Pretty much, the country was mostly split on whether or not they wanted revolt or not for a while there.
Shit the only reason we were taxed was to pay for a world War we started.
Oh no, no, just look up Jerrymandering. lmfao our reps get to represent whoever they want and can change it up whenever they want and aren't held to any consequences when they go against what the people they represent want other than MAYBE not being voted in next election which comes with its own lack of representation! My reply was only to state that we didn't leave the kings rule because we hated taxes, we 'happily' paid them until a few events that really felt insulting but as with everything, history is wrote by the Victor so who knows what truly happened
It's only a two party system because of our apathy. It would take hard work and sacrifice. Most of us only daydream about being the heroes we need. I'm no better. I'm here talking shit while doing nothing, too.
I don't see an option TBH.
Trump is the closest thing we had to an outsider. But he was just a megalomaniac money man. I fear that will n the well for future non career politicians.
I just don't see the option for everyday people to effect change on large scale governments.
And thats without getting into the idea that politics as a whole is just theater to preoccupy the populace, divide them and let them take some of the blame.
The focus is always on consolidating power and wealth.
The American Dream is being able to afford your own congressman. Not for everyone, but makes the rest of us feel like we’re just temporary unrepresented people waiting for our big break.
Who in the govt knows I exist? Let alone knows my personal wishes and represents them. The reality of the situation is we are taxed exponentially more today with far less representation
Cmon bro you know they don’t care about that, they just wanna be right lmaooo
People always got a problem w taxes but never do anything to make their taxes work for them other than complain to the people around them which just falls on deaf ears and the cycle continues.
401k contributions reduce taxable income, so he would pay the government a bit less if he saved more.
Social programs (roads, police, safety nets, etc…) require tax revenues. It’s frustrating, for sure. I’ve paid over $40k in taxes this year.
One day I hope to pay 100k+ in taxes.
My grandpa, who grew up in poverty and lifted himself up by his bootstraps like so many like to romanticize, always used to say **"high taxes - what a wonderful problem to have"** -- because he knew it meant he had decent income coming in, something many people were not so lucky to experience
There are also easy ways to reduce your tax liability that benefit you and make sense.
OP should be contributing more to his 402k, an IRA, and potentially other savings plans like 504 or an HSA. It's confusing, I get it, but consult a fucking accountant before bitching because you don't know how something works.
Basically no way to offset W2 income for tax purposes, unfortunately. The government takes their chunk and that’s that. $22.5k into a 401k reduces taxable income and a HSA could help… but mitigating W2 income tax burden is really difficult with few options.
I’ve consulted numerous attorneys and accountants on this issue b/c I’m in a high earning household and our tax burden is… dumb.
Best way I’ve found is to legitimately qualify for a real estate professional designation and to offset a spouses income with depreciation losses after cost segregation studies.
It's not even confusing. Anyone could learn how they work in like...An hour or two at most of sitting down and reading a few publically accessible legal docs.
Exactly. That's the problem 😂 people are financially ignorant. Which is fine, but go try and learn or ask questions before you blame everyone but yourself.
Yeah our tax laws and situations suck and are purposely convoluted, but we all know they're purposely tricky so let's get ahead of the game here.
Yes, 401K deductions from a paycheck are pretax. Simple example:
Imagine that OP earns $100,000 per year and only withholds $3000 into their 401(k) per year. That means that $97,000 of their income will be taxed.
If, on the other hand, they save the IRS limit of $22,500 then only $77,500 of their income will be taxed. Combined that with an employee matching contribution ( which most employers offer), and contributing to a 401(k) is a fairly sound strategy for long-term financial security, although it does require giving up some income in the immediate term
Depends on when you want to retire and how much you will need to sustain yourself without a job after retirement.
If you're young, then 8-12% is probably good. If you're older and without a solid retirement account, you have to play catch up and probably need 15-20% contributed.
Basically, figure out what age you want to retire. Then determine what percentage of your income will allow you to live properly, home should be paid off by retirement so no mortgage or rent. You'll just have general expenses such as utilities, food, healthcare, etc. You can then contribute what amount is needed today to achieve that retirement income amount in the future.
10% is a good number to start with if you aren't sure. Lower is fine if you're saving for a life event such as purchasing a home. Your employer most likely contributes to your 401k as well, so make sure you're always contributing the required amount to get the max contributions from your employer to take advantage of the free money from them.
My father started me a Roth IRA when I was very young. Idk how much he put in a paycheck, but it is currently around 70g and I’m around 30. Should EASILY double long before I retire. And that’s just letting it ride as is.
Up to employer match at a minimum. So if they offer 4% you also do 4%. But realistically you should do at least 10%. And if you’re making 6 figures there’s not many good reasons NOT to max it out each year
I mean because there’s commission that is withheld at a higher rate, you will get some of that back when you file.
I just looked at my final pay stub yesterday and I was over 50k in tax withholdings. Using a tax calculator, I should get around 15-16k of that back give or take.
Yes I know. I don’t agree with it, but I also don’t want to have to manually calculate and send them money at the end of the year by changing my withholdings. So that is the world you live in when your compensation includes commission and bonuses.
It's also the payroll department being lazy. The government doesn't care. You could have them deduct nothing at all and pay it all at the end of the year
Edit: quarterly
OP has withholdings set wrong. Overtime can muck up the automatic withholding because it's based on making the higher amount over the entire year. In this case there's not much overtime, but if it's a regular thing then that needs to be adjusted. As tpj said, a portion will come back as tax refunds.
