Oh God no!

I just pulled those numbers out of my ass. You don't get to 50% tax rate until well above $100,000. Those numbers were to illustrate the concept, not the actual values at stake. The 'rich' in this context make well above $100,000 anyway. 100K is still somewhere in the middle class, depending on how many kids you have.

Anyway, I would hope you wouldn't need a guy on the internet for you to figure out how much you pay in taxes



[Edited on 4-8-2004 by Esoterica]

Here, I'll illustrate the issue wihtout using taxes.

Imagine you make $8.00 and hour. You get paid overtime for all hours worked past 40.

Thing is, your overtime pay for 5 extra hours is $7, for 5 more is $6, for 5 more is $5 etc...

Eventually, you will get to a point where you won't be motivated to work overtime, since you keep getting paid less and less until it's not what the job is worth.

Originally posted by Esoterica


Oh God no!

I just pulled those numbers out of my ass. You don't get to 50% tax rate until well above $100,000. Those numbers were to illustrate the concept, not the actual values at stake. The 'rich' in this context make well above $100,000 anyway. 100K is still somewhere in the middle class, depending on how many kids you have.

Anyway, I would hope you wouldn't need a guy on the internet for you to figure out how much you pay in taxes

I'm referring to the total deductions after you spend your income...sales tax included. You end up paying about 60% when it's all said and done, no matter how much you make.

[Edited on 4-8-2004 by Satyr]

Originally posted by s.o.r.r.y.

Originally posted by KrazyJethro
100,000 may seem like a lot of money, but trust me man, it is not.

My god, what planet are you guys living on? Sounds like the "Live's of the Excessive Middle Class...weekdays at 3PM on CBS" or "How I Was Taught to Spend My $ By Brainwashing, Marketing Tactics"! Call a financial consultant people for Christ's sake! I barely make 38k a year but still manage to live on one of the most beautiful and most expensive islands (3x5 mi. rock, really) in the world. Gas: $2.60/gal. Rent: $1100/mo. average for a 15'x15' studio apt. and a 2 bedroom house goes for around $1M. etc., etc. Point is...smart shopping and common sense is good for you. Oh...and cutting up the credit cards doesn't hurt either!

I don't know where you live, but where I live it's not cheap to raise two kids and have a wife who is a stay at home mom.

I'm not single man. If I was then 100k would be a nice paycheck.

Most people in my area are forced to have both the mother and father work.

Originally posted by KrazyJethro
100,000 may seem like a lot of money, but trust me man, it is not.

Now I'm sure you are being sarcastic, but damn.

People think that because you are making 100k that you are on easy street. Let me tell you, 100k doesn't go that far.

Yeah, but it's alot more than I make. You can live pretty comfortably on $100K/yr, depending on where you live. It's by no means "rich" today, though.
I hate money, for the simple fact that it's the biggest burden in my life, and everyone wants more than I have, constantly!

[Edited on 4-8-2004 by Satyr]

If you think that 100k a year is not much to live off of, try living off of 25k a year with 2 kids...

Originally posted by Thorfinn Skullsplitter
If you think that 100k a year is not much to live off of, try living off of 25k a year with 2 kids...

Do your taxes, 25k with 2 kids should get you about 4k back. Maybe more.

Yeah, if you have kids, you get more back than you paid!

Originally posted by J0HNSmith

Originally posted by Thorfinn Skullsplitter
If you think that 100k a year is not much to live off of, try living off of 25k a year with 2 kids...

Do your taxes, 25k with 2 kids should get you about 4k back. Maybe more.

So that somehow makes everything ok?...

well, your wife can goto college on-line with grants and a little of that tax money I'm willing to bet at the end of the day she'll be able to pull in more than you

I prefer the consumption tax primarily because it encourges savings, I think whether its consumption or flat tax, the rate needs to be set in concrete and no other taxes be allowed by law/constitutional amendment.

The estimates I've seen are roughly between 16% and 21% for either tax method.

The poor can be exempted at the poverty rate for their family size on the flat tax and on the consumption tax they would get a payment equal to the tax rate of their income, for instance a single peron at $16,000/yr would get up to $3360 in offset money - probably a lot more than they recieve back now.

On the otherhand if you were one of the rich and spent $3,000,000 a year to maintain your life style you would pay up to $630,000 in consumption tax - probably a lot more paid in without all the tax dodges.

Corporations should pay no tax since it is an additional tax on the consumer, corporate profits should be paid as a dividend to stockholders and salary to employees so that the money goes right back out to the consumption side.

The only money removed would be in private savings or investments that provide more capitol to grow the economy.

The government would have to live within its means and politicians on both sides of the aisle would no longer be able to buy votes with political largess.

In time of war or other national emergency the government can make its case and then offer bonds for sale the way they did in WWII, make the case well and the American people would come through, make a poor case and well..............few bonds will sell.

All I know is the price of cigarettes is going up and up. I don't like it. Dying sure is expensive these days.

Originally posted by Thorfinn Skullsplitter
If you think that 100k a year is not much to live off of, try living off of 25k a year with 2 kids...

Um, I think at the 25k mark I would really be thinking about getting out of McDonalds as a career track.

Hell, I know two people working RETAIL making more than that.

"Trickle Down" economics. An outdated idea from the Regan years that has been proven not to work. Taxing the rich more hurts the economy in the eyes of the rich. The rich run the country.

Hell, I know someone who works at Sonic who makes well more than 25K. I know another who works mainly at temp services who makes more than that. Find a new line of work...

regs out...

Originally posted by NotTooHappy
"Trickle Down" economics. An outdated idea from the Regan years that has been proven not to work. Taxing the rich more hurts the economy in the eyes of the rich. The rich run the country.

I think your assertion was proven wrong by the disasterous "Luxury Tax" that was tried several years back. The rich stopped buying expensive goods like boats and motorhomes causing the loss of many many jobs in those industries just to name a few.

Think about taxes for a minute.

How much do we REALLY pay?

Take a loaf of bread. Its not just the sells tax at the store, taxes are paid on

The land the wheat was grown on
The seeds that grew the wheat
The fertilizer that went on the wheat
The machines used to harvest the wheat
The fuel for the machines
The trucks that took the grain to the mills
The land the mills are on
The machinery to mill the wheat
The workers at the mill
The energy used to mill the wheat
The trucks used to take the flour to the bakery
The fuel for the trucks
The bags the flour went in
The land the bakery is on
The machinery to bake the bread
The workers at the bakery
The energy used to bake the bread
The packaging the bread goes in
The trucks to take it to the stores
The fuel for the trucks
The land the store sits on
The workers at the store
The energy used at the store

And EVERY time it changes hands there are taxes made on the sells

I have left out a hundred oyher points where the government makes money off that ONE LOAF OF BREAD

How much do you think it would cost without all these hidden costs? Strip away government theft and 25K a year would be a lot

Originally posted by regs
Hell, I know someone who works at Sonic who makes well more than 25K. I know another who works mainly at temp services who makes more than that. Find a new line of work...

regs out...

That depends on what state you live in, in case you didn't take that into account. Wages vary drastically in different parts of the country.

Don't forget that some states don't have a sales tax on the bfood products in grocery stores. KY for instance, whereas in TN it is almost 10%. Get's expensive after a while.

regs out...

Originally posted by Satyr

Originally posted by regs
Hell, I know someone who works at Sonic who makes well more than 25K. I know another who works mainly at temp services who makes more than that. Find a new line of work...

regs out...

That depends on what state you live in, in case you didn't take that into account. Wages vary drastically in different parts of the country.

Not only wages, but general cost of living should be considered. $100K will buy you very different houses ...ie. NYC vs Texas