Okay, you pay 24% of $100,000. That is $24,000. But that is not what you actually pay. You pay 10% for the first $11,000. These are called marginal rates. That is $1100. Then you pay 12% on income up to $44,725. That is $4047. Then you pay 22% up to $95,375. That is $11,143. You pay 24% on the $4,625. That is $1,110. So, on an income of $100,000, you pay $1,100 + $4,047 + $11,143 + $4,625$ = $17,400, or AN ACTUAL TAX OF 17.4%. This, of course, doesn't include your deductions or tax credits which reduce your marginal rate.


You earn $100,000,000 and you pay 8.2%. That is $8,200,000 which is significantly more than $17,400.

The top 1 percent of taxpayers paid roughly $615 billion, or 40.1 percent of all income taxes, while the bottom 90 percent paid about $440 billion, or 28.6 percent of all income taxes. More than 100 million U.S. households, or 61% of all taxpayers, paid no federal income taxes last year. Yes, the progressive income tax is regressive, as is sales tax, because a larger percentage of a middle-income person's income is spent also on sales tax and other taxes. Then there is state income tax, property tax, and all the other taxes assessed on almost every aspect of your life (i.e. utilities taxes, gasoline taxes, etc.) Without the rich, it would be virtually impossible to make investments in our economy. Granted, we need a strong middle class, but wealth is not static, and people are constantly moving from one economic group to another throughout their life cycle. If you think big corporations don't pay taxes, consider that they create jobs, this helps small business owners prosper because the employees take home a paycheck, and spend money at small businesses. They also pay taxes from their paycheck (this is an indirect tax on the big business and small business). They need profits to reinvest in the business to stay competitive. The problem is not the amount of taxes paid. The problem is a growing government bureaucracy that spends more as it gets bigger, and the bigger it gets the more inefficient it becomes. Bidenomics is a perfect example. People are earning less during the Biden administration because of inflation, which also reduces the spending power of people on fixed incomes, such as social security or disability payments. These people are losing ground. Minorities are losing ground. They were all doing much better under the Trump administration. Do you still think the rich don't pay their fair share? It's a matter of perspective.

The Median Income: 50% earn above and 50% earn below.
As of January 2023, the median household income in the United States is 208.8031. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual mean wage for a full-time wage or salary worker in the United States is $53,490 per year or $1,028 per week (for a 40-hour work week).

The Mean Income: (The arithmetic average of all incomes earned divided by the number of persons)
The average household income in 2023 was $106,270.901. In 2022, the average household income was $102,310.10 (not adjusted for inflation)1. According to the Pew Research Center's guidelines, middle-income Americans would have annual incomes between $38,133 and $114,400 in 2023, before adjusting for local cost of living and household size.

For 2022, the average wage for working Americans was $61,136.
The average wages of those in the top 1 percent of wage earners were $785,968 that year. That is 1 in 100. This means that 1 person in every 100 people earns more than $785,968 and pays 40.1% of the income tax, while 90 people out of 100 pay 28.6% of all income taxes. That leaves the other 9 out of 100 people paying 32.3% of income taxes. They earn at least $167,639.
In the rarefied top 0.1 percent, the average earnings were more than $2.8 million in 2022. That is 1 in 1000. They pay 24% of all federal income taxes.

Do you still think the rich don't pay their fair share? It's a matter of perspective.

Thus ends your economic lesson for today.

Which percentages? A couple of typos? 32.3% should be 31.3%. 208.8031 should be $208,803.1. Typos errors. But I don't see a percentage that is off by a factor of ten or more because of a decimal point in the wrong place. Show me.

Yeah, Bernie thinks he needs three homes. Biden thinks he needs multiple homes. What's wrong with owning multiple homes? Snowbirds do it. If you can afford it, why not?
Do you stay in hotels? What a waste of resources when you could stay home and occupy your house full-time.

I don't know, but there is a lot of employment for support services on these vehicles and in manufacturing.
Let's ask John Kerry who jets around the world in the name of reducing greenhouse gases.

This makes people productive and allows them to live independently without government assistance and have self-esteem.