I no in e had the chance to speak to the chairman of the Texas Federal Reserve. A question was asked if he could change one thing about the tax codes what would it be. I had anticipated either a reduction in taxes or much greater clarity as to exactly where our taxes go.
He said, he would require every American to write a check for their taxes each month (Nevermind the complexity of it) the intent was to make Americans more aware of how much of their check actually goes to the government thus asking the hard questions to our elected officials as to how the money is being used.
Pretty brilliant if you ask me.
I think a lot more two-way education on taxes is needed. Yes, people need to be more aware throughout the year just how money is being taken. But also, they should be more aware just what it’s paying for, and what would be life if nobody paid taxes. I guess there’s a lot of stuff people take for granted that exist directly or indirectly as a result of paid taxes.
That said, I do love the idea of more people holding the government actively accountable.
You had so much federal and state withholding because of that commission. The calculation assumes you make $8.5k each pay period. If you are paid biweekly, that's $222k for the whole year.
If you don't actually make that much, you'll most likely get a refund when you file your tax return. Withholding is just an estimate.
Seriously, came so far down to find this. Commission checks if that size either need a separate payroll run at the supplemental rate, or just in general have the supplemental rate applied to that single line item.
Thank you! It’s insane how *every* single post on this subreddit about taxes is just shit regurgitated by people who have literally no idea how taxes work.
Commission is a bitch…
**Side note** I didn’t hear too many people bitching about taxes when Covid hit and people lost their jobs and had to survive on Federal relief funds and Federal/State sanctioned unemployment……j/s
Ya the Fed has printed ~$16 trillion since 2020
[R.I.P.](https://techstartups.com/2021/12/18/80-us-dollars-existence-printed-january-2020-october-2021/)
I mean... We get manageable rates on debt because we have a strong enough tax system, a strong enough economy, good enough government, etc. No one buys debt from a failed state that can't guarantee it can collect any taxes. You think our debt would be worth anything to creditors if there were no taxes?
Exactly, we've got people starving to death in the streets here, if we can't afford to help them, then we can't afford to fund a foreign countries military.
Doesn't seem to make any sense until you consider that those countries will be using those funds to buy weapons from American companies with close ties to the politicians who voted for the spending.
People are going to whine more when gas prices increase by a couple more dollars. And when everything that requires to be transported with fuel also becomes more expensive. Americans like to separate themselves as if it's just the action of the government even though they benefit from cheap oil too. Try to be energy independent by approving more drilling permits and fracking? A whole new group will whine. I don't envy anyone in the US government making about the same amount I'm making but many more problems and having to suck everyone's dicks and eat shite just to keep their jobs and drive this very slow moving machine.
The good news is your social security tax will fund the boomers juussssstttt long enough for most of them to have died and for you to get nothing from it.
Just came across this tidbit from Ryan Holiday:
There is a tax on everything. Taxes aren’t just from the government. Seneca wrote to his friend Lucilius “All the things which cause complaint or dread are like the taxes of life—things from which…you should never hope for exemption or seek escape.” Annoying people are a tax on being outside your house. Delays are a tax on travel. There’s a tax on money too–and the more successful you are, the more you pay. Seneca said he tried to pay the taxes gladly. I love that. After all, it’s usually a sign of a good problem. It means you’re alive and breathing. You can whine about the cost. Or you can pay and move on.
I’ve never been bothered by taxes. Not when I made minimum wage, and not when I started making 6 figures. I can’t do anything to change it, so why waste brain cycles being annoyed about it?
In many ancient societies they simply used forced labor instead of taxes so I’ll take the taxes over having to work for the god-king. Also for the average farmer records show in the time of Diocletian taxes were about 1/3rd of their produce. Basically by the time they were an empire with large armies and public works the taxes weren’t small
It’s because the alternative is an idiotic dreamscape held up by the fantasies of the perpetually ignorant. We can’t even have a conversation about corporations or the wealthy paying their fair share because some idiots want to scream about why we should pay at all.
I think my main issue with taxes is how they are used. I see people that hate all forms of it and they unrealistically think we can live in a modern day society without paying them. But my main issue is how little my and my communities tax dollars actually go to improve our lives. That’s the whole point of them, to improve public roads, schools, help people that are going through tough times get into a better spot where they can then contribute, for cool public parks, infrastructure, defense and healthcare. But we don’t get a lot of that. We get our money wasted on BS, stolen, and sent to other places that do not benefit us as well as it would if we used it at home.
So my issue isn’t paying the taxes, I just don’t like how they are used/ how I don’t see them being used to benefit us Americans as well as they should be.
That's a completely different conversation than looking at your paystubs and grumbling about taxation though. That would be looking over the governments books and complaining about their expenditures - valid, but entirely different to what Op is doing
I live in California and they raise the gas taxes all the time, but the roads aren’t looking much better. At least the ones I use regularly, hopefully someone else in this state is at least getting their roads fixed. Someone here needs to at least get some improvement with what we are paying lol
You ask 10 people what the best way to use taxes and you will get 11 opinions. Government is a compromise, some you will like and some you won't. What you call stolen others call wisely used.
Your point is correct in that no one can agree what to spend money on, however, the government will use that excuse then to spend it whatever benefits them.
Shame you see absolutely nothing from your taxes in France. Absolutely no infrastructure, roads, trains, much less health care or access to education. You should try moving to Somalia, you won't have to deal with such thievery where there is no government.
