"Tax the Rich"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I honestly think the tax code should be significantly less progressive than it is. The vast majority of people in this country pay almost no federal taxes at all. They have no skin in the game! They literally could not care less if the pentagon wastes trillions or we fund stupid unnecessary projects.

I've love to see a flat tax on ALL americans and on ALL incomce (including capital gains and dividends)

The vast majority of people in this country have no money, ya dingbat. But sure, let’s try the blood from a stone route so you can buy another overpriced “luxury” vehicle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Let's see some evidence for these claims.

When Massachusetts enacted a "millionaire's tax" on the wealthy (4% surtax on income over a million dollars), lots of spoiled rich people threatened to leave. And probably some did. But it hasn't been the exodus that some thought it would be, and 2 years later, the revenue generated by the tax has been more than twice what had been expected. In the first year alone, $2.5 billion was collected.

TAX THE RICH. Make them squeal like the pigs they are.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/04/28/massachusetts-millionaires-tax-institute-policy-studies-newsletter

Sure, here's a link that shows how MDs tax base left when taxes were raised:

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/04/11/marylands-wealth-drain-part-six/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do well. I am not complaining and feel very fortunate to have two very good paying careers. But we just did our end of year tax analysis with our CPA and our effective tax rate when adding federal plus DC taxes is 45% (36% federal, 9% DC and DC is only "low" because a lot of our income is through a DC C-Corp which is taxes slightly lower at 8.5%).

45% of our income going to taxes. Nearly half of what we take home. And yes -- we are utilizing every single tax strategy under the sun available to us and work with a very good CPA.

So let's change the complaint from "tax the rich" to "tax the billionaires" because the regular rich are playing PLENTY in taxes already. Sigh.

If you are married filing jointly, in 2025 you will pay $202,155 on income up to $751,601, for an effective federal income tax rate of less than 27%. Above that threshold, income is taxed at 37%. To get to an effective rate of 36%, your income would have to be well into the seven digits. For example, at $2m in *taxable* income, the effective federal income tax rate is 33.2%. And that's just taxable income, not taking into account the tax avoidance strategies available to the rich. And sure, I know one of you probably is a biglaw partner, so there are some extras thrown in there, but they are rounding errors at that level (although maybe not, since you only reference paying taxes in one state).

All this is by way of saying, (i) yes, billionaires should be taxed more, but (ii) no, your tax "burden" is not the least bit unfair, and really should be increased. FFS.

Also, your cute "we do well" was a nice try at making others assume you made $500k or so. But in reality, you are in the top 0.1% of HHI in the country, as is readily apparent to anyone who can do 5th grade math.

Finally, you are most definitely complaining. If you must, do it at the country club among your fellow travelers.

OP here — I never said I make $500k. Someone else did. We made $3.7M last year. Can still complain about taxes…even if I do it at the country club.

Taxable or gross?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly think the tax code should be significantly less progressive than it is. The vast majority of people in this country pay almost no federal taxes at all. They have no skin in the game! They literally could not care less if the pentagon wastes trillions or we fund stupid unnecessary projects.

I've love to see a flat tax on ALL americans and on ALL incomce (including capital gains and dividends)

lol. Someone always pipes in with the “flat tax” argument. Never going to happen.

If we’re going to have a flat tax we need a salary cap, too. Never see these entitled rich a-holes suggest that for some reason..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do well. I am not complaining and feel very fortunate to have two very good paying careers. But we just did our end of year tax analysis with our CPA and our effective tax rate when adding federal plus DC taxes is 45% (36% federal, 9% DC and DC is only "low" because a lot of our income is through a DC C-Corp which is taxes slightly lower at 8.5%).

45% of our income going to taxes. Nearly half of what we take home. And yes -- we are utilizing every single tax strategy under the sun available to us and work with a very good CPA.

So let's change the complaint from "tax the rich" to "tax the billionaires" because the regular rich are playing PLENTY in taxes already. Sigh.

If you are married filing jointly, in 2025 you will pay $202,155 on income up to $751,601, for an effective federal income tax rate of less than 27%. Above that threshold, income is taxed at 37%. To get to an effective rate of 36%, your income would have to be well into the seven digits. For example, at $2m in *taxable* income, the effective federal income tax rate is 33.2%. And that's just taxable income, not taking into account the tax avoidance strategies available to the rich. And sure, I know one of you probably is a biglaw partner, so there are some extras thrown in there, but they are rounding errors at that level (although maybe not, since you only reference paying taxes in one state).

All this is by way of saying, (i) yes, billionaires should be taxed more, but (ii) no, your tax "burden" is not the least bit unfair, and really should be increased. FFS.

Also, your cute "we do well" was a nice try at making others assume you made $500k or so. But in reality, you are in the top 0.1% of HHI in the country, as is readily apparent to anyone who can do 5th grade math.

Finally, you are most definitely complaining. If you must, do it at the country club among your fellow travelers.

