# Income tax poll (anonymous) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 18, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938 "2010-05-18T21:55:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/21 "2010-05-19T16:47:38Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > So the people who selected the bottom option- they pay more than 20k of taxes out of their income? Sure are a lot of upper-middle class people on this site. That’s what I was thinking. My (joint) total income (not taxable income) was over $77k and using the formula “tax withholding - refund” I only paid $3,150 in taxes. I don’t know how much I’d have to be making to owe over $20k. Edited to add: If my answer was based on tax liability before credits, it would be $5900. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/22 "2010-05-19T17:13:20Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > That’s what I was thinking. My (joint) total income (not taxable income) was over $77k and using the formula “tax withholding - refund” I only paid $3,150 in taxes. I don’t know how much I’d have to be making to owe over $20k. > > Edited to add: If my answer was based on tax liability before credits, it would be $5900. Federal taxes for you are not much over 4% of your income. That is extremely low - I assume that isn’t a lot of regular taxable type income. We pay about 20% of our taxable income (less if you use the adjusted gross) to the federal government. This puts us way into the $20k+ category. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/23 "2010-05-19T17:44:44Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I don’t know how much I’d have to be making to owe over $20k. Looking at the tax table from the 1040EZ form, a single person with a taxable income of $93,850 to $93,900 would owe $20,005 in federal income tax. Since the standard deduction is $9,350 for a single, that puts total income up to $103,200. ETA: This is, obviously, assuming just the standard deduction. It clearly can get a lot more complicated as you factor in other deductions. ETA^2: As an example, I made less than you did but payed more in FIT. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/24 "2010-05-19T17:51:32Z")
[quote=“Driver8, post:22, topic:539938”] Federal taxes for you are not much over 4% of your income. That is extremely low - I assume that isn’t a lot of regular taxable type income. …/QUOTE] well, his (her?) user name _is_ “Skammer” so maybe that’s an explanation 😛 (JUST KIDDING - NO WRONGDOING SUGGESTED!!). Actually with joint income being 77K, that suggests at the least, 2 people, so you kill 7K off the income right there with personal deductions, then let’s assume 15K worth of mortgage deductions, that’s down to 55K taxable… let’s say there are 2 kids as well and that’s another 7K of personal deductions so we’re down to 48K in income… The rates are: # 10% on income between $0 and $8,350 # 15% on the income between $8,350 and $33,950; plus $835 # 25% on the income between $33,950 and So the total tax shown does sound too low, but there are obviously a lot of facts we’re not privy to. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/25 "2010-05-19T17:52:48Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > Federal taxes for you are not much over 4% of your income. That is extremely low - I assume that isn’t a lot of regular taxable type income. > > We pay about 20% of our taxable income (less if you use the adjusted gross) to the federal government. This puts us way into the $20k+ category. I did have about $32k in deductions and another $3k or so in credits. (Standard deduction for married couple; mortage interest; property tax; state tax; charitable donations; etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/26 "2010-05-19T18:34:00Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > So the people who selected the bottom option- they pay more than 20k of taxes out of their income? Sure are a lot of upper-middle class people on this site. If you are a two income married couple it doesn’t take long to get to $20k in federal income taxes. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/27 "2010-05-19T18:56:51Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Wow, and that’s _after_ your $92,000 non-taxable hunk? > > Uh, does your employer provide W2’s to the IRS? Interest and capital gains do not fall under the exclusion and since we do not always have bona-fide residence somewhere (including the US) because we move countries every 90 days or so, we don’t always qualify for the full exclusion. It is odd that time on a ship at sea counts as time spent in the USA… since one is not in any country. I am my own employer and yes, I have a W2 (and the IRS has a copy). I am counting Federal tax, social security, medicare, capital gains etc… eg everything that I send to Washington. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/28 "2010-05-19T19:11:56Z")
$7k-ish in FIT. I’m a single renter. My largest deductions were for alimony and grad school. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/29 "2010-05-19T20:09:12Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > I am counting Federal tax, social security, medicare, capital gains etc… eg everything that I send to Washington. Ah, that does bump it up, then. Since we’re specifically talking about federal \*income tax \*in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/30 "2010-05-19T20:11:11Z")
