As the title goes. This would involve turning the tax levels / brackets into an exponential mathematical curve. One of the benefits off of the top of my head, is that people wouldn’t be scared of their salary increasing just enough, to actually lower their clean income. Another one would be that you can lower even further the tax rate for middle / low class, because you (the government) would receive more from taxes. Any opinions/ideas for this?

  • KoboldCoterie@pawb.socialEnglish
    5·
    1 day ago

    One of the benefits off of the top of my head, is that people wouldn’t be scared of their salary increasing just enough, to actually lower their clean income.

    Why wouldn’t they? This isn’t how it works now, but people are still scared of it.

    To be clear, the first three tax brackets are at $11600, $47150, and $100526 (for a single filer), at 10%, 12% and 22% respectively. If you make $58000, the first $11600 is taxed at 10%, the next $35550 is taxed at 12%, and the remaining $10850 is taxed at 22%. (This is the exact example the IRS gives.) If you go from making $47k (the top of which falls in the 12% bracket) to $48k (the top of which falls in the 22% bracket), you’re still making more money. That last $850 is just taxed at a higher rate.

    • thatonecoder@lemmy.caOP
      1·
      24 hours ago

      Thanks for the explanation, but keep in mind that this is not only about the US. I am Portuguese, and this is a problem here, AFAIK. Nonetheless, this would simplify the tax calculation.

      • KoboldCoterie@pawb.socialEnglish
        2·
        23 hours ago

        You obviously know better than I do, so take this with a grain of salt, but I was curious, and a quick google search turned up this source, which says:

        Let’s say you are a tax resident in Portugal, and your gross annual income for 2022 is €30,000. To calculate your income tax liability for the year, you would follow these steps:

        Determine your tax bracket: Your €30,000 falls into the 35% tax bracket. Calculate the tax owed on the portion of your income in that bracket: The portion in the 35% bracket is €9,678 (€30,000 – €20,322). To calculate the tax owed on this portion, you would multiply it by the tax rate of 35%, which gives you €3,384.30. Calculate the tax owed on the portion of your income in the lower tax brackets: The portion of your income in the lower tax brackets is €20,322 (€30,000 – €9,678). To calculate the tax owed on this portion, you would add up the tax owed at each lower tax rate. That gives you:

        €1,033.80 for the portion of your income in the 14.5% bracket €1,259.96 for the portion of your income in the 23% bracket €2,901.30 for the portion of your income in the 28.5% bracket

        Adding these amounts together gives you a total of €5,195.06.

        • thatonecoder@lemmy.caOP
          2·
          22 hours ago

          Hmm, you are right. But this is not knowledge that is taught to us. So, the main problem is politicians limiting the information given, no?

          • KoboldCoterie@pawb.socialEnglish
            3·
            20 hours ago

            It’s not taught to us (in the US), either; in my opinion, this is the sort of thing that should be covered in the last year of primary school. There’s so many general things you need to know to function in society as an adult that we’re just expected to learn on our own.

            • thatonecoder@lemmy.caOP
              1·
              18 hours ago

              Yeah. The little amount of financial literacy that I have, I got from experience; it was never taught to me by the school system.