That $250K figures seems the arbitrary, finger in the air, definition of rich.
People making 250k in NYC for example are comfortable, but by no means rich just because of the cost of living there. What seems like alot of money to some people could be paupers salary somewhere else just simply because of the area they live in.
Additionally, they are using the middle-class tax cut to offset the economic cost of cap and trade. In other words, they give you money so you can then just pay it to the utility for the price increase imposed over compliance with additional environmental regulation. So don’t go spending your 13 bucks a week on anything extragavent.
if you lived in CA and made $250k/yr, this is how it would break down today:
| salary | $250k |
| fed tax | 35% |
| state tax | 10% |
| medicare + matching | 3% |
| ss + matching | 12% on first $100k |
60% on first $100k .. $60k tax due and 48% on the remaining $150k... or $72k.
| total tax | ~$132k |
| net (take home) | ~$118k |
assuming you have a mortgage, a mortgage of $500k isn't out of the question in CA. assuming 6% over 30 years, you're paying $3,000/month.
| mortgage | $3k | |
| property taxes | $1k | |
| home insurance | $1k | |
| electric | $250 | |
| car payment | $400 | |
| car insurance | $100 | |
| cable tv + internet | $100 | |
| water + sewage | $50 | |
| phone | $100 | |
| food | $500 | |
| -- | ||
| total household monthly expenses | $6.5k |
total expenses without leaving the house: ~$78k / year
this would leave about $40k / year, or ~$3300/month for spending.
this would not get your rich
raising the max fed rate from 35% to 40% would raise the total taxes due from $132k to $144.5k/yr. this would leave $27.5k / year, or $2300/month for spending
this would take $1,000 every month away from consumer spending and adding it directly to the wallets of washington fat cats.
you never see those asshats eating oodles of noodles and driving clunkers.