Are You Rich? $92,000.00 Puts You in Top 10%

The Tax Foundation ^ | The Tax Foundation

[Weimdog]

Newest Data Show High-Income Taxpayers Earning and Paying More

Top 25 Percent Paid 84 Percent of Income Taxes; Top One Paid 37.4 Percent

According to preliminary data released by the Internal Revenue Service and a new Tax Foundation Special Report, the top-earning 25 percent of taxpayers earned more than two-thirds of the nation's income (67.3%) and paid more than five out of every six dollars collected by the federal income tax (84%) in 2000. There were 32 million tax returns in the top 25 percent, all with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) over $55,225.

The top one percent of U.S. taxpayers (annual income over $313,469) made 20.8 percent of the income earned in 2000 and paid 37.4 percent of the total federal individual income taxes collected that year. This fraction of the tax burden paid by the top one percent - well over a third of the total - is up from 25.1 percent ten years earlier in tax year 1990.

At the other end of the income spectrum, the bottom 50 percent of the nation's taxpayers earned only 13.0 percent of all income in 2000, but they paid an even smaller fraction of the federal individual income taxes collected - 3.9 percent.

The data come from Tax Foundation Special Report No. 118, titled, "Who Pays the Federal Individual Income Tax?" by economist David Hoffman.

"Americans at the upper end of the income scale continue to bear an increasing share of the total federal individual income tax burden," observed Hoffman. "In a progressive tax system like ours, economic growth inevitably results in a steady shifting of the tax burden up the income scale. Although the current economic slowdown did begin in 2000, the annual growth rate for that year was still 5 percent, so a higher percentage of tax collections came in from high earners."

As the table shows, the top five percent of income earners (adjusted gross income over $128,336) and the top 10 percent (adjusted gross income over $92,114) both pay a significantly greater portion of federal individual income taxes than they did a decade ago.

[CIB-173RDABN]

The secret, as you know, is spend less then you make, don't get into debt, and save a portion of each paycheck.

It is not how much you earn, it is how much you spend.

[PLMerite]

"Just how much does that job pay? LOL"

Well, the salary isn't much, but there are fringe benefits.

[dyed_in_the_wool]

Wow! Hubby and I are rich rich rich! Must be why he drives a 1987 Toyota, my car is a '98

Driving a Saturn here. I have to admit, I AM living it up with my four cylinders of vroom!

[dyed_in_the_wool]

Unless you're talking about Patches Kennedy who piped up how he's never had to work in his life and he didn't want the Bush tax cut.
Brilliant move on the part of the congressman.

[For_God_and_Country]

sea,

Dont know where you live bro, but in my town (Northern NYC burbs) a median priced house is going for $250K, I'm talking a raised ranch with 2-3 bedrooms. The wife and I made about $80,000 last year and pay 8 grand of it in property taxes. We are Florida bound in a few years!!

[Paul C. Jesup]

I socialist's definition someone who is 'rich', is anyone who is NOT on welfare.

[Paul C. Jesup]

A socialist's definition someone who is 'rich', is anyone who is NOT on welfare.

[sawyer]

Really in the '80's we were doing over 10,000 better than that and we did not feel rich. Rich is when you do not have to work and the money still comes in. We did pay near 25000 per year taxes.Now I an retired and poor.Once more I do not feel poor. I just do not have a lot of money to spend.Either way I seem to have what I want and live about the same. I think rich and poor is in your mind.

[sawyer]

Congress is filled with rich who do not need to work and both parties have them. I think congress needs to be paid the ave wage of a worker. The pay, do not laugh. was to keep them from taking out side money. We need what our founders wanted. People that move in and out of congress and not some that stay for ever.

[sawyer]

That has nothing to do with party, that is how you plan your life style.

[sawyer]

Used to be something like that in percent and JFK took it down.The GOP told us that a 1000 times when the last tax bill went through.

[Myrddin]

I believe that figure refers to the income of an individual, not necessarily a household.

A married couple generally files jointly. The individual incomes are summed to get the top tax bracket. If the sum is over $92K, you get a joint taxation in the top 10% bracket.

The real pain of the marriage penalty happens as you do your taxes. I set my W4 as "0 exemptions, married but withold at the higher single rate". When I put my W2 data into TurboTax, there is a huge refund due. Next, I put my wife's W2 data into TurboTax. At that point there is a huge amount due to the IRS. In past years, the itemization of home mortgage interest and state taxes has shaved off a significant portion of the amount due the IRS, but rarely is it less than $1,000. The nitwits in the payroll office where my wife works can never get the witholding right. If they did, she would probably realize how bad it sucks to bring home a paycheck with $25K annual gross that is taxed in the $150K tax brackets. That's the joy of supporting the socialist government.

[sawyer]

What gets me on this is the teacher pays taxes on the 40.000 they may make but and it is a rub. The CEO of a bankruped company takes home 40Million and pays no tax but his tax CPA I bet makes a million.And he is sending out pink slips. That stuff does drive me up a wall.A crook is a crook no matter what he calls himself. I think we all should be mad at that stuff.

[SaveTheChief]

You know, as soon as I read this I ran outside my palace... er, apartment to head to the pool and enjoy champaign and caviar. Whoops.... I went to sit by the pond and had a bag of cheetos. When I was finished I went to the garage... I mean, parking lot to get my Rolls and go shopping on Rodeo Avenue. Not having a Rolls, I opted for my '93 Chevy, and a trip to Wal-Mart for unnecessary plastic items.

Yeah, nothin' but the lap of luxury for this rich man. I'm swimming in money.

Stories like this one make me want to vomit.

[Doctor Stochastic]

@$92k/y, in NYC, you can get housing assistance.

[Doctor Stochastic]

That's OK. It happens in other countries too. The plural was probably a Freudian slip.

[CobaltBlue]

You didn't mention how much your military pension is, do you include it in your $45k gross income?

If you retired from the military, you had a lot of years of extras like BAQ, shopping at the commissary, and close to 100% health insurance coverage.

If the boys and girls starting out in the military had as many perks and goodies as those who've been there a while, I think it would make the military a much more desireable career. JMHO

BTW, my husband has been working for the federal government since 1988. We aren't complaining, we have it pretty sweet, but for a few years it was really hard. Now that the benefits have really kicked in, it's nothing to complain about.

[CobaltBlue]

The 92K AGI, not gross. AGI is what you get at the bottom of the front sheet of the 1040A before you flip it over and work on the deductions. So if you are not self-employed, about all you can deduct is college tuition, IRAs, and student loan interest, maybe alimony if you pay it. But I think focussing on AGI is beside the point.

The deductions (page 2) do help a lot in getting your income tax rate down. We give a lot to charity. That means we can't spend it on goodies, but it does reduce the taxes and give us warm fuzzies.

[CobaltBlue]

1040, not 1040A.