Quote:
Originally Posted by zimmy
By the way, if my family of 4 was making >$250,000 a year and wasn't living comfortably, that would be pathetic.
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Living comfortably and wealthy are 2 very different things. I think most here would agree that a family with children making $250Kare living comfortably. They are very far from Wealthy though and should not be asked pay the tax burden.
The other thing to consider is cost of living. A family making 250K in Boston/New York/San Fran is not as “wealthy” as that same family in another area of the country where the cost of living is cheap. It’s all relative.
A family making 250K has to maximize contributions as much as they can to 401K’s, 529’s etc so they aren’t bringing home as much spendable $$ as most people would think. Making higher salaries incur much more cost than just taxes. Most families that make over 250K have both spouses working. That means less dependents to claim. That same duel family income typically has to pay for additional costs such as Childcare, commuting to work, etc etc as one spouse isn’t staying home. If they are near the 250K number they most likely are near the Alternative Minimum Tax as well which prevents many of the write offs that most others enjoy putting that family at an additional disadvantage. Higher wage earners working in the Corporate world pay higher premiums for benefits than lower wage earners in many cases. In both my company and by wife’s, your medical insurance rates increase the higher up the pay scale you go. You make more $$, you pay more for your healthcare to subsidize the rest of the company. Lots of hidden expenses that don’t appear on the surface.
This can often de- motivate a family from being productive. People on the edge of the $250K line might sometimes be better off if there were less productive and had one spouse stay home so they would not cross the line when it comes to taxes. It should be this way and if done in masses would hurt our economy.
Government has an unsustainable spending problem. The answer isn’t to raise taxes, it is to look at the root cause (spending) and fix it. People families should not be punished for being successful, they should pay a fair share in taxes, the question is what is fair?