2013 Itemized deductions and HHI, why is my effective so high, what are we doing wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in exactly the same boat paying a out 33% on our $300k income.

Same here.

[Anonymous]

I hate being in the 300-400k range. It's just high enough for gov't to treat you like you're rich but not high enough to even be close to rich especially in HCOL areas. After all the taxes, ss, medicare etc, you're getting half of your income back to spend.

[Anonymous]

Do you guys know how to calculate your effective rate? We're at about 350k with an ER of 22% -- deductions are mortgage, charity, property taxes. Nothing out of the ordinary and we pay AMT. Look at this calculator:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390444165804578010540561938104?mg=reno64-wsj

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate being in the 300-400k range. It's just high enough for gov't to treat you like you're rich but not high enough to even be close to rich especially in HCOL areas. After all the taxes, ss, medicare etc, you're getting half of your income back to spend.

And that's still three times my gross. Cry me a river.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in exactly the same boat paying a out 33% on our $300k income.

Are you talking about your tax bracket or effective tax rate. Because even with no deductions at all, effective tax rate for 300K income is 25% and not 33%

HUH
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/tax-brackets.aspx

Effective tax rate is your total tax paid divided by your total income. The 33% tax bracket is only on income above 183K and effective tax rate would be much lower

That's what people think. But just look at this thread. Lots of people earning +/- $500,000 are paying 33% of that in federal tax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate being in the 300-400k range. It's just high enough for gov't to treat you like you're rich but not high enough to even be close to rich especially in HCOL areas. After all the taxes, ss, medicare etc, you're getting half of your income back to spend.

And that's still three times my gross. Cry me a river.

+1

Trade ya!

I love reading rich people whine about how they're insufficiently rich. Speaking of gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate being in the 300-400k range. It's just high enough for gov't to treat you like you're rich but not high enough to even be close to rich especially in HCOL areas. After all the taxes, ss, medicare etc, you're getting half of your income back to spend.

And that's still three times my gross. Cry me a river.

+1

Trade ya!

I love reading rich people whine about how they're insufficiently rich. Speaking of gross.

If you think that 300-400k is insufficiently rich you are an idiot. Cause warren buffet is the same level and rich is 300k through 1 billion.

[Anonymous]

Do we really need another "woe is me, life is so hard on 300/400/500k"?

And for those that are saying they have an effective tax rate of 33 or 39, you just don't know what you are talking about. Effective rate is your tax divided by your income - the average rate of tax for all your income. Marginal rate is the rate on the last dollar. For you to have an effective rate of 33% you would have to have 793,250 in income and have NO deductions or capital gains. At 500k, even with no deductions, the highest your federal tax effective rate could be is 29%. That is not counting self employment, or state tax. If you have an effective rate of over 29% on 500k or less you are doing it wrong and need to check your math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We paid an effective rate of 31.2% - you're doing nothing wrong. We got robbed because we have no mortgage deduction.

If you don't mind sharing what deductions did you use, most of the deductions we have are mortgage interest and real estate taxes. Ironically when we got a lower interest rate we lost quite a bit of the interest deduction.

How's that ironic? You would expect that to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:300 to 500 is the must difficult income level. No benefits of the rich or the middle class. It's sometimes easier to just give up and go lower.

So really, you'd rather take a lower paying job so you don't have to pay higher taxes? That is ridiculous. There is no situation I can work out where you are still not ending up ahead where you are now. More of the myth of "taxes discourage hard work." So stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. I am reading and getting examples from dcum that at 330 HHI Gross income the average effective tax rate should be 22% but we are consistently at 29%.

We have about 55k in deductions primarily from Mortgage interest and home offices and local taxes.

What do people do to get more deductions? We have a really low 3.3% interest rate on our mortgage so maybe that's the issue?

What is everybody doing to get these massive deductions.

At 330k, even with no deductions and no capital gains your effective rate can't be 29%, unless you are lumping in payroll taxes or something else. The highest you could be would be 25.8% married or 28% single, again with all of your income taxed - no capital gains and no deductions (not even the standard deduction or exemptions).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate being in the 300-400k range. It's just high enough for gov't to treat you like you're rich but not high enough to even be close to rich especially in HCOL areas. After all the taxes, ss, medicare etc, you're getting half of your income back to spend.

And that's still three times my gross. Cry me a river.

More than three times mine....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300 to 500 is the must difficult income level. No benefits of the rich or the middle class. It's sometimes easier to just give up and go lower.

So really, you'd rather take a lower paying job so you don't have to pay higher taxes? That is ridiculous. There is no situation I can work out where you are still not ending up ahead where you are now. More of the myth of "taxes discourage hard work." So stupid.

the "most difficult income level". HAHAHAHAHA. you should try my income level (75k gross) and see how difficult things are....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate being in the 300-400k range. It's just high enough for gov't to treat you like you're rich but not high enough to even be close to rich especially in HCOL areas. After all the taxes, ss, medicare etc, you're getting half of your income back to spend.

And that's still three times my gross. Cry me a river.

You don't believe in capitalism, where people whose jobs are worth more get paid more?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at 35% of our $450k income.

Can anyone help?

I'd rather be at 35% with an HHI of $450 than $100k with a rate of 10%. I'd say you don't need any help.

You know why you say that? Because you're not factoring in what families who mkae $450K give up to make that money. Less time as a family, more stress, student loans, outsourcing more.