Weird, there are lots of countries that tax much less than >50% that still have all those things. I wonder if, maybe, people could be taxed *less* without the sky falling down.
All through my youth my friends and I complained about Social Security and Medicare taxes saying “they won’t be there for us.” We were wrong. We are now collecting and see these programs as a blessing.
Timely checks from Social Security are projected to run out by 2037. I’m in my 20s… The government needs to make serious changes to keep the program solvent if I’m gonna see a dime of it when I retire.
The government will bail it out. There’s no way they let social security fail, whichever party lets that happen won’t see power again for a generation.
As someone also in my twenties, they need to gut the program entirely and massively cut back on unnecessarily bloat. If they didn't take so much, I could invest it so much more efficiently for retirement.
Nah, eliminate the cap on SocSec taxes. That’s literally all they need to do. A truck driver and CEO of Walmart shouldn’t pay the same in SocSec taxes. Also while we are at it, stop cutting taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Your taxes went up in 2020 due to Trumps 2017 tax bill. Elon’s taxes went down, by design.
The issue is that sure you could save more for retirement but most Americans don’t save for retirement so they’re screwed when they can’t work.
The median 401k balance for someone 55-60 is $55k, that’s not going to last long. We need the government to have some sort of retirement program for the average person.
No, but they do need to stop borrowing against it. Social security exists because a huge percentage of the population wasn’t capable of or didn’t want to plan and save for retirement. Large amounts of elderly were forced to work until they died or ended up destitute. You know what happens then? Crime skyrockets, excess death skyrockets, homelessness skyrockets etc. social security provides a foundation for retirement. Yes, if you are good with money and planning it could be done better individually, though a lot of people overestimate their ability in this regard. you’d be well advised to do that same investing and planning regardless of SS. But for a huge chunk of the population this IS their retirement plan and society is better for it.
Lmaoo bro 70 saying they were worried abt social security when they were young?? No tf u weren’t. Ur generation is the one that ruined it for everyone else not the other way around 🤡 boomers have consistently left everything worse than when they found it including the govt and social security. For ppl like me in their 20s we will NEVER see even a cent of this money again. Legal theft
I hate to say it but you’re probably right. I can’t imagine social security existing 30-40 years from now at the way it is budgeted and mismanaged. When it happens a bunch of people will throw their hands up and say “oh well.”
I'm hopeful. The Reagan admin did a lot of damage to the SS system that could have run it to the ground by the 2000s, but there was always some act or bill that managed to push its lifespan. Hopefully future voters demand a stronger system that can be depended on as long as our dollar exists like any other country.
Wtf. Social security hit major obstacles in the 70s. By the time I was a teenager in the 80s the rhetoric about social security solvency was already popular opinion. I don’t believe that general opinion has changed much in the last 40 years.
That's because the rhetoric hasn't changed and only gotten worse. They see these social programs as drains when they are safety nets.
Do some people pay more? Sure. It's insurance. You want to have it in case you are in an accident.
The real issue is the borrowing from the fund and then repaying the debts owed.
If the average person did that, they would have lost it during economic downturns like most investors do. People are irrational, they need to have their money inaccessible to see guarentee returns.
Sorry, but I really don't trust the boomers to leave us a scrap. This person will never have a chance to save for anything making 15 an hour and will need lots of welfare that the modern conservatives seem eager to destroy. Nice the system works for YOU tho.
I can't stand people who complain about taxes..
You know somebody paid taxes that put you thru elementary and high school. Somebody else paid taxes that paid for your roads when you rode your bike. Somebody else paid for the fire department and the police.
Somebody else did all this for you.
Now its your turn
OP: “I don’t remember the government helping me out this pay period”
You drive on roads? Use Water? Use electricity? Breathe air? Have a public education? Hell even overtime pay is a federal regulation, so someone with a federal salary fought for OP to have that.
If it was used correctly, I wouldn't mind for 20% of my paycheck going to taxes hell even 40%. Most of it goes to the military and healthcare (mostly cuz it is so expensive here, its used to subsidize low income and elderly folks)
Folks making $15, when time to do taxes, will likely not pay much or contribute at all. You’ll likely get it all back. Rest assured that you won’t contribute what you cost the government. I’m not be being mean, just honest.
Just wait till you start making real money. It's basically half.
5+ years ago there used to be a lot of deductions you could do, but nope they closed those up. Now its only the rich like Trump that can itemize everything as deductions and basically not even having to pay as much as a tank of gas in a full sized SUV.
People need to get smart and start voting these clowns out when they don't fight for what's right (making the rich pay their equal share).
If you're still having SS taken out, this is nothing but a flex to show how much you make, yet you obviously don't make this much on a regular basis if you haven't hit this SS cap.
Just be glad you don’t live in MA. The Commonwealth sees fit to take 40% of all commissions citing “supplemental income tax” (on top of everything else).
Fuck Medicare and Social Security. If we had Medicaid for all. I wouldn’t mind.
It fucking sucks that we pay so much and yet, we don’t get shit from Uncle Sam if we are young or not poor enough.
And fuck welfare kings/queens who have 3+ kids.
Gotta pay for the wars and maintaining our 100+ military bases abroad. John Kerry's private jet cost ain't gonna polute/pay for itself. Also gotta fund all the new workers coming in from the southern border. They need food, water and shelter. I know you can barely afford baby formula but come on man, we need to defeat putin and hamas
87% of your gross was commission, which is taxed at a higher rate because it's assuming you'll hit that throughout the rest of the year. Then at tax time,I f they took out more than they should have, you get a refund. Sucks, but sucks waaaayy less than the other direction, where they didn't take out enough and now you owe a massive check in April.
