# The tremendous new burden of taxes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 19, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tremendous-new-burden-of-taxes/647670 "2013-01-19T00:52:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tremendous-new-burden-of-taxes/647670/41 "2013-01-19T13:33:56Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Again, what is the total burden? It varies widely by geography (to say nothing of factors like having kids or owning a home). Something like 18% for income and wage taxes for all levels is the average. Higher for an income like yours. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tremendous-new-burden-of-taxes/647670/42 "2013-01-19T13:41:11Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > It varies widely by geography (to say nothing of factors like having kids or owning a home). Something like 18% for income and wage taxes for all levels is the average. Higher for an income like yours. And healthcare is hard to calculate since it lowers wages as an employment benefit. But ignoring that, something like $3500/yr. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tremendous-new-burden-of-taxes/647670/43 "2013-01-19T14:03:54Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Serious question. Do you realize how little in actual taxes you pay in the US compared to every other industrialized country. No snark. Do you know this? Depends on what you mean by “you”. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tremendous-new-burden-of-taxes/647670/44 "2013-01-19T14:19:49Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > Something like 18% for income and wage taxes for all levels is the average. Which means that by Scandinavian standards, you pay a ridiculously low amount of taxes. The sum of my wife’s & my gross income is pretty close to that of the retired couple in the WSJ graphics (about half from each of us), which puts us slightly above the national median. My personal income tax rate is 37%, and we pay 25% sales tax. 'scuse me for not feeling the same outrage that the WSJ feels. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tremendous-new-burden-of-taxes/647670/45 "2013-01-19T14:33:47Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > That’s at least one way, yes: I had coworkers who had to file taxes at the city where their jobs were located, and a form indicating which days they’d been offsite, as those days didn’t count. Those of us who lived in that city had to file with the city and did not get off-site days discounted. In the immortal words of Asterix: “they’re crazy, these romans!” [Obligatory nit-pick] It was Obelix, not Asterix, who always said that. [/Obligatory nit-pick] ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tremendous-new-burden-of-taxes/647670/46 "2013-01-19T15:31:55Z")
Hey, WSJ! If any of those sad-faced employed whiners can’t face another day of paying the taxes on their incomes, can I boot their entitled butts to the curb & take their job? What, the answer is no…? Oh. Tell me, why is that again? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tremendous-new-burden-of-taxes/647670/47 "2013-01-19T15:54:54Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Yes, the average single mother would make more like $25K. They must have accidentally slipped in an extra zero there. The average single filer makes $19,500. I don’t know how it breaks down for men vs women though but men on average make more than women so adjust that $19,500 downward. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tremendous-new-burden-of-taxes/647670/48 "2013-01-19T15:56:19Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I hope the tea party people realize that if they aint on that chart, they aint Republicans. > > Did you notice that the people with the least income were Black? I noticed that they were retirees living on investment income first, but yeah, there are some weird stereotypes playing out on the infographic. Mind you, none of those people are “poor” or even “middle class”, especially as portrayed by the stuff that they choose to wear and dress their children in. (This is based on American standards in my area [Florida]; YMMV.) > [@Norse](#): > > Which means that by Scandinavian standards, you pay a ridiculously low amount of taxes. The sum of my wife’s & my gross income is pretty close to that of the retired couple in the WSJ graphics (about half from each of us), which puts us slightly above the national median. My personal income tax rate is 37%, and we pay 25% sales tax. > > 'scuse me for not feeling the same outrage that the WSJ feels. The WSJ is a newspaper that’s fiscally pretty conservative, so any sort of increased taxation is considered horrible, etc. Anyone who isn’t in the demographic that the paper is aimed at shouldn’t feel pity for any of those folks, as they are more likely to be planted in a seat closer to reality. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tremendous-new-burden-of-taxes/647670/49 "2013-01-19T16:36:30Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Serious question. Do you realize how little in actual taxes you pay in the US compared to every other industrialized country. No snark. Do you know this? No. No snark here, either. The answer is no. I don’t have any idea how much people in other countries pay in taxes. Worse, I don’t have any idea how much _I_ pay in taxes. I know if I bill about $2000 worth of work, I’ll see a check that’s around $1600, but I don’t ever remember which parts of that are taxes, which social security, etc. I just deposit the check, pay my rent, and laugh whenever someone mentions that I should have 3 years worth of income in the bank by my age. I fail at being a grownup. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tremendous-new-burden-of-taxes/647670/50 "2013-01-19T16:47:56Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > And healthcare is hard to calculate since it lowers wages as an employment benefit. But ignoring that, something like $3500/yr. Or more - to put my Aunt on my Uncle’s insurance coverage would cost about $10,000 a year. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tremendous-new-burden-of-taxes/647670/51 "2013-01-19T17:15:36Z")
Or if you like you can pay my mother’s health insurance bill, $3500 a month. That’s what you get for being a cancer survivor. **Capt** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tremendous-new-burden-of-taxes/647670.md?page=2)