Just saw our federal tax bill and nearly fainted

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wah wah. We make almost 200k and our effective tax rate when it was all said and done according to turbo tax was 11%. Pretty good deal if you ask me, you know, for roads, law and order, etc.

Wow what a deal. Our effective rate was 24% and we made just over 400 last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, consider the source.

You conservatives should be worried about the real situation behind this slanted presentation of statistics. The scandal isn't that people aren't paying enough tax. The scandal is that we have so many low income people in our society.

If people aren't paying taxes, it's because they are low income. If we would invest in education and social programs to lift people out of poverty, we'd have more taxpayers and we might even be able to lower tax rates![/quote]

Oh, yes... absolutely, that's the solution. More (of my) money will certainly solve this problem.

News Flash: The definition of "low income" is a joke. Their "low income" of course supports things like cable TV and cell phones....

[Anonymous]

Here is a table for 2009 of the average effective tax rates paid by income. http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/27899.html

If you are making about $110K and paying an effective tax rate of 25% then you are paying about twice the average for your income. I find that somewhat difficult to believe. You are paying the effective tax rate of someone making $1M+. If you are doing your taxes yourself, you need to get assistance. If you are getting someone to help you, you need to fire them and get someone new who understands how the tax system works.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is a table for 2009 of the average effective tax rates paid by income. http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/27899.html

If you are making about $110K and paying an effective tax rate of 25% then you are paying about twice the average for your income. I find that somewhat difficult to believe. You are paying the effective tax rate of someone making $1M+. If you are doing your taxes yourself, you need to get assistance. If you are getting someone to help you, you need to fire them and get someone new who understands how the tax system works.

[/quote
I think those rates are for federal income taxes only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is a table for 2009 of the average effective tax rates paid by income. http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/27899.html

If you are making about $110K and paying an effective tax rate of 25% then you are paying about twice the average for your income. I find that somewhat difficult to believe. You are paying the effective tax rate of someone making $1M+. If you are doing your taxes yourself, you need to get assistance. If you are getting someone to help you, you need to fire them and get someone new who understands how the tax system works.

I think those rates are for federal income taxes only.

Yes. But PP-11:54 claimed they were paying 25% federal taxes. They were claiming an additional 10% of MD state tax on top of the federal taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wah wah. We make almost 200k and our effective tax rate when it was all said and done according to turbo tax was 11%. Pretty good deal if you ask me, you know, for roads, law and order, etc.

Wow what a deal. Our effective rate was 24% and we made just over 400 last year.

I'm the PP you quoted. I was actually surprised. Last year think it was around 17% though and that included extra taxes we paid to do ROTH IRA conversions. The 11% also did not include VA state income tax or real/personal property taxes, but still not too bad. I'm much more concerned about the national debt/deficit than I am about my own personal rate.

[Anonymous]

Our effective tax rate last year (state plus federal) was 29%. Husband is self-employed, I am salaried and we made less than 250K. I would love to know how people make more than us but are paying a lower effective rate. Anyone care to share?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I pay more in taxes than most people earn, it just sucks to work so hard and have to give half of it to the government when almost half of our population pays ZERO taxes. Those are the ones sitting around bitching that we should pay even more.

They don't pay zero in taxes. They just pay zero in income taxes. They pay payroll taxes (and a much larger share of their income than you). They pay sales taxes (again, and a much larger share of their income than yours goes to that). They pay excise taxes. If they save, they are less likely to be able to have their savings in a tax preferred account. If they have health insurance, they are receiving a much smaller tax benefit for this insurance than you. So get your story right if you are going to bitch about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our effective tax rate last year (state plus federal) was 29%. Husband is self-employed, I am salaried and we made less than 250K. I would love to know how people make more than us but are paying a lower effective rate. Anyone care to share?

we are in the same boat. i am clearly missing something. we do pre-tax FSA for health and dependent care as well as max out our pre tax 401k donations.

[Anonymous]

Narcissist Nation is out in force tonight. Greedy motherfuckers. As if they shouldn't be happy enough that they are paying less taxes than anywhere else in the world, they then twist the facts to make it seem some people pay nothing in taxes. Go find a window to fall out of.

[Anonymous]

People who make more but pay a lower effective rate get their income from investments, not work.

Your mistake is working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who make more but pay a lower effective rate get their income from investments, not work.

Your mistake is working.

Not necessarily. There's a lot of discretion about how to structure pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I pay more in taxes than most people earn, it just sucks to work so hard and have to give half of it to the government when almost half of our population pays ZERO taxes. Those are the ones sitting around bitching that we should pay even more.

+1

[Anonymous]

you get taxed when you make money, taxed when you spend money, taxed on cost of goods with taxes baked into their retail prices, taxed in many place for continuing to own goods you paid taxes to acquire, and then taxed when you die.

Anyone who thinks the effective tax rate for middle-class America is under 50% is truly a fool.