[imajoredinecon]

Counterpoint: I’m in the US and my effective income tax rate is in the mid-40s, with my marginal rate over 50%. And I’m not in one of the few states with the highest state income taxes.

[jmalicki]

The highest federal bracket is 37%, the highest state bracket in the US is California at 13.3%, Medicare at 2.9% if you're self employed, NIIT caps out at 3.8% - so even earning well into seven plus figures, with punitive NIIT, only puts you at a max of 47% marginal. Social security taxes stop long before the brackets kick in.

NYC has combined local and state top marginal rates of 14.776%, to go up to 48.476%.

I call BS on marginal rates exceeding 50%

Edit: even the new 2024 California payroll tax cap lift and mental health tax on seven figure incomes put it at 49.1%. Marginal rates that high don't exist in the US. Even then that requires paying payroll taxes and NIIT on the same income, which I'm pretty sure is impossible.

[imajoredinecon]

Thanks for the correction- I did some math and my marginal rate is something like 46%, which, while it’s indeed not over 50%, still is pretty discouraging when weighing whether it’s worth putting in enough effort to get another raise.

[callmeal]

A quick back of the envelope calculation shows that an income of $1 million gets you an effective tax rate in the mid 40s in California.

AGI: $1000k Federal Income Tax: $322k California State Income Tax: $102k FICA Taxes: $32k Total tax: $456k

Compared to say Germany, where for the same income you would be paying over 50% in taxes. So I think you're doing very well.

[bad_haircut72]

Admittedly I live in Texas (no state income tax) but where do you pay 40%? California?

[screye]

25(federal)+8(social security)+5(state) is a common combination. That's 38%.

God forbid you live in NYC and it can gonna to 42%