OP here — I never said I make $500k. Someone else did. We made $3.7M last year. Can still complain about taxes…even if I do it at the country club.

You can, but you should not (you ingrate). Why don’t you pull your head out of your @$$ and go buy (and start using) a nice gratitude journal today.

[Anonymous]

I wonder who has more sway on congress, the upper middle class/small rich voters or the billionaires. One has voting power that has been gerrymandered away. The other? Just move to Florida I guess and pay to play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We do well. I am not complaining and feel very fortunate to have two very good paying careers. But we just did our end of year tax analysis with our CPA and our effective tax rate when adding federal plus DC taxes is 45% (36% federal, 9% DC and DC is only "low" because a lot of our income is through a DC C-Corp which is taxes slightly lower at 8.5%).

45% of our income going to taxes. Nearly half of what we take home. And yes -- we are utilizing every single tax strategy under the sun available to us and work with a very good CPA.

So let's change the complaint from "tax the rich" to "tax the billionaires" because the regular rich are playing PLENTY in taxes already. Sigh.

You're doing *very* well considering the highest federal income tax bracket is 37%, and that only starts above $731,200.

It sounds like you're self-employed through the S corp, and I'm guessing you're counting the Social Security and Medicare taxes the S Corp pays. Effectively everyone pays these higher rates- it's just that much of it is visible on the employer's taxes rather than the individual's.

Even then, getting to an effective 37% rate requires some pretty extraordinary income. It wouldn't surprise me if you're into a seven-figure income- perhaps well into it.

You don't seem to have a lot deductions You're probably rich enough to either own your house outright, or that it is so expensive that the mortgage interest deduction barely applies to you.

It wouldn't surprise me if you have, but are excluding, capital gains from your effective tax rate calculation. Even if that didn't apply this year, over your lifetime you probably receive huge tax advantages through the lower capital gains rate. And you and/or your children will probably benefit greatly from the ridiculously high exclusion on estate taxes.

The tax system is stacked heavily on your favor. Perhaps not as much as the uber wealthy, but rich people like you still do quite well under it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I honestly think the tax code should be significantly less progressive than it is. The vast majority of people in this country pay almost no federal taxes at all. They have no skin in the game! They literally could not care less if the pentagon wastes trillions or we fund stupid unnecessary projects.

I've love to see a flat tax on ALL americans and on ALL incomce (including capital gains and dividends)

That's not true at all. Low income workers always have the 15% payroll tax, split across the employer and employee. It is ridiculous to look at individual taxes in a vacuum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We do well. I am not complaining and feel very fortunate to have two very good paying careers. But we just did our end of year tax analysis with our CPA and our effective tax rate when adding federal plus DC taxes is 45% (36% federal, 9% DC and DC is only "low" because a lot of our income is through a DC C-Corp which is taxes slightly lower at 8.5%).

45% of our income going to taxes. Nearly half of what we take home. And yes -- we are utilizing every single tax strategy under the sun available to us and work with a very good CPA.

So let's change the complaint from "tax the rich" to "tax the billionaires" because the regular rich are playing PLENTY in taxes already. Sigh.

Flatten the tax code.

The top 50% of earners do not need to pay 97% of the entire yearly income tax, while the bottom 50% pay the remaining 3%.

It creates a whole class of people who pay for nothing, and demand everything.

[Anonymous]

You are not “the rich”.

The actual rich don’t pay taxes.

It should be tax the wealthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do well. I am not complaining and feel very fortunate to have two very good paying careers. But we just did our end of year tax analysis with our CPA and our effective tax rate when adding federal plus DC taxes is 45% (36% federal, 9% DC and DC is only "low" because a lot of our income is through a DC C-Corp which is taxes slightly lower at 8.5%).

45% of our income going to taxes. Nearly half of what we take home. And yes -- we are utilizing every single tax strategy under the sun available to us and work with a very good CPA.

So let's change the complaint from "tax the rich" to "tax the billionaires" because the regular rich are playing PLENTY in taxes already. Sigh.

If you are married filing jointly, in 2025 you will pay $202,155 on income up to $751,601, for an effective federal income tax rate of less than 27%. Above that threshold, income is taxed at 37%. To get to an effective rate of 36%, your income would have to be well into the seven digits. For example, at $2m in *taxable* income, the effective federal income tax rate is 33.2%. And that's just taxable income, not taking into account the tax avoidance strategies available to the rich. And sure, I know one of you probably is a biglaw partner, so there are some extras thrown in there, but they are rounding errors at that level (although maybe not, since you only reference paying taxes in one state).

All this is by way of saying, (i) yes, billionaires should be taxed more, but (ii) no, your tax "burden" is not the least bit unfair, and really should be increased. FFS.

Also, your cute "we do well" was a nice try at making others assume you made $500k or so. But in reality, you are in the top 0.1% of HHI in the country, as is readily apparent to anyone who can do 5th grade math.