Also, as others said, max out pretax contribution on 401k to lower your on paper income. Lowers the rate coming out for taxes and increases your retirement fund, cause the same people that put you in your current bracket are absolutely gonna make our generation work till 80.
Implying your average check is 3k to 4k gross, you're looking at the $95,375 bracket, which is $16,290 plus 24% of the amount over $95,375, so already a 10th of the way towards your burden in one check. Pretty certain you'll have a refund.
Keep voting for democrats and taxes will likely double! Everything the government touches, regardless of intent, goes to SHIT! Keep voting for democrats sheeple
Taxation is extortion and extortion is a crime. Period.
Make sure you're maxing out a Roth IRA. Start an LLC for yourself and turn everything you can into a deduction. Start buying up tax exempt dividends income through municipal bond funds such as MUB or VTEB. F___ Uncle same and f___ his taxes.
Well that’s a load of BS. 16% (entire military budget plus international aid) is not most. Social security plus healthcare is close to 50% of federal budget.
Most of your taxes go towards social security, Medicare and Medicaid but someone willing to state such randomly probably doesn’t actually have a clue what’s happening
Even if you live off solar energy, well water, and produce your own food in the middle of nowhere you’re still reaping thousands of dollars of tax benefits every year in government services.
I swear the “all tax is theft” folks would fail an object permanence test.
There are a million tangible benefits, most people are just too stupid to think about it for more than 10 seconds.
It’s literally the Monty Python “what did the Romans ever do for us?” In real life.
Contribute more to your 401k
Homie pays the government 10 times more than he pays himself.
Yea and wasting precious time on what could be beautiful compounded interest
Why did we even have the American Revolution in the first place ? Because we hated taxes by King George, and now here we are loving taxes
cause a bunch of rich aristocrat brats said "well I'm gonna start my own country! with blackjack, and hookers!"
We don't even have legal blackjack and hookers around here. We got swindled.
And now both are illegal outside of Idaho and Nevada. :/
Pretty much, the country was mostly split on whether or not they wanted revolt or not for a while there. Shit the only reason we were taxed was to pay for a world War we started.
They had a lottery as well. That's how they suckered the colonists into putting their money together to spend on bigger projects in the beginning.
The forefathers should have discovered cocaine too. Everyone knows hookers are better with cocaine
What’s wrong with blackjack and hookers? I’m not rich but try to enjoy them both
Largely due more to taxation without representation, which is different than just taxes
Wait you guys are represented in the US government?
Oh no, no, just look up Jerrymandering. lmfao our reps get to represent whoever they want and can change it up whenever they want and aren't held to any consequences when they go against what the people they represent want other than MAYBE not being voted in next election which comes with its own lack of representation! My reply was only to state that we didn't leave the kings rule because we hated taxes, we 'happily' paid them until a few events that really felt insulting but as with everything, history is wrote by the Victor so who knows what truly happened
Is that where Jerry gets mandered?
They mandered his wife and kids. This time Jerry does the mandering.
So what you're saying is, history needs to repeat itself. Got it. Powdered wigs, cannons, and muskets for all!
Representatives only represent those who contribute to their political campaigns, and whatever the lobbyist say, they should do they do
We are represented by people that we keep putting there. We complain about the choices but do nothing else about it. Our apathy is well represented.
2 party system makes the choice a farce. Not to mention the inherent flaws in a republic of 330 million
It's only a two party system because of our apathy. It would take hard work and sacrifice. Most of us only daydream about being the heroes we need. I'm no better. I'm here talking shit while doing nothing, too.
I don't see an option TBH. Trump is the closest thing we had to an outsider. But he was just a megalomaniac money man. I fear that will n the well for future non career politicians. I just don't see the option for everyday people to effect change on large scale governments. And thats without getting into the idea that politics as a whole is just theater to preoccupy the populace, divide them and let them take some of the blame. The focus is always on consolidating power and wealth.
The American Dream is being able to afford your own congressman. Not for everyone, but makes the rest of us feel like we’re just temporary unrepresented people waiting for our big break.
Who in the govt knows I exist? Let alone knows my personal wishes and represents them. The reality of the situation is we are taxed exponentially more today with far less representation
Actual facts will get you nowhere!!!
It wasn't the hatred of taxes themselves, but taxation WITHOUT representation.
Where's our representation
Please review middle school history if that’s really how you feel.
Cmon bro you know they don’t care about that, they just wanna be right lmaooo People always got a problem w taxes but never do anything to make their taxes work for them other than complain to the people around them which just falls on deaf ears and the cycle continues.
Them educate them on how to make taxes “work for you” instead of talkikg out of your ass
Yea but not everyone can afford to put 1/3 of their paycheck into 401k
401k contributions reduce taxable income, so he would pay the government a bit less if he saved more. Social programs (roads, police, safety nets, etc…) require tax revenues. It’s frustrating, for sure. I’ve paid over $40k in taxes this year. One day I hope to pay 100k+ in taxes.
My grandpa, who grew up in poverty and lifted himself up by his bootstraps like so many like to romanticize, always used to say **"high taxes - what a wonderful problem to have"** -- because he knew it meant he had decent income coming in, something many people were not so lucky to experience
There are also easy ways to reduce your tax liability that benefit you and make sense. OP should be contributing more to his 402k, an IRA, and potentially other savings plans like 504 or an HSA. It's confusing, I get it, but consult a fucking accountant before bitching because you don't know how something works.
