Sunday, March 25, 2012

Wow, my tax rate really is higher than Mitt Romney

It was an exciting weekend completing my taxes.  I know I am in the 28% bracket, but I have never bothered to precisely calculate my average tax rate before.  Given all the commotion about Mitt Romney's taxes, I thought I would check.

In 2011, my wife and I had an effective (i.e. average) federal tax rate of 14.5%, and we are paying 28% on any marginal gains in income (plus 9.3% for CA).

Mitt Romney's effective tax rate is 13.9%, and he is paying 15% at the margin for his investment income.

I don't see how these relative tax rates are equitable or foster economic growth. 

(Note: My support for at least partial expiration of the Bush tax cuts and equal tax rates for investment and labor income should not be conflated with support of Governor Brown's "millionaire" tax proposal.  That will probably be the subject of longer posts in the months ahead.)

1 comment:

  1. This is fascinating. As a conservative, should I desire to live in a society where the increasingly fortunate have an increasing lower rate of tax burden?

    ReplyDelete