Tax - not so bad

You aren't alone...

... but unfortunately that is noteworthy.

ay a

Well paying a lot of taxes is still better than not having much income and paying no taxes.

But not to worry. You are paying more taxes. You left out sales tax. And depending on how you look at it , corporate taxes. ( income, real estate, etc. ( ( You don't really think that corporations pay income taxes and do not pass that on to the customers.)

Dan

Yes, Dan, that's right. But after my post I realized I left out a lot more. There's a tax-business term, Adjusted Gross Income, which is what I used for my income in the percentage calculation. But actually, we had additional income that's not taxable, so it doesn't appear in the Adjusted Gross Income. Some of it was large, including an inheritance, which was tax free. I also didn't include my usual deductions in the calculation. If I was to include that stuff, my actual tax percentage drops to around 10 to 15%.

Pretty low.

You are more than welcome to pay whatever you think is fair. That you don't speaks volumes.

Well ... you're in luck: in Massachusetts one has the _option_ of paying

Bob

$20k off represents 5% of income, so income is $400k. Very nice! Congratulations on having a "job" that you like so much (it's obvious) and which pays so nicely.

And $400k puts you in the 98%, almost a 1%'er.

Bob

Yes, right, my thoughts exactly, after my post.

Yes, close. Like I said, about five sources of income converged to make a very good year. That's why I was missing income averaging.

Taxing individuals seldom makes them leave the country. Taxing business does.

They can literally leave, or can offshore most of their labor force, or can go out of business and let Chinese companies make the stuff for sale at Home Depot. It's roughly the same.

I have an uncle in the nail business. He used to sell US-made nails and nail guns. How he sells foreign stuff and he makes more than he used to.

Government, having taxed and spent all it can, now turns to business mandates to increase "benefits."

The main reason there's a problem with taxes IMO is humans. If there were no humans there would be no taxes.

I've been working on a research project titled "Eliminate All Life on the Planet", I think it has potential, but I've been having a bit of trouble securing funds from angel investors.

Bet you could pitch this on Kickstarter and get a lot of interest. Actually, this would be more of a non-profit sort of thing, which Kickstarter doesn't allow. So you might have to go to Indiegogo.

It's pretty obvious to family members that you are or are not making money. It's good family to know ones family.

He's lucky he didn't manufacture nails and nail guns......

Is it good business, to let people know that you are or are not making good money? Seems to me the smart guys keep this under their hats, as well as how the product was made, for that matter.

RL

I read this yesterday.

How do you like Florida? :)

Michael

The AMTn was supposed to be for the very top of the "1%", but it has never been adjusted for inflation, until just recently. So, now, a LOT of upper middle income people are getting hit with it. It is supposed to gradually ease as the inflation adjustments take effect.

If you work for an employer, they chip in equal to the payroll deduction. If you are self employed, you have to pay both halves.

Jon

The taxation regime is much less than 10% of that story. The Chinese government has subsidized the heck out of production. It is a bubble, and it will eventually end.

But you have a lot of deductions. So why are far-right conservatives crazy to think there should be a 10% to 15% flat tax with no deductions except the personal deduction, which should be raised to the cost of living, so people who make only the cost of living pay nothing, and the tax code would be simple because no law should ever be too complex to understand? Steve Forbes ran on that 20 years ago and got faint support. His was 17%, then he was out-flanked to the right by an ex-KGB agent with a 10% tax, and the idea still gained no traction here.

I'm at 30% without some special breaks, and 25% with them. The 10 to 15% number comes from a few special tax-free items like an inheritance, etc. Do the flat-tax people say that _everything_ should be subject to tax, even modest inheritances?

No, but they do say that the public sector shouldn't be 40% of GDP. Of course even a 25% flat tax would be an improvement, with a personal deduction of at least 25k. Some people assume spending should be around what it is, and others assume it should be much less, but the case for a flat tax that treats people equally and taxes only what they make above subsistence is fundamentally about what is right, and not about the numbers.