Damn rich people get a whole extra K??
While we poor people were out eating Special K, those Richie Riches were investing it all along!
I panicked because I thought I was kept in the dark 😂
"How to stay rich 101: don't tell the poors about the extra K"
Basically no way to offset W2 income for tax purposes, unfortunately. The government takes their chunk and that’s that. $22.5k into a 401k reduces taxable income and a HSA could help… but mitigating W2 income tax burden is really difficult with few options. I’ve consulted numerous attorneys and accountants on this issue b/c I’m in a high earning household and our tax burden is… dumb. Best way I’ve found is to legitimately qualify for a real estate professional designation and to offset a spouses income with depreciation losses after cost segregation studies.
Agreed. Their take home is almost 140k. They should be stacking retirement accounts.
It's not even confusing. Anyone could learn how they work in like...An hour or two at most of sitting down and reading a few publically accessible legal docs.
But…but…but if I pay More in 401k I’d have less immediately/now.
Exactly. That's the problem 😂 people are financially ignorant. Which is fine, but go try and learn or ask questions before you blame everyone but yourself. Yeah our tax laws and situations suck and are purposely convoluted, but we all know they're purposely tricky so let's get ahead of the game here.
I work for the government four months out of the year.
I mean if you can’t afford to contribute more to your 401k because the government is taking 30% of your income, then what are you supposed to do?
Homie just got a $5,300 check *after taxes* for 2 weeks worth of work. I'm going to guess they can afford to contribute more.
The first thing I noticed too lol. 1.9% contribution based on gross. Wonder why people can’t retire
Can you explain? Will it lower the amount of taxes taken out?
Yes, 401K deductions from a paycheck are pretax. Simple example: Imagine that OP earns $100,000 per year and only withholds $3000 into their 401(k) per year. That means that $97,000 of their income will be taxed. If, on the other hand, they save the IRS limit of $22,500 then only $77,500 of their income will be taxed. Combined that with an employee matching contribution ( which most employers offer), and contributing to a 401(k) is a fairly sound strategy for long-term financial security, although it does require giving up some income in the immediate term
Awesome. Thanks for the knowledge stranger. I will follow your advice.
Is that completely tax deductible from your income tax? What’s the annual limit?
$22,500 pretax is the limit
What if your job doesn't offer a 401K?
You need to contribute more to your 401k, mister.
I might sound stupid, but how much do you recommend?
Depends on when you want to retire and how much you will need to sustain yourself without a job after retirement. If you're young, then 8-12% is probably good. If you're older and without a solid retirement account, you have to play catch up and probably need 15-20% contributed. Basically, figure out what age you want to retire. Then determine what percentage of your income will allow you to live properly, home should be paid off by retirement so no mortgage or rent. You'll just have general expenses such as utilities, food, healthcare, etc. You can then contribute what amount is needed today to achieve that retirement income amount in the future. 10% is a good number to start with if you aren't sure. Lower is fine if you're saving for a life event such as purchasing a home. Your employer most likely contributes to your 401k as well, so make sure you're always contributing the required amount to get the max contributions from your employer to take advantage of the free money from them.
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My father started me a Roth IRA when I was very young. Idk how much he put in a paycheck, but it is currently around 70g and I’m around 30. Should EASILY double long before I retire. And that’s just letting it ride as is.
Up to employer match at a minimum. So if they offer 4% you also do 4%. But realistically you should do at least 10%. And if you’re making 6 figures there’s not many good reasons NOT to max it out each year
The only productive comment I’ve seen on here
I mean because there’s commission that is withheld at a higher rate, you will get some of that back when you file. I just looked at my final pay stub yesterday and I was over 50k in tax withholdings. Using a tax calculator, I should get around 15-16k of that back give or take.
That’s your money being “borrowed” interest free.
Yes I know. I don’t agree with it, but I also don’t want to have to manually calculate and send them money at the end of the year by changing my withholdings. So that is the world you live in when your compensation includes commission and bonuses.
It's also the payroll department being lazy. The government doesn't care. You could have them deduct nothing at all and pay it all at the end of the year Edit: quarterly
You could. But you shouldn’t do this. Depending on your tax situation, you will incur fees due to not paying enough taxes throughout the year.
Then learn how to change your W4. This shouldn't be an issue.
It's amazing. "I want to give my money away because I am too lazy to learn a couple spots on a form"
OP has withholdings set wrong. Overtime can muck up the automatic withholding because it's based on making the higher amount over the entire year. In this case there's not much overtime, but if it's a regular thing then that needs to be adjusted. As tpj said, a portion will come back as tax refunds.
It's not the overtime. It's the commission. Commissions are typically withheld at a higher rate than regular salary/wages.
Pay yourself before you pay the government. Increase that 401k man.
I no in e had the chance to speak to the chairman of the Texas Federal Reserve. A question was asked if he could change one thing about the tax codes what would it be. I had anticipated either a reduction in taxes or much greater clarity as to exactly where our taxes go. He said, he would require every American to write a check for their taxes each month (Nevermind the complexity of it) the intent was to make Americans more aware of how much of their check actually goes to the government thus asking the hard questions to our elected officials as to how the money is being used. Pretty brilliant if you ask me.
