax will be 18.2 + 7.65 + 6.9 = 32.75%. If we add $1,000 of wage income, the combined fed and state income tax (no FICA) goes up $333, so the marginal rate is 33.3%, not "nearing 50%". > from 15.3% on their first dollar up to 37% of their income via FICA This is nonsense, as there is nothing in the calculation of FICA related to "37% of their income".