Filed my income tax return today.

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My federal income tax percentage is still higher than Mitt Romney's. Great job capitulating on the fiscal cliff, you stupid Democrats.

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My federal income tax percentage is still higher than Mitt Romney's. Great job capitulating on the fiscal cliff, you stupid Democrats.

We'll never know because Romney would never release any meaningful info about his taxes.  Unless you're doing far better than most people our age, I doubt very much you pay a higher effective rate though. The income tax falls very lightly on "regular people." It's all the other taxes that screw us.

Umm, regular people in high cost of living areas can pay more than Mitt Romney percentage-wise. If you made the minimum that would pay more than Mitt Romney around here, you would never ever ever be able to buy a house here. So if middle class means you can afford to buy a house, you wouldn't even be middle class.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

My federal income tax percentage is still higher than Mitt Romney's. Great job capitulating on the fiscal cliff, you stupid Democrats.

We'll never know because Romney would never release any meaningful info about his taxes.  Unless you're doing far better than most people our age, I doubt very much you pay a higher effective rate though. The income tax falls very lightly on "regular people." It's all the other taxes that screw us.

Umm, regular people in high cost of living areas can pay more than Mitt Romney percentage-wise. If you made the minimum that would pay more than Mitt Romney around here, you would never ever ever be able to buy a house here. So if middle class means you can afford to buy a house, you wouldn't even be middle class.

Median household income in SF is about $73k. Everybody's different, of course, but once you take out deductions, you're probably looking at taxable income of no greater than $50k. It's going to be very hard to pay an effective tax rate greater than 13%, or whatever absurdly low rate Mitt Romney pays, on that middling income, especially if children are involved because the tax rates are marginal and because of all the welfare for middle class parents in the tax code. The people paying a higher effective income tax rate than Mitt Romney are the doctors making $300k, not that that makes any sense either. However, once one factors in FICA taxes, middle class people can easily pay a higher percentage of their income in federal taxes than Mitt Romney, and that is no less of a scandal. And home ownership is obviously not a middle class trait in SF. Census says only 37% of households there own their own home.

Where does one get $23,000+ in deductions without the mortgage interest subisidy?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

My federal income tax percentage is still higher than Mitt Romney's. Great job capitulating on the fiscal cliff, you stupid Democrats.

I would conclude mine is as well. I haven't finished all the details, but I had to do enough to fill out FAFSA for two kids this year. The impact of my wife taking on extra contract work to pay for the college generates a lot of tax. Right now it looks like I'll pay just under 17% of my adjusted gross income as tax. Almost a quarter of that is self-employment tax.

SE taxes are a highly regressive bitch aren't they?

But the sad thing is even if you ignore the payroll taxes, which Romney doesn't even pay, and I have plenty that I or my employer pay, I paid a higher percentage of just federal income taxes than Romney.