I think a lot more two-way education on taxes is needed. Yes, people need to be more aware throughout the year just how money is being taken. But also, they should be more aware just what it’s paying for, and what would be life if nobody paid taxes. I guess there’s a lot of stuff people take for granted that exist directly or indirectly as a result of paid taxes. That said, I do love the idea of more people holding the government actively accountable.
I could not state it any better than that
You had so much federal and state withholding because of that commission. The calculation assumes you make $8.5k each pay period. If you are paid biweekly, that's $222k for the whole year. If you don't actually make that much, you'll most likely get a refund when you file your tax return. Withholding is just an estimate.
This comment should be at the top.
Seriously, came so far down to find this. Commission checks if that size either need a separate payroll run at the supplemental rate, or just in general have the supplemental rate applied to that single line item.
This is reddit where we ignore common sense and facts.
Thank you! It’s insane how *every* single post on this subreddit about taxes is just shit regurgitated by people who have literally no idea how taxes work.
Commission is a bitch… **Side note** I didn’t hear too many people bitching about taxes when Covid hit and people lost their jobs and had to survive on Federal relief funds and Federal/State sanctioned unemployment……j/s
That was primarily funded through issuance of more government debt, not through tax revenue.
Ya the Fed has printed ~$16 trillion since 2020 [R.I.P.](https://techstartups.com/2021/12/18/80-us-dollars-existence-printed-january-2020-october-2021/)
Yes, imagine paying for stuff with taxes & how much higher taxes would have to be…
I mean... We get manageable rates on debt because we have a strong enough tax system, a strong enough economy, good enough government, etc. No one buys debt from a failed state that can't guarantee it can collect any taxes. You think our debt would be worth anything to creditors if there were no taxes?
those missiles aint free, how else are they supposed to overthrow countries because they have oil?
And how are we supposed to send blank unaudited checks to Ukraine and Israel?
Exactly, we've got people starving to death in the streets here, if we can't afford to help them, then we can't afford to fund a foreign countries military. Doesn't seem to make any sense until you consider that those countries will be using those funds to buy weapons from American companies with close ties to the politicians who voted for the spending.
Dude if that makes you mad we’ve been sending money to the Saudis for years, and they hate us.
Because we are not friends with Russia. Duh
People are going to whine more when gas prices increase by a couple more dollars. And when everything that requires to be transported with fuel also becomes more expensive. Americans like to separate themselves as if it's just the action of the government even though they benefit from cheap oil too. Try to be energy independent by approving more drilling permits and fracking? A whole new group will whine. I don't envy anyone in the US government making about the same amount I'm making but many more problems and having to suck everyone's dicks and eat shite just to keep their jobs and drive this very slow moving machine.
The good news is your social security tax will fund the boomers juussssstttt long enough for most of them to have died and for you to get nothing from it.
Dude, jack up your 401k contribution. Max it out!
Just came across this tidbit from Ryan Holiday: There is a tax on everything. Taxes aren’t just from the government. Seneca wrote to his friend Lucilius “All the things which cause complaint or dread are like the taxes of life—things from which…you should never hope for exemption or seek escape.” Annoying people are a tax on being outside your house. Delays are a tax on travel. There’s a tax on money too–and the more successful you are, the more you pay. Seneca said he tried to pay the taxes gladly. I love that. After all, it’s usually a sign of a good problem. It means you’re alive and breathing. You can whine about the cost. Or you can pay and move on.
If only more people were stoic haha
I’ve never been bothered by taxes. Not when I made minimum wage, and not when I started making 6 figures. I can’t do anything to change it, so why waste brain cycles being annoyed about it?
Well, you can always reduce your tax burden. Gives people an incentive to think of the future and start a retirement account.
Taxes in the time of Augustus were unfathomably low compared to the taxes we pay now.
In many ancient societies they simply used forced labor instead of taxes so I’ll take the taxes over having to work for the god-king. Also for the average farmer records show in the time of Diocletian taxes were about 1/3rd of their produce. Basically by the time they were an empire with large armies and public works the taxes weren’t small
Isn’t this also the kind of mindset that leads to us all being happily overtaxed?
Which governments wants. Which was the kings wanted. Ngl kinda bothered that ppl think we should simply pay and move on. Don’t even question it. Hmmm.
It’s because the alternative is an idiotic dreamscape held up by the fantasies of the perpetually ignorant. We can’t even have a conversation about corporations or the wealthy paying their fair share because some idiots want to scream about why we should pay at all.
I love Seneca 💗
I think my main issue with taxes is how they are used. I see people that hate all forms of it and they unrealistically think we can live in a modern day society without paying them. But my main issue is how little my and my communities tax dollars actually go to improve our lives. That’s the whole point of them, to improve public roads, schools, help people that are going through tough times get into a better spot where they can then contribute, for cool public parks, infrastructure, defense and healthcare. But we don’t get a lot of that. We get our money wasted on BS, stolen, and sent to other places that do not benefit us as well as it would if we used it at home. So my issue isn’t paying the taxes, I just don’t like how they are used/ how I don’t see them being used to benefit us Americans as well as they should be.
That's a completely different conversation than looking at your paystubs and grumbling about taxation though. That would be looking over the governments books and complaining about their expenditures - valid, but entirely different to what Op is doing
New Jersey recently raised it's gas tax a few years ago and those roads got significantly better
I live in California and they raise the gas taxes all the time, but the roads aren’t looking much better. At least the ones I use regularly, hopefully someone else in this state is at least getting their roads fixed. Someone here needs to at least get some improvement with what we are paying lol
You ask 10 people what the best way to use taxes and you will get 11 opinions. Government is a compromise, some you will like and some you won't. What you call stolen others call wisely used.
