How much should individuals making $100k-$250k pay in taxes?

[Person Man]

For reference, the current brackets are 24% above 90k, 32% above 170k, 35% above 215k, and 37% above 540k. Some notable individual income percentiles (at least according to the first link I found) are $46k (50%), $65k (67%), $100k (83%), $130k (90%), $186k (95%), and $400k (99%).

I might do something like 25% above 100k, 40% above 200k, and 50% above 400k. I think 100k, 200k, and 400k are good cutoffs in terms of "high earner", "very high earner", and "extremely high earner". Maybe a 35% bracket at 150k would also make sense. I'd also look to raise the long-term capital gains tax to at least be closer to the regular income tax.

There does appear to be this “upper management class” of people who make like 200-400k a year for whom it is a matter of opinion whether they are a junior part of the elite or are simply very senior in the upper middle class.

[EastwoodS]

no more than 20%. People making this type of money are top real estate agents, pilots, doctors, lawyers, people that have worked their whole lives for the things they have, they've worked a lot harder than the average person as well, they absolutely deserve the money they make and anyone who says otherwise deserves no respect.

[EastwoodS]

30% below 100k, 50% above 100k, 66% above 200k, like in most developed countries.

I know folks who live in SF at 100k/yr and since the SALT deduction was reduced their total tax burden (state, local, federal) is well over 30%. Since rent in SF can be well over $3,000 per month, I would assume it would be really hard to save money up, since food and other such things take up  much of the remainder.

Did the maths, 100k per year, 30% taxes and rent at $3000 (already higher than necessary) leaves $2,800 at the end of the month for food, fuel and drugs.

Is that your idea of struggling to make ends meet?

.,
what the f-. you are not taking into account state and federal taxes, mandatory 401k, health insurance, car insurance, student loan payments, etc, etc. that $2800 that you think everyone just magically has laying around after paying the minimum 30% tax rate is so naïve. how old are you? that $2800 is more like $1000 once even more taxes are payed off. in CA it's probably even less.

[EastwoodS]

Are we just supposed to tax people so much they can't save up money for increasingly expensive mortgages, savings, cars, for a growing family, etc. How exactly can you do that when some of you are talking about 60% tax brackets for people working their tales off already. I don't know how anyone could justify that crime.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Depends how they primarily made that much . If they are primarily a small business owner their taxes should go down (I support expanding the QBI deduction) , but other than that it should stay around the same as it is now at a federal level.

Now at the state level it’s a very different story because I believe states like CA/NY/NJ do tax the UMC way too much 

[gerritcole]

ideally society would provide eveyrhting for everyone and we work for fulfillment and so we pay everything back to the gov, income wouldbe like points in a game, fun to strive for more but no real use for them

[It’s so Joever]

Tax brackets should have a Cost of Living adjustment but generally should be higher. I won’t go into exact numbers without a strong analysis of the impact on the budget and ofc the contraction of the economy an increase would have. Trying to get a precise number out of users who almost certainly have not conducted such an analysis (including secondary impacts) is frankly stupid.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Allow me to reassure you that once you hit $100k in annual income, you will have zero trouble surviving let alone thriving anywhere in this country. Once you hit $200k in annual income, you can do just about anything you want in life. Anything beyond that is pure greed. And in most cases, someone in this bracket would be supplemented by another income in their life - and even if not, they could be taxed lower by virtue of marriage.

This bracket is the most undertaxed group in America that does not pay anywhere near their fair share despite having a ludicrous amount of savings stockpiled.

You don't think rental prices will adjust to people having less money to fling around carelessly and wastefully?

[EastwoodS]

Allow me to reassure you that once you hit $100k in annual income, you will have zero trouble surviving let alone thriving anywhere in this country. Once you hit $200k in annual income, you can do just about anything you want in life. Anything beyond that is pure greed. And in most cases, someone in this bracket would be supplemented by another income in their life - and even if not, they could be taxed lower by virtue of marriage.

This bracket is the most undertaxed group in America that does not pay anywhere near their fair share despite having a ludicrous amount of savings stockpiled.

You don't think rental prices will adjust to people having less money to fling around carelessly and wastefully?

Most people making 200k work incredibly hard and have done their due diligence. Go read something.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Anyway, here's my personal proposal:
$0 - $12,500 = 5.0%
$12,500-$40,000 = 7.5%
$40,000-$90,000 = 15.0%
$90,000-$170,000 = 20.0%
$170,000-$400,000 = 25.0%
$400,000-$1,000,000 = 31.5%
$1,000,000-$2,500,000 = 45.5%
$2,500,000-$10,000,000 = 58.5%
$10,000,000-$100,000,000 = 73.5%
$100,000,000-$1,000,000,000 = 81.5%
$1,000,000,000+ = 92.5%

[OSR stands with Israel]

Generally the current tax system in general works fine at the federal level and there are a few changes I’d make like making the Child Tax Credit refundable and expanding the QBI deduction. There also aren’t anywhere near the amount of deductions people think there are as they have been severely curtailed over the years including at the corporate level .

