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> Nobody likes paying high taxes, but I don’t mind.

It's actually amazing how little most Americans pay in taxes yet we complain. This year my effective tax rate was ~8%. Of course this is by using every legal tax shelter available.

Considering what I get from the Federal government here in the US, I think 8% is actually fair. If it spent more of my money doing thing like taking care of home and quit with the empire building I'd be happy to pay more.

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8%? You either live very close to (or under) the poverty line or are fabulously wealthy. I'm assuming that you're rich since you mentioned tax shelters.

TurboTax put my effective tax rate this year at 26%.

Nope. 2 income, low 6 figures. There are pretty significant shelters for us middle class folks. $36k available in 401k contributions alone.another $6.5 k for HSA. $5k for childcare spending along with credits and deductions for the same thing. The key is to have a cost of living where u can afford to take advantage of them all.

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