Hello OPP. I am glad to at last have joined this forum. My husband is a member aka LostAggie66 and he has shared many of the posts from here. I will be honest with you. The number oftimes I have seen the names you called my husband I will not tolerate. I am a Proud, Progressive Socialist Liberal who has NEVER Voted Republican and Never will until the GOP starts treating all fellow human beings regardless of sexual orientation, race, religion or any other differences as American citizens. The first person who refers to myself as aLibtard,Communist or any other childish Trumpspeak will not like my reply. As long as you treat me as a person and don't constantly insult me or my views I will be open minded and respectfully respect your views. Whether you are a conservative Republican,Democrat Liberal, Independent whatever.

IMO Donald Trump belongs in Federal Prison. However he will probably not see the inside of ClubFed although he would look good in an Orangejumpsuit washing military ambulances. As far as him being blocked from the ballot there is not enough evidence that he did encourage or support the Jan6 Riot/Insurrection. If such evidence is ever found that he is guilty of supporting or encouraging the protestors to ransack the Capital then he should be removed from the ballot. Now on the subject of the 2020 election HE LOST to Pres. Biden. His continual tantrum that the election was stolen is childish BS. Much like his 2024tantrum that he is being persecuted because of his politics. NO he is being prosecuted for his crimes ranging from corruption to sexual assault and election interference in Georgia.

I also agree that if it can be proved by any member of the current MAGA HOR that Pres. Biden has committed any crime and/or misdemeanors then he should be impeached and tried by the Senate. The fact that his son is a drug addict and convicted felon doesNOT mean his father is a felon, crook Godfather etc. I also do not agree with every thing his admin has done or supports. I do not support the radicals of my party to include the Squad, BLM(the group not the sentiment...White,Brown, Red,Green,Purple w/orange dots people matter. ANTIFA(they are Marxists) trouble makers and not anti-fascists.

If Pres.Biden was to step down due to health before the convention then I would like to see an Open Convention with all candidates eligible. So open that if we need to elect an Octogenarian then we Need Bernie Sanders and Elizaeth Warren as VP. I also don't think VP Harris is a good idea but she is in direct succession as established in the Constitution. I also stand by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as written but with the right of the people to ammend when needed ie: the 2nd. I am a responsible gun owner and user and respect the right of all non criminal Americans to own firearms.

My liberal views are not going to be swayed by any one. I support Pres Biden and see the tasteless disgusting memes posted here as immature and not respecting the office of POTUS. The first meme i see of Pres.Biden or any Democrat being incontinent(ie full of S**T) I will counter with a like treatment of the MAGA childleader because if anyone is incontinent it's donnie boy.

As I stated in the beginning I am Liberal NOT Marxist, Communist, Nazi etc...I did Not Vote for Hillary in 2016 because I think she absolutely failed us in the last yrs she was SecState. I voted for the Green Party then andmay do so again in November. I support our military(ALL of them) but find aggression as destructive. That is the reason I am a lifelong Democrat I hate war seeing too many of our young killed. This goes back to having to see what happened to my family when my older brother(18) volunteered for VietNam. because he wanted to protect his little sisters. He was a Navy Corpsman assigned to the Marines and he was KIA Dec.68. I was 12 and saw the effect his death had on my mother and all of us. I lived seeing alcohol take over her life luckily I was strong enough to avoid the stigma and disease that is alcoholism. Unfortunately neither my first two marriages worked out. The father of my daughter left me when she was in pre school. We divorced and shared custody until she was 18 and chose to live with me. My marriage last year to LostAggie has been very good for both of us. We are friends and now husband and wife. My daughter adores him and when he suggested he wanted to be closer to his family we moved (from PA) Aggie came to PA after we met on line in 2019. We made a visit AL/FL in 2020 to meet some of Charlies daughters(Now mine) We got back to PA one week before shutdown. My daugher and I agreed to leave PA(where we were both born and lived)last summer. We moved to Texas and are 3bluedots in a very red state but we do have liberal friends and fellow democrats. We also have 5 greatgrand children we have not yet seen This includes 5mo twin boys an older brother(4)born in CO and a 10mo girl all in FL. Aggies middle daughter and family live here in Corpus Christi about a mile from us and we see them almost daily.

I think I have rambled enough for now. Just trust me that I do have opinions on many issues that the MAGA majority want to see purged and forgotten as we return to the "glorious 1950s" or maybe even the gay1890s. When women knew their place along with every other non-white adult.(don't even call me racist though because I am white Italian/Polish Lithuanian raised Catholic but now Lutheran woman who thinks it's time for Male white old farts let all Americans share in gov't as well as life in America in the 21st NOT The 19th century.

Pax All, grammyD...Wishing All a Blessed and Safe Easter.