What should be the highest marginal federal tax rate?

[Torie]

Just click a box; don't be shy, and then by all means reveal your choice. Thanks.

[Torie]

50-55%...tax the hell out of those robber barons. Oh a new income bracket will be necessary for that to occur though.

You are going up with each post. After this poll gets completed, we are going to have another poll by the way, so stay tuned.

[Torie]

Why not keep it at our levels and toss out the deductions?

What do you think the current level is?

[Torie]

Why not keep it at our levels and toss out the deductions?

What do you think the current level is?

It's 35%. It's really absurd that the top bracket is at around $300,000/yr, too. There's an enormous difference between someone earning $300,000/yr, who lives well but not opulently, and someone earning $1,000,000/yr, beyond which increased income is essentially meaningless in terms of lifestyle.

No, it isn't actually. We have that medicare tax, and itemized deduction phase outs. 

[Torie]

Why not keep it at our levels and toss out the deductions?

What do you think the current level is?

It's 35%. It's really absurd that the top bracket is at around $300,000/yr, too. There's an enormous difference between someone earning $300,000/yr, who lives well but not opulently, and someone earning $1,000,000/yr, beyond which increased income is essentially meaningless in terms of lifestyle.

No, it isn't actually. We have that medicare tax, and itemized deduction phase outs. 

Medicare is only 1.45%. Deductions have nothing directly to do with the tax rate itself, so they're irrelevant for this discussion. (And, in any case, you can't go over the tax rate with deduction eliminations.)

It affects the marginal rate (actually phase outs create a marginal rate bubble). As to medicare, it is  2.9%, but you get to deduct 50% of that, so if you are in a 40% bracket, that is a marginal rate of 2.32% (1.45 + 1.45(.6)).

[Torie]

Over 60% for every dollar earned say over 1.5 million.

I'd probably have it increase pretty severely as you go up the scale...my over tax curve would probably be fairly flat and then increasing sharply as you get over 300,000/year (Joint say 500,000)...I'd also want to throw in cost of living into the equation...300,000 in the Boswash isn't the same as the pissant praries...so if you're living in a cheap area and make a ton of $$ (if that's possible)...jack up the tax.


Someone has to pay for the bloated government they voted for.

What is so magical about 300K under than that few people earn more than that?