The reason tech companies don’t pay much in taxes is because :

1. Many of them weren’t profitable at all for so many years so their NOLs still haven’t been used up yet.

2. Despite not being profitable for so many years , their stock prices still went up as Wall Street didn’t really mind that they weren’t making profits due to future potential .


 

[sting in the rafters]

36% in accordance with what marginal income tax rates would’ve reverted to had the Bush tax cuts been allowed to expire in 2012 and the TCJA never passed. That said phasing out the mortgage interest and SALT deductions would go further in the direction of the PMC paying its fair share.

Most people making 200k work incredibly hard and have done their due diligence. Go read something.

Implying the difference between partner and associate is skill-based lmfaooooooooooo

[BG-NY]

I think we should lower taxes on this group, and pass a BAT instead.

[EastwoodS]

36% in accordance with what marginal income tax rates would’ve reverted to had the Bush tax cuts been allowed to expire in 2012 and the TCJA never passed. That said phasing out the mortgage interest and SALT deductions would go further in the direction of the PMC paying its fair share.

Most people making 200k work incredibly hard and have done their due diligence. Go read something.

Implying the difference between partner and associate is skill-based lmfaooooooooooo

What ?

[EastwoodS]

Anyway, here's my personal proposal:
$0 - $12,500 = 5.0%
$12,500-$40,000 = 7.5%
$40,000-$90,000 = 15.0%
$90,000-$170,000 = 20.0%
$170,000-$400,000 = 25.0%
$400,000-$1,000,000 = 31.5%
$1,000,000-$2,500,000 = 45.5%
$2,500,000-$10,000,000 = 58.5%
$10,000,000-$100,000,000 = 73.5%
$100,000,000-$1,000,000,000 = 81.5%
$1,000,000,000+ = 92.5%

This seems extremely reasonable

[OSR stands with Israel]

Anyway, here's my personal proposal:
$0 - $12,500 = 5.0%
$12,500-$40,000 = 7.5%
$40,000-$90,000 = 15.0%
$90,000-$170,000 = 20.0%
$170,000-$400,000 = 25.0%
$400,000-$1,000,000 = 31.5%
$1,000,000-$2,500,000 = 45.5%
$2,500,000-$10,000,000 = 58.5%
$10,000,000-$100,000,000 = 73.5%
$100,000,000-$1,000,000,000 = 81.5%
$1,000,000,000+ = 92.5%

This seems extremely reasonable

No it’s not , the current system works perfectly fine . Those types of tax hikes would be disastrous for the economy

[Хahar 🤔]

Allow me to reassure you that once you hit $100k in annual income, you will have zero trouble surviving let alone thriving anywhere in this country. Once you hit $200k in annual income, you can do just about anything you want in life. Anything beyond that is pure greed. And in most cases, someone in this bracket would be supplemented by another income in their life - and even if not, they could be taxed lower by virtue of marriage.

This bracket is the most undertaxed group in America that does not pay anywhere near their fair share despite having a ludicrous amount of savings stockpiled.

You don't think rental prices will adjust to people having less money to fling around carelessly and wastefully?

Most people making 200k work incredibly hard and have done their due diligence. Go read something.

I don't work hard at all, and I didn't even inherit a sinecure job. Most of my day is spent reading and posting online. If you've been brought up to think of income as related to some sort of intrinsic merit, you might not realize how many people like me are out there.

[EastwoodS]

Allow me to reassure you that once you hit $100k in annual income, you will have zero trouble surviving let alone thriving anywhere in this country. Once you hit $200k in annual income, you can do just about anything you want in life. Anything beyond that is pure greed. And in most cases, someone in this bracket would be supplemented by another income in their life - and even if not, they could be taxed lower by virtue of marriage.

This bracket is the most undertaxed group in America that does not pay anywhere near their fair share despite having a ludicrous amount of savings stockpiled.

You don't think rental prices will adjust to people having less money to fling around carelessly and wastefully?

Most people making 200k work incredibly hard and have done their due diligence. Go read something.

I don't work hard at all, and I didn't even inherit a sinecure job. Most of my day is spent reading and posting online. If you've been brought up to think of income as related to some sort of intrinsic merit, you might not realize how many people like me are out there.

Well you aren’t everyone, so..

[Mr. Reactionary]

100%

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Allow me to reassure you that once you hit $100k in annual income, you will have zero trouble surviving let alone thriving anywhere in this country. Once you hit $200k in annual income, you can do just about anything you want in life. Anything beyond that is pure greed. And in most cases, someone in this bracket would be supplemented by another income in their life - and even if not, they could be taxed lower by virtue of marriage.

This bracket is the most undertaxed group in America that does not pay anywhere near their fair share despite having a ludicrous amount of savings stockpiled.

You don't think rental prices will adjust to people having less money to fling around carelessly and wastefully?

Most people making 200k work incredibly hard and have done their due diligence. Go read something.

