Bring back the 91% tax rate

[tRidiot]

I don't understand how you make more money by making less money? That's not how marginal tax rates work (in general).

If you are just a bit over the limit to put you into the higher tax rate, you can actually bring home less. It happened to me many times with overtime.... if I worked 8 hours OT, I got a few extra bucks... if I worked 16, I actually ended up bring home less than working 8, because I had more in taxes taken out of my paycheck.

The higher the hike from one tax rate to the next, the more profound the effect. I have run the numbers, and I know how much it would take to cut back and end up in the lower bracket.


Not to mention, I would get to spend a whole helluva lot more time at home with my family and probably be a whole helluva lot happier in general. As I said... if your goal is to disincentivize hard work, by all means, tax higher earners at a higher percentage concurrently with rewarding bad choices and bad behavior with .gov handouts. There is absolutely no incentive for me to work harder, take on more responsibility and liability just to take home less and spend less time with my family, so I can support the addictive .gov.

Not gonna happen. There are thousands of places around the world that would welcome me, my family and my skill set with open arms.

 

[JB Books]

Having to pay a lot in taxes is a good problem to have. Typically, it's people who cannot manage their money who have problems. Lawyers in my field are some of the worst. For example, I settle a case and get a $200,000 fee and decide to take it out for myself. I have to be aware that really only about $125,000 of that money is mine. I better hold back $75,000 for my quarterly payments. A lot of guys don't do that and when it is time to pay taxes, they are in a world of hurt.

Growing up with grandparents who grew up during the Great Depression helped me a lot. I'm a compulsive saver. I've avoided the traps many of my friends fell into...lake houses, boats, airplanes, etc. Instead, I concentrated on having no debt (except on property), stocks and bonds, and real estate.

That being said, I sure as Hell would not want to pay 91% tax rates, and like tRdoc, I would reduce my productivity and my business ( resulting in my laying off many employees).

 

[JB Books]

Not gonna happen. There are thousands of places around the world that would welcome me, my family and my skill set with open arms.

which is why I bitterly regret not going to medical school (even though I probably would make less money). You are lucky in that you can go anywhere in the world an get a job.

 

[tRidiot]

Having to pay a lot in taxes is a good problem to have. Typically, it's people who cannot manage their money who have problems. Lawyers in my field are some of the worst. For example, I settle a case and get a $200,000 fee and decide to take it out for myself. I have to be aware that really only about $125,000 of that money is mine. I better hold back $75,000 for my quarterly payments. A lot of guys don't do that and when it is time to pay taxes, they are in a world of hurt.

Growing up with grandparents who grew up during the Great Depression helped me a lot. I'm a compulsive saver. I've avoided the traps many of my friends fell into...lake houses, boats, airplanes, etc. Instead, I concentrated on having no debt (except on property), stocks and bonds, and real estate.

That being said, I sure as Hell would not want to pay 91% tax rates, and like tRdoc, I would reduce my productivity and my business ( resulting in my laying off many employees).

I agree... it's not that I CAN'T manage it, it's just why would I bust my ass that much harder to support people who don't appreciate it, who look for opportunities to exploit it, who tell you that you are greedy for not paying more, who look for more ways to penalize you, and who have no personal responsibility in spending or personal lives?

It's just my philosophy... I give to organizations and individuals liberally. But I am the one who gets to choose how, where and when that money is distributed. I don't think Uncle Crackead (aka Uncle Sam) can do a better job with it than I can.

 

[tRidiot]

which is why I bitterly regret not going to medical school (even though I probably would make less money). You are lucky in that you can go anywhere in the world an get a job.

That's true... I might live more simply, but I would probably be more satisfied and feel less exploited.

A reckoning is coming to the US, I am afraid. It saddens me, but it is something we have brought on ourselves.

 

[inactive]

If you are just a bit over the limit to put you into the higher tax rate, you can actually bring home less. It happened to me many times with overtime.... if I worked 8 hours OT, I got a few extra bucks... if I worked 16, I actually ended up bring home less than working 8, because I had more in taxes taken out of my paycheck.

That's the withholding rate for a bonus or overtime, not the marginal tax rates on your total income for the year. If your income increases enough to push you to a higher bracket, the higher rate is applied to the additional income earned; the "first" money earned is taxed at the "first" or lower rate.

For example, the first 25k of you income is taxed the same as someone who only earned 25k in total (deductions, credits, EIC etc. notwithstanding). The next monies are taxed at the progressively higher rate brackets.

The withholding is often higher on bonuses and overtime because many people allot their taxes to be exactly withheld over their normal paycheck, and that extra income is withheld higher in case it goes into a higher marginal rate bracket. If you don't hit that bracket, you get it back on your return filing the next year. This is a payroll thing, as in your employer or payroll processor, not necessarily the government.

 

[farmerbyron]

Kinda like socialism, huh?


I'll tell you this... you raise my taxes significantly, I will cut back to drop into the lower tax bracket. It would be more profitable in the longrun dollar for dollar, and also I am not going to bust my ass even more for the privilege of paying even more to supply the .gov's addiction to spending and expansion. I don't think I am alone in that sentiment. And I can certainly make it through on less.

If you think I'm the only one, or there are only a very few of us, then by all means - tax, tax, and tax some more. And when it gets bad enough, I'll find somewhere else to live and work.

Kinda like socialism.

The actual quote: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need (or needs) is a slogan popularised by Karl Marx in his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Program.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_each_according_to_his_ability,_to_each_according_to_his_need

 

[Billybob]

We are all really the same aren't we?

Opinions may vary.

 

[Lurker66]

Heres my thing with anyone who uses the argument about wages, tax rates, hours worked, OT vs spending time with family.

When someone says if you tax him at a higher rate, he'll purposely not work as many hours, so as not to be taxed and bring home less. Thats ok with him because he would work less hours and get to spend more time with family and have a little free time.

However, if ya dont increase his taxes, society will benefit because he will continue to produce or work more hours, thus bringing home more income at the existing tax rate. That runs counter to him wanting to work less hours, leaves less time for family and less free time.

The jist of what the person is saying is, I want to earn as much as I can and work as many hours and spending time with family and having free time is all based on a tax rate.

I call BS, you wanna work and make as much as you can. Knowbody wants to work more for less pay. Family time doesnt have anything to do with it.

 

[okietool]

which is why I bitterly regret not going to medical school (even though I probably would make less money). You are lucky in that you can go anywhere in the world an get a job.

Aren't doctors in countries with socialized medicine government employees? On government salaries? Which is most of the rest on the western world? Isn't private medicine practice in at least some of those countries illegal?
Ok lets see, I want to practice private medicine and own guns, where do I go?