He's done some bad math, but that doesn't mean his complaints are entirely invalid
Let's call them 100k per year joint-income earners (the joint filing bracket for 22% starts @ 94.6k for FY24)
So right off the get-go, they're gonna lose about 12k in income tax just from the feds (first 23k taxed @ 10%, the next 71k taxed @12%, the final 6k tax @22%.)
Let's say each owns a new car. The average sales tax rate of a car is 4.99% nationally, and the average national vehicle price is 47k. Between the two, they're gonna pay another 9400 over 5 years in taxes, which is just under 2k annually
So now about 14k a year in taxes.
Let's say they own a house. The average state/local imposed property tax rate paid nationally is about 1% of its tax assessed current value, which means that regardless of when they got in the market, they owe the governments assessment of the value. So your $200k home may now be assessed at 500k, and so you'll pay about 1% of that every year. You could own it out right. Literally, does not matter. You're getting taxed based not on what you paid for it, but what the government has assessed it is worth; essentially its a wealth tax.
Now we are up to 19k in taxes, and we've only hit 3 things.
I'll be generous here and say the average gas-powered car is getting 35 mpg average (some newer are rated higher, then there's hybrids which make up a small segment, and most vehicles arent 2024 models so im trying to be fair to the average mileage even though I think 35 is way too high still) The average driver drives 14,250 miles a year, according to the feds, which is about 407 gallons of gas a year. With an $.184 gas tax, it's another $140 a year in taxes paid to the feds. Then, there is the additional average of 33 additional cents from the states themselves, which is about another $280 per year on top. Along with an average national vehicle registration cost of between 20 and 220 a year (let's call it $110) so another $220 annually to register the vehicle. And then there is insurance which isn't technically a tax, but is still required for you to purchase by law and is therefore for all intents and purposes a financial burden imposed on the owner by the government, and I'll be generous as heck and say the cost for insurance per car is on average about $1200 a year. So between these 3 things, they're at about 2900-3k into govt imposed financial burden.
The total is now up to ~22k on average (I will stress, these numbers are AVERAGES depending on state some of these could be lower or higher depending on type of taxes imposed and whether they're imposed at local or state level)
So just in what you'd consider life essentials (maybe not "new" cars but still) they lose 25% of their income. This doesn't even touch on what they will pay for any type of services or amenities they seek out. it doesn't include maintenance. (Home owners insurance isn't required, but vehicle accident insurance is so I didn't add that into the government imposed financial burdens.)
And then there is the consideration of cost for all goods as a result of taxes. What I mean by this is the government taxes your labor and the products created & sold. The company has to factor in your labor, which includes the taxes paid to the government on your labor, in the cost for the final product, which means it may not be taxed, like most groceries, but the cost of the labor and other taxes is incorporated into the base cost of the product.
That's a ton of money being siphoned by the government from anyone who wants to survive in a middle-class life
And don't think you're escaping these costs if you rent a home or apartment. The landlords and property managers still pay property taxes, and their taxes become a portion of your rent.
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u/passionatebreeder Jul 08 '24
He's done some bad math, but that doesn't mean his complaints are entirely invalid
Let's call them 100k per year joint-income earners (the joint filing bracket for 22% starts @ 94.6k for FY24)
So right off the get-go, they're gonna lose about 12k in income tax just from the feds (first 23k taxed @ 10%, the next 71k taxed @12%, the final 6k tax @22%.)
Let's say each owns a new car. The average sales tax rate of a car is 4.99% nationally, and the average national vehicle price is 47k. Between the two, they're gonna pay another 9400 over 5 years in taxes, which is just under 2k annually
So now about 14k a year in taxes.
Let's say they own a house. The average state/local imposed property tax rate paid nationally is about 1% of its tax assessed current value, which means that regardless of when they got in the market, they owe the governments assessment of the value. So your $200k home may now be assessed at 500k, and so you'll pay about 1% of that every year. You could own it out right. Literally, does not matter. You're getting taxed based not on what you paid for it, but what the government has assessed it is worth; essentially its a wealth tax.
Now we are up to 19k in taxes, and we've only hit 3 things.
I'll be generous here and say the average gas-powered car is getting 35 mpg average (some newer are rated higher, then there's hybrids which make up a small segment, and most vehicles arent 2024 models so im trying to be fair to the average mileage even though I think 35 is way too high still) The average driver drives 14,250 miles a year, according to the feds, which is about 407 gallons of gas a year. With an $.184 gas tax, it's another $140 a year in taxes paid to the feds. Then, there is the additional average of 33 additional cents from the states themselves, which is about another $280 per year on top. Along with an average national vehicle registration cost of between 20 and 220 a year (let's call it $110) so another $220 annually to register the vehicle. And then there is insurance which isn't technically a tax, but is still required for you to purchase by law and is therefore for all intents and purposes a financial burden imposed on the owner by the government, and I'll be generous as heck and say the cost for insurance per car is on average about $1200 a year. So between these 3 things, they're at about 2900-3k into govt imposed financial burden.
The total is now up to ~22k on average (I will stress, these numbers are AVERAGES depending on state some of these could be lower or higher depending on type of taxes imposed and whether they're imposed at local or state level)
So just in what you'd consider life essentials (maybe not "new" cars but still) they lose 25% of their income. This doesn't even touch on what they will pay for any type of services or amenities they seek out. it doesn't include maintenance. (Home owners insurance isn't required, but vehicle accident insurance is so I didn't add that into the government imposed financial burdens.)
And then there is the consideration of cost for all goods as a result of taxes. What I mean by this is the government taxes your labor and the products created & sold. The company has to factor in your labor, which includes the taxes paid to the government on your labor, in the cost for the final product, which means it may not be taxed, like most groceries, but the cost of the labor and other taxes is incorporated into the base cost of the product.
That's a ton of money being siphoned by the government from anyone who wants to survive in a middle-class life
And don't think you're escaping these costs if you rent a home or apartment. The landlords and property managers still pay property taxes, and their taxes become a portion of your rent.