I won't put it as bluntly as Xahar because I definitely feel an inordinate amount of work-related stress in my life, but surely not as much stress as most jobs that only pay a quarter as much. Most high income jobs are complete nonsense work which any honest person working them can attest to.

Most people making between the 25th and 50th percentile in income work incredibly hard. That is far more self evident than any wealthy person I work with putting in effort (and still unhappy that there are economic limitations to what they can do despite living a life of leisure).

[EastwoodS]

Allow me to reassure you that once you hit $100k in annual income, you will have zero trouble surviving let alone thriving anywhere in this country. Once you hit $200k in annual income, you can do just about anything you want in life. Anything beyond that is pure greed. And in most cases, someone in this bracket would be supplemented by another income in their life - and even if not, they could be taxed lower by virtue of marriage.

This bracket is the most undertaxed group in America that does not pay anywhere near their fair share despite having a ludicrous amount of savings stockpiled.

You don't think rental prices will adjust to people having less money to fling around carelessly and wastefully?

Most people making 200k work incredibly hard and have done their due diligence. Go read something.

I won't put it as bluntly as Xahar because I definitely feel an inordinate amount of work-related stress in my life, but surely not as much stress as most jobs that only pay a quarter as much. Most high income jobs are complete nonsense work which any honest person working them can attest to.

Most people making between the 25th and 50th percentile in income work incredibly hard. That is far more self evident than any wealthy person I work with putting in effort.

like doctors and pilots right? Anyone can do those

[sting in the rafters]

What ?

Proper networking, gaining experience through attrition, and frankly not actively causing problems are a surer path to career advancement than any merit-based action. Likewise employee compensation is not based on difficulty of assigned tasks or even value generated for the company, but rather level of responsibility in the case something goes awry. Source: am entry-level professional who habitually stretches 4-hours of work into 8 on days I am required to be in the office.

[Epaminondas]

what the f-. you are not taking into account state and federal taxes, mandatory 401k, health insurance, car insurance, student loan payments, etc, etc. that $2800 that you think everyone just magically has laying around after paying the minimum 30% tax rate is so naïve. how old are you? that $2800 is more like $1000 once even more taxes are payed off. in CA it's probably even less.

It is ironic that the strategy of starving public services of budget via low taxes you're advocating would only worsen the visceral fear you express of earning "only" $2800 a month left after taxes.

Anyway, here's my personal proposal:
$0 - $12,500 = 5.0%
$12,500-$40,000 = 7.5%
$40,000-$90,000 = 15.0%
$90,000-$170,000 = 20.0%
$170,000-$400,000 = 25.0%
$400,000-$1,000,000 = 31.5%
$1,000,000-$2,500,000 = 45.5%
$2,500,000-$10,000,000 = 58.5%
$10,000,000-$100,000,000 = 73.5%
$100,000,000-$1,000,000,000 = 81.5%
$1,000,000,000+ = 92.5%

Just plain weird. Why are you devoting 6 tax brackets to the top percentile of earners, and 5 to the bottom 99%?
Since the median income in the US is 70k per household, that places median Americans squarely in your second-lowest "charity" bracket.

Anything above $200,000 a year (top decile) must be heavily taxed to create any quality of public service.

[omar04]

Allow me to reassure you that once you hit $100k in annual income, you will have zero trouble surviving let alone thriving anywhere in this country. Once you hit $200k in annual income, you can do just about anything you want in life. Anything beyond that is pure greed. And in most cases, someone in this bracket would be supplemented by another income in their life - and even if not, they could be taxed lower by virtue of marriage.

This bracket is the most undertaxed group in America that does not pay anywhere near their fair share despite having a ludicrous amount of savings stockpiled.

You don't think rental prices will adjust to people having less money to fling around carelessly and wastefully?

Most people making 200k work incredibly hard and have done their due diligence. Go read something.

I don't work hard at all, and I didn't even inherit a sinecure job. Most of my day is spent reading and posting online. If you've been brought up to think of income as related to some sort of intrinsic merit, you might not realize how many people like me are out there.

Out of curiosity, what field do you work in?

[Хahar 🤔]

Allow me to reassure you that once you hit $100k in annual income, you will have zero trouble surviving let alone thriving anywhere in this country. Once you hit $200k in annual income, you can do just about anything you want in life. Anything beyond that is pure greed. And in most cases, someone in this bracket would be supplemented by another income in their life - and even if not, they could be taxed lower by virtue of marriage.

This bracket is the most undertaxed group in America that does not pay anywhere near their fair share despite having a ludicrous amount of savings stockpiled.

You don't think rental prices will adjust to people having less money to fling around carelessly and wastefully?

Most people making 200k work incredibly hard and have done their due diligence. Go read something.

I don't work hard at all, and I didn't even inherit a sinecure job. Most of my day is spent reading and posting online. If you've been brought up to think of income as related to some sort of intrinsic merit, you might not realize how many people like me are out there.

Out of curiosity, what field do you work in?

I work in marketing in the tech industry.