The Real-World Middle Class Tax Rate: 75%
Charles Hugh Smith
Businessinsider.com
Jul. 6, 2012
If we include all taxes, the real-world tax rate is much higher than the “official” income tax rate.
For those Americans earning between $34,500 and $106,000, the real-world middle class tax burden in high-tax locales is 15% + 25% + 5% + 15% + 15% = 75%. Yes, 75%. Before you start listing the innumerable caveats and quibbles raised by any discussion of taxes, please hear me out first. Let’s start by defining “taxes” as any fee that is mandated by law or legal necessity. In other words, taxes are what is not optional.
If we include all taxes, the real-world tax rate is much higher than the “official” income tax rate. These “other taxes” vary from nation to nation. France, for example, has a “television tax.” It is mandatory, and since virtually every household has a TV this operates as a universal tax. The argument that this is “optional” is specious.
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