[lbo-talk] Joe the Plumber, $250k+ business owner, as average American?

[Jordan Hayes]

> t'would be even sadder if they weren't able to find ample offshore
> accounts and shell corporations to funnel their money into to avoid
> taxes altogether.

I think it's important to remember that we're talking about 'marginal 
rates' here and not actual rates.  No one who makes $250k/yr is paying 
"36%" in taxes; they pay that on the next dollar they make, but compared 
to those who make $100k or less[*] they get a pretty sweet deal in this 
country, percentage-wise.  Even in a state with high income taxes it's 
easy to project less than 30% total next tax burden; YMMV, IANACPA.

/jordan

[*] I pick $100k because that's around where the cutoff is for FICA 
which peaks at 6.2% ... once you get to $200k, your effective FICA rate 
is down around 3% ...