Still holding out with almost a third of U.S.-taxable respondants in the $20k or more category. Looks like the “SDMB people mostly feel N about issue M because they don’t pay taxes” isn’t holding up very well, assuming these numbers are a genuinely accurate reflection of our demographics. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/31 "2010-05-19T20:55:58Z")
I never realized until reading this thread how comparatively little I pay in taxes. You guys paying $20k should get more kids or a mortgage or something. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/32 "2010-05-19T20:57:21Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Still holding out with almost a third of U.S.-taxable respondants in the $20k or more category. Looks like the “SDMB people mostly feel N about issue M because they don’t pay taxes” isn’t holding up very well, assuming these numbers are a genuinely accurate reflection of our demographics. I’d say that’s quite an assumption. Also, you don’t have an option for people that pay negative taxes (ie, they get a refund each year of more than they pay because of refundable credits, such as the earned income credit). ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/33 "2010-05-19T21:02:29Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I never realized until reading this thread how comparatively little I pay in taxes. You guys paying $20k should get more kids or a mortgage or something. 🙂 Or make less money - but that sort of sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/34 "2010-05-19T21:27:39Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I never realized until reading this thread how comparatively little I pay in taxes. You guys paying $20k should get more kids or a mortgage or something. 🙂 I’m now all tempted to ask my boyfriend exactly what his income is, 'cause I’m quite sure that if we were to be married right this second, our taxes would bust the $20k mark. > [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > I’d say that’s quite an assumption. > > Also, you don’t have an option for people that pay negative taxes (ie, they get a refund each year of more than they pay because of refundable credits, such as the earned income credit). 1.) Of course it’s “quite an assumption”–it disagrees with what you’ve stated. :rolleyes: 2.) For the purposes of this poll, it doesn’t matter if someone is paying “negative taxes,” since they’ll just select the zero option. Once someone is under that threshold, it doesn’t really matter how far under it they are, just as it doesn’t matter how far past $20k someone is. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/35 "2010-05-19T22:39:20Z")
We pay enough taxes that we have to reduce the number of deductions we take, lest we hit the alternative-minimum tax threshold and corresponding extra taxes. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/36 "2010-05-20T02:13:47Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I’m now all tempted to ask my boyfriend exactly what his income is, 'cause I’m quite sure that if we were to be married right this second, our taxes would bust the $20k mark. > > 1.) Of course it’s “quite an assumption”–it disagrees with what you’ve stated. :rolleyes: > > 2.) For the purposes of this poll, it doesn’t matter if someone is paying “negative taxes,” since they’ll just select the zero option. Once someone is under that threshold, it doesn’t really matter how far under it they are, just as it doesn’t matter how far past $20k someone is. 1. All I meant was that a poll of self-selected participants says something only about the participants and not about any larger group. 2. Understood, just pointing it out. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/37 "2010-05-20T04:27:29Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Correct. For the purposes of this poll, your tax is (what was withheld) + (what you owed on top of that) - (what was refunded). > > So, if the government witheld $7,000 of my income last year, and I was refunded $500 of that, my total tax would be $6,500. Meh. I end up with the same poll answer. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/38 "2010-05-20T04:35:12Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > I am my own employer and yes, I have a W2 (and the IRS has a copy). I am counting Federal tax, social security, medicare, capital gains etc… eg everything that I send to Washington. If I do it that way, I move up a notch. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/39 "2010-05-20T11:34:13Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I never realized until reading this thread how comparatively little I pay in taxes. You guys paying $20k should get more kids or a mortgage or something. 🙂 I’ve got four kids, am guardian to another one, have a regular mortgage and a line-of-credit mortgage, and my tax liability was $15 k. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938/40 "2010-05-20T12:00:09Z")
> [@skammer](#): > > I never realized until reading this thread how comparatively little I pay in taxes. You guys paying $20k should get more kids or a mortgage or something. > [@Dangerosa](#): > > Or make less money - but that sort of sucks. That’s what skammer _said_! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/income-tax-poll-anonymous/539938.md?page=3)