Income tax: Ever calculated how wealthy you'd be without it?

[oyarde]

Who are they paid by? Magic fairies? I didn't realize that legitimate hypotheses involved the existence of bins of gold at the end of rainbows. I'm going to have to go with bxm042--I think you're being intentionally ridiculous and perhaps trolling.

I am opposed to all Magic Fairies who steal from me and in my old age , becoming less patient , probably make magic fairie sandwiches in the future ....

[Weston White]

Here are a few aspects little considered as to the whole underpinning scheme surrounding the federal income tax:

Breaking down your lifelong loss:
http://www.iwarrior.defendindependen...p?p=1068#p1068

Additional loss realized through stoppage at the source (W-4 Withholding):
http://www.iwarrior.defendindependen...p?p=1152#p1152

[Zippyjuan]

When you include deductions, the average tax rate a person making $50k a year (you used $52k in your example- this is pretty close), that person is actualy paying closer to five percent in income taxes or $2,600 ($50 a week).

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/...ate/52682372/1

The effective tax rate, meanwhile, is the amount a taxpayer pays in taxes as a percentage of total income. The average effective federal tax rate for American taxpayers is 11%, according to an analysis of 2009 IRS data by the Tax Foundation, a non-profit research organization. For individuals with adjusted gross income of $50,000 or less, the average effective tax rate is less than 5%, according to the Tax Foundation.

That rate doesn't include the amount taxpayers pay in Social Security and Medicare taxes.

Confusion about the difference between marginal and effective tax rates often causes taxpayers to overestimate their tax liabilities,

The marginal tax rate (the rate listed in tax bracket rate lists) is not applied to every dollar you earn which brings the average rate on your entire income lower.

Adding in your FICA figure of $3,978.00, that comes to $6578 a year- less than half of the $14,768.00 you came up with in your article.

[Nickels]

When you include deductions, the average tax rate a person making $50k a year (you used $52k in your example- this is pretty close), that person is actualy paying closer to five percent in income taxes or $2,600 ($50 a week).

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/...ate/52682372/1


The marginal tax rate (the rate listed in tax bracket rate lists) is not applied to every dollar you earn which brings the average rate on your entire income lower.

Adding in your FICA figure of $3,978.00, that comes to $6578 a year- less than half of the $14,768.00 you came up with in your article.

In other words, less than 13%. Let's hear what this guy says next, what's 13% going to buy him?

[Nickels]

Here are a few aspects little considered as to the whole underpinning scheme surrounding the federal income tax:

Additional loss realized through stoppage at the source (W-4 Withholding):
http://www.iwarrior.defendindependen...p?p=1152#p1152

why use 4%? Where do you get a 4% guaranteed return? But forget that, so you came up with an impressive $30K after 40 years. Congratulations, you get a new car after 40 years. Or do you? Will the car cost the same if you had an extra $30K?

[oyarde]

Who was buying cars ? I was buying silver at $5 an ounce .

[MelissaWV]

Too many variables. I would like to think this place would not focus so much on the money.

Overall it would even out, but how many more could home school? Not have to have a second income? Be able to take their time finding a job that suits then rather than accepting whatever? Would a small business hire an extra worker? Would people go with a shorter workweek?

[Kluge]

Too many variables. I would like to think this place would not focus so much on the money.

Overall it would even out, but how many more could home school? Not have to have a second income? Be able to take their time finding a job that suits then rather than accepting whatever? Would a small business hire an extra worker? Would people go with a shorter workweek?

How do you even get to all that without questioning how much money the government takes from you?

[MelissaWV]

How do you even get to all that without questioning how much money the government takes from you?

The hypothetical assumes money was never taken and that we have a higher income, or maybe I am reading it wrong.

If you suddenly got the money back in one fell swoop it'd be different.

I am generalizing, but personally if there were no income tax I would not be making oodles more money. I write "exempt" at my steady job, and most of my deductions help offset what I supposedly "owe." There's no state income tax to worry about. What would I do with it? Not much. Especially if it was just over time, rather than one giant windfall. The truth is that if people's paychecks all increased by the amount they were paying in Federal taxes, most folks would just amplify their current habits.

[oyarde]

My Mrs. is going to retire in Feb, work part time and continue to expand her home business , I am going to work another 14 years , I imagine, it took , us collectively , around , nearly 80 years of work to get here , would have been a hell of alot easier not just working with half our earnings ( after all taxes ) , but much more .