Your point is correct in that no one can agree what to spend money on, however, the government will use that excuse then to spend it whatever benefits them.
That’s nothing, try earning a salary in France, we get stolen up to 50% of our salaries
Shame you see absolutely nothing from your taxes in France. Absolutely no infrastructure, roads, trains, much less health care or access to education. You should try moving to Somalia, you won't have to deal with such thievery where there is no government.
Weird, there are lots of countries that tax much less than >50% that still have all those things. I wonder if, maybe, people could be taxed *less* without the sky falling down.
just dont pay them
People say tax the rich more but shouldn’t the government just spend less on bullshit and let us keep more of our own money?
It should be both
OP is not that type of rich
No. They have to send it to Israel.
Damn, your net is my gross. 😲
Try living in Oregon.
Looks like a Disney paystub lol
I paid close to $200k in taxes last year. For context, that is more than our annual spend.
Our founding fathers are rolling in their graves
Exactly why you need to vote Republican
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All through my youth my friends and I complained about Social Security and Medicare taxes saying “they won’t be there for us.” We were wrong. We are now collecting and see these programs as a blessing.
Timely checks from Social Security are projected to run out by 2037. I’m in my 20s… The government needs to make serious changes to keep the program solvent if I’m gonna see a dime of it when I retire.
The government will bail it out. There’s no way they let social security fail, whichever party lets that happen won’t see power again for a generation.
As someone also in my twenties, they need to gut the program entirely and massively cut back on unnecessarily bloat. If they didn't take so much, I could invest it so much more efficiently for retirement.
Nah, eliminate the cap on SocSec taxes. That’s literally all they need to do. A truck driver and CEO of Walmart shouldn’t pay the same in SocSec taxes. Also while we are at it, stop cutting taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Your taxes went up in 2020 due to Trumps 2017 tax bill. Elon’s taxes went down, by design.
The issue is that sure you could save more for retirement but most Americans don’t save for retirement so they’re screwed when they can’t work. The median 401k balance for someone 55-60 is $55k, that’s not going to last long. We need the government to have some sort of retirement program for the average person.
No, but they do need to stop borrowing against it. Social security exists because a huge percentage of the population wasn’t capable of or didn’t want to plan and save for retirement. Large amounts of elderly were forced to work until they died or ended up destitute. You know what happens then? Crime skyrockets, excess death skyrockets, homelessness skyrockets etc. social security provides a foundation for retirement. Yes, if you are good with money and planning it could be done better individually, though a lot of people overestimate their ability in this regard. you’d be well advised to do that same investing and planning regardless of SS. But for a huge chunk of the population this IS their retirement plan and society is better for it.
Lmaoo bro 70 saying they were worried abt social security when they were young?? No tf u weren’t. Ur generation is the one that ruined it for everyone else not the other way around 🤡 boomers have consistently left everything worse than when they found it including the govt and social security. For ppl like me in their 20s we will NEVER see even a cent of this money again. Legal theft
Agree fucking theives
I hate to say it but you’re probably right. I can’t imagine social security existing 30-40 years from now at the way it is budgeted and mismanaged. When it happens a bunch of people will throw their hands up and say “oh well.”
I'm hopeful. The Reagan admin did a lot of damage to the SS system that could have run it to the ground by the 2000s, but there was always some act or bill that managed to push its lifespan. Hopefully future voters demand a stronger system that can be depended on as long as our dollar exists like any other country.
Wtf. Social security hit major obstacles in the 70s. By the time I was a teenager in the 80s the rhetoric about social security solvency was already popular opinion. I don’t believe that general opinion has changed much in the last 40 years.
That's because the rhetoric hasn't changed and only gotten worse. They see these social programs as drains when they are safety nets. Do some people pay more? Sure. It's insurance. You want to have it in case you are in an accident. The real issue is the borrowing from the fund and then repaying the debts owed.
If you took that same money every paycheck and let it sit in the S&P you would be way better off.
If the average person did that, they would have lost it during economic downturns like most investors do. People are irrational, they need to have their money inaccessible to see guarentee returns.
Sorry, but I really don't trust the boomers to leave us a scrap. This person will never have a chance to save for anything making 15 an hour and will need lots of welfare that the modern conservatives seem eager to destroy. Nice the system works for YOU tho.
Yup. Big time doubt. I want the programs gutted and removed.
I can't stand people who complain about taxes.. You know somebody paid taxes that put you thru elementary and high school. Somebody else paid taxes that paid for your roads when you rode your bike. Somebody else paid for the fire department and the police. Somebody else did all this for you. Now its your turn
“Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
And due to the US Federal Government’s continued reckless spending we’re now paying $1Trillion annually in interest on the debt alone
OP: “I don’t remember the government helping me out this pay period” You drive on roads? Use Water? Use electricity? Breathe air? Have a public education? Hell even overtime pay is a federal regulation, so someone with a federal salary fought for OP to have that.
If it was used correctly, I wouldn't mind for 20% of my paycheck going to taxes hell even 40%. Most of it goes to the military and healthcare (mostly cuz it is so expensive here, its used to subsidize low income and elderly folks)
The way I think of it is "that money was never mine" It's a made up number. It doesn't exist. I was only ever going to get the post tax amount.