Finally, you are most definitely complaining. If you must, do it at the country club among your fellow travelers.

OP here — I never said I make $500k. Someone else did. We made $3.7M last year. Can still complain about taxes…even if I do it at the country club.

Yes, you have it so rough...

Even with your ridiculous income, and including all the taxes through the S Corp, getting to 37% is going to require some extraordinarily things. 35% is more likely. I assume you're already taking advantage of the significant tax benefits of S corps, like avoiding some of your payroll taxes by taking your income as distributions rather than wages. Most people can't do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do well. I am not complaining and feel very fortunate to have two very good paying careers. But we just did our end of year tax analysis with our CPA and our effective tax rate when adding federal plus DC taxes is 45% (36% federal, 9% DC and DC is only "low" because a lot of our income is through a DC C-Corp which is taxes slightly lower at 8.5%).

45% of our income going to taxes. Nearly half of what we take home. And yes -- we are utilizing every single tax strategy under the sun available to us and work with a very good CPA.

So let's change the complaint from "tax the rich" to "tax the billionaires" because the regular rich are playing PLENTY in taxes already. Sigh.

Flatten the tax code.

The top 50% of earners do not need to pay 97% of the entire yearly income tax, while the bottom 50% pay the remaining 3%.

It creates a whole class of people who pay for nothing, and demand everything.

The top 50% of earners rake in 90% of all income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do well. I am not complaining and feel very fortunate to have two very good paying careers. But we just did our end of year tax analysis with our CPA and our effective tax rate when adding federal plus DC taxes is 45% (36% federal, 9% DC and DC is only "low" because a lot of our income is through a DC C-Corp which is taxes slightly lower at 8.5%).

45% of our income going to taxes. Nearly half of what we take home. And yes -- we are utilizing every single tax strategy under the sun available to us and work with a very good CPA.

So let's change the complaint from "tax the rich" to "tax the billionaires" because the regular rich are playing PLENTY in taxes already. Sigh.

If you are married filing jointly, in 2025 you will pay $202,155 on income up to $751,601, for an effective federal income tax rate of less than 27%. Above that threshold, income is taxed at 37%. To get to an effective rate of 36%, your income would have to be well into the seven digits. For example, at $2m in *taxable* income, the effective federal income tax rate is 33.2%. And that's just taxable income, not taking into account the tax avoidance strategies available to the rich. And sure, I know one of you probably is a biglaw partner, so there are some extras thrown in there, but they are rounding errors at that level (although maybe not, since you only reference paying taxes in one state).

All this is by way of saying, (i) yes, billionaires should be taxed more, but (ii) no, your tax "burden" is not the least bit unfair, and really should be increased. FFS.

Also, your cute "we do well" was a nice try at making others assume you made $500k or so. But in reality, you are in the top 0.1% of HHI in the country, as is readily apparent to anyone who can do 5th grade math.

Finally, you are most definitely complaining. If you must, do it at the country club among your fellow travelers.

OP here — I never said I make $500k. Someone else did. We made $3.7M last year. Can still complain about taxes…even if I do it at the country club.

You seem greedy. Normal people don’t care that you can’t afford a nicer yacht or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in the same situation. We live in Rockville so we pay taxes for Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland, as well as the federal government.

I think the thing is the billionaires need to be taxed. And not have all those loop poles. It would not make one difference in their lifestyle to increase their taxes and it would make such a difference to America's budget.

You also pay MD state income taxes, don't forget those. Those are particularly annoying because there are few tax-efficient strategies at the state level.

As for billionaires, a lot of their money is in wealth not income, and our tax system is based on income.

They also happen to be highly mobile, so they will move to better tax jurisdictions. Higher taxesin MD and MoCo have caused the wealthy to leave and decimate the tax base:
https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/04/11/marylands-wealth-drain-part-six/

RW Montgomery perspective how glorious you don't undertstand that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in the same situation. We live in Rockville so we pay taxes for Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland, as well as the federal government.

I think the thing is the billionaires need to be taxed. And not have all those loop poles. It would not make one difference in their lifestyle to increase their taxes and it would make such a difference to America's budget.

You also pay MD state income taxes, don't forget those. Those are particularly annoying because there are few tax-efficient strategies at the state level.

As for billionaires, a lot of their money is in wealth not income, and our tax system is based on income.

They also happen to be highly mobile, so they will move to better tax jurisdictions. Higher taxesin MD and MoCo have caused the wealthy to leave and decimate the tax base:
https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/04/11/marylands-wealth-drain-part-six/

RW Montgomery perspective how glorious you don't undertstand that.

Hogan passed on MD's debt. Brought zero business to MD and stole $2 million from taxpayers, funnelled monies to his own real estate company in his second term he learned everything from piggy boy. As usual Republicans try to rewrite the failings of Republicans. Red states are fully owned by red legislatures and governors amazing how they have always been at the bottom of education and never vote for anything that helps their own state taxpayers.