BoydCrowder13 said:
Tom Fox said:
BoydCrowder13 said:
Tom Fox said:
Average Joe said:
MemphisAg1 said:
Average Joe said:
MemphisAg1 said:
Average Joe said:
To cover the budget today, you would have to have roughly a 27% flat tax. That would be an increase in all brackets.
You keep saying stuff that's simply not true. The top two rates today are above 27%.
Come on man, get your facts straight!
I get that the top three brackets are higher than 27%. You do know that you only pay that on the money that falls in that range, right? Or do I have to explain a graduated tax structure?
The average effective tax rate for the top 1% is only 26% on average.
You're cherry-picking. The top 0.75% pay more than that, as does the top 0.5% and beyond.
What matters is your marginal rate... what the government takes for each extra dollar you make.
Using your own numbers, cut federal spending in half and apply a flat tax of 13.5% for everybody above the poverty level.
Everybody treated equally, the American Way.
Marginal tax rate is the highest bracket you belong to. Effective tax rate, what I'm talking about, is how much you pay for every dollar you make.
Are we really over here fighting because the top 0.5% might pay a couple percent higher on part of their money? Sorry if I don't cry that someone who makes multiple millions a year has to pay a few percentage higher. Maybe they should cut back on Starbucks and Avocado toast.
My effective tax rate is 29.3% and I am willing to give the govt 15%. I do not make multiple millions.
Gut entitlements and take my 15%.
We get it dude. You are rich
That is the problem. I'm actually not. There are plenty of people that made 200k for the past 20 years that are far wealthier than me.
I have only been making more than 200k for the past 5 years. And more than 750k for the past 3.
So I'm not rich yet. And the government is taking 30% of what I make which is slowing down my wealth accumulation.
Hence my constant concern about effective tax rates and everybody paying the same rate. I need that additional 15% over the next 15 years to actually become wealthy. I have zero issue paying $135k or so in net fed taxes annually. My issue is that additional 15% will cost me > $5 mil from my final wealth number at retirement age.
Hell, I am just finishing up paying the $250k that I borrowed to attend law school. Which I couldn't claim on my taxes because essentially every tax deduction phases out at $485k. If they just let me keep all of the deductions, I would have less of an issue.
I can't imagine anyone not being furious about what is happening to me quarterly with taxes. Sure they might say, "oh I'd be happy if I ever made that." That **** wears off pretty quick when you have to watch that money leave your saving account every 3 months when you write that check to the IRS.
I'm not asking for a fricking handout. I'm asking for my fellow conservatives to do what is right and let me keep more of my own hard earned money. There is no reason why the top few percent of earners have to pay for it all when 2/3 is being redistributed to other tax payers to cover their individual family expenses. I would also feel differently if it was covering core government functions envisioned by our founders, but it's not.
I'm mostly messing with you since every other post you make references your salary. Just kind of odd.
I pay a lot in taxes too. Top earners get screwed in the current system. Those with true wealth that are in the investor class likely pay far less in taxes than you (% wise). Lot of ways to generate tax-free income, long-term capital gains, tax-deferred income.
I didn't take it personally and you are correct about investments.
But I need to get those assets saved to play those games. Right now I'm caught in no man's land and getting crushed. And since I'm 50, I'm starting to panic about hitting my investment number before I'm too old to do what I do successfully or have a medical incident that hampers my ability. My financial advisor is always riding me about saving more of what I make. I'm like F dude, the govt is taking a quarter mil every Fing year.
I am the bread winner in my family and didn't get married or have a family until my late 30s so my kids are still at home. My family is good if I die, I am insured to the hilt, but two attorneys in my market yoinget than me have had heat attacks in the past 18 months.
I took extreme risk and did my public service time in my 20s and 30s. I never dreamed that if I made it, the government would just steal it from me. Hell, I was always told that the "rich" didn't pay taxes. What a Fing joke that is.
My real fear and the crux of my issue is this: I really thought that it was a baseline conservative principle to let those that work hard keep more of their own money. Having posted here for 12 years and before I had anything, I quickly realized that because so few actually pay more than 15% net fed income taxes, even conservatives do not make it a high priority to lower taxes on the top brackets.