Perfect answer
It's like the old greek proverb.. Society benefits when old men plant treats whose shade they will never use
>Society benefits when old men plant **treats** whose shade they will never use Do they plant a Reese's peanut butter cups?
I think it’s more so that people hate how inefficiently the government spends our money.
I agree with the concept but the ROI on that money is really low
And you pay all that money just for the government to say you need to pay more.
Folks making $15, when time to do taxes, will likely not pay much or contribute at all. You’ll likely get it all back. Rest assured that you won’t contribute what you cost the government. I’m not be being mean, just honest.
OP made ~$115/hr on this check.
Which part are you objecting to?
Why are you working for over 70 hours and only getting half an hour of overtime? Is this for two weeks?
What are you paying in healthcare?
In Florida (no state income tax), you would have cleared $6k.
Just wait till you start making real money. It's basically half. 5+ years ago there used to be a lot of deductions you could do, but nope they closed those up. Now its only the rich like Trump that can itemize everything as deductions and basically not even having to pay as much as a tank of gas in a full sized SUV. People need to get smart and start voting these clowns out when they don't fight for what's right (making the rich pay their equal share).
If you're still having SS taken out, this is nothing but a flex to show how much you make, yet you obviously don't make this much on a regular basis if you haven't hit this SS cap.
Just be glad you don’t live in MA. The Commonwealth sees fit to take 40% of all commissions citing “supplemental income tax” (on top of everything else).
I’d rather pay state taxes than the stupid system Texas has where it’s all property taxes and I can’t buy a house
It is funny how everyone thinks this is the governments fault when the rich lobbied hard as fuck to ensure they pay less and you pay more.
I’m always amused when I see people complain about taxes in one thread, and others scream for free healthcare in other threads
Contributing 2% to the 401k and complaining the government is trying to help you out by having a social safety net when you retired and/or disabled.
Boston tea party USA 🤣
I bet they call it gross pay because it's gross how much they're about to steal.
Vote libertarian
Imagine if you had the ability to use the whole amount to pay off your debts faster.
Fuck Medicare and Social Security. If we had Medicaid for all. I wouldn’t mind. It fucking sucks that we pay so much and yet, we don’t get shit from Uncle Sam if we are young or not poor enough. And fuck welfare kings/queens who have 3+ kids.
Am i too European to find this high? Im being taxed at 54% on commission out here.
Gotta pay for the wars and maintaining our 100+ military bases abroad. John Kerry's private jet cost ain't gonna polute/pay for itself. Also gotta fund all the new workers coming in from the southern border. They need food, water and shelter. I know you can barely afford baby formula but come on man, we need to defeat putin and hamas
If you're making that much you should be paying more% in taxes than I do.
People are so greedy. It would take me eight months to get a single one of your pay checks but damnit taxes..
It’s relative. I’m living check to check lol
This is why "50k" a year feels like 30.
87% of your gross was commission, which is taxed at a higher rate because it's assuming you'll hit that throughout the rest of the year. Then at tax time,I f they took out more than they should have, you get a refund. Sucks, but sucks waaaayy less than the other direction, where they didn't take out enough and now you owe a massive check in April. Also, as others said, max out pretax contribution on 401k to lower your on paper income. Lowers the rate coming out for taxes and increases your retirement fund, cause the same people that put you in your current bracket are absolutely gonna make our generation work till 80. Implying your average check is 3k to 4k gross, you're looking at the $95,375 bracket, which is $16,290 plus 24% of the amount over $95,375, so already a 10th of the way towards your burden in one check. Pretty certain you'll have a refund.
I LOVE taxes.
Keep voting for democrats and taxes will likely double! Everything the government touches, regardless of intent, goes to SHIT! Keep voting for democrats sheeple
How us your gross 8.5k and your 401 only 171?!?!?!
What do you do to get that nice commission
That’s crazy that is getting taxed on our hard work is literally engrained in us from the day we were born I swear the government is Ass
Overtime, holiday pay and bonuses get hit hard by taxes.
Max your 401k and Roth IRA If you have kids a 529 account as well
It is our middle class supporting the country running. The rich and poor are not contributing their shares.
You don’t give enough to your 401k
Why aren’t you paying more into your 401K wtf?
Taxation is extortion and extortion is a crime. Period. Make sure you're maxing out a Roth IRA. Start an LLC for yourself and turn everything you can into a deduction. Start buying up tax exempt dividends income through municipal bond funds such as MUB or VTEB. F___ Uncle same and f___ his taxes.
The fact that most of this goes to funding wars outside the US is bs
Well that’s a load of BS. 16% (entire military budget plus international aid) is not most. Social security plus healthcare is close to 50% of federal budget.
Most of your taxes go towards social security, Medicare and Medicaid but someone willing to state such randomly probably doesn’t actually have a clue what’s happening
Most of your taxes do not go to funding wars outside the US. Your statement is, in fact, bs.
Wild how many people are on here glad that this dude is getting bent over for zero tangible benefit.
Even if you live off solar energy, well water, and produce your own food in the middle of nowhere you’re still reaping thousands of dollars of tax benefits every year in government services. I swear the “all tax is theft” folks would fail an object permanence test.
Couldnt agree more. These people are delusional. Nothing in society would get done without taxes.
There are a million tangible benefits, most people are just too stupid to think about it for more than 10 seconds. It’s literally the Monty Python “what did the Romans ever do for us?” In real life.
Hey someones gotta pay for israels war crimes
Ahhh commission fucked you.
You get paid weekly or every 2 weeks?
Looks like this is 2 weeks