Comment by ciarannolan | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ciarannolan | Hacker News Reader

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I agree that "It’s definitely a livable salary for a young person in a low cost of living area." is a laughable claim.

But, it is true that most Americans pay very little taxes.

> According to the Tax Foundation, the top 50% of taxpayers paid 96.96% of all federal income taxes in 2016, the last tax year for which comprehensive and vetted statistics are available from the Internal Revenue Service. This means that the bottom 50% paid just 3.04%. [1]

And yes, sales tax is "almost nothing". About 2-3% of an average American household's total income.

> With that in mind, the average American pays $10,489 in "personal taxes," representing 14% of the average household's total income. This includes federal and state income taxes, as well as other taxes such as personal property taxes, vehicle taxes, and certain other small taxes. $8,367 of this amount is federal income taxes, $2,046 is state and local taxes, and $75 is other small taxes. [2]

[1] https://www.thebalance.com/what-the-average-american-pays-in...

[2] https://www.fool.com/taxes/2018/04/22/how-much-does-the-aver...

I agree with your points--my point is that any % of someone's wealth who _can_barely_afford_basic_living_costs_ is significant. Income tax isn't even remotely on someone's mind who can't make ends meet. Sales tax _is_ neglible for most wealthy people so it is easy for them to forget about it and massively overrate the impact of income tax on non-wealthy people.

If you can barely make ends meet, you do not pay income taxes in America. In fact, you get free money from the federal government once a year via the standard deduction rather than paying them.

If you're scraping by on, say, $500/month after rent is paid, $10 of that on sales taxes is insignificant imo.

Excepting rent, the remaining wages are going to go towards things that are more likely to have a sales tax. For most states that is ~5%. An extra Jackson a month adds up quick for someone in this position.

> "But, it is true that most Americans pay very little taxes."

no, that statment is only applicable to income tax, which is intentionally progressive. most other taxes, like employment taxes, are highly regressive, so it's not true that most americans pay "very little taxes". americans pay their fair share of taxes, but not the same proportion to each taxing entity.

No, that statement is applicable to all taxes. Look at my second quote and its link.

The average American household pays about 5-7% of its income in taxes other than income tax. I think that qualifies as "very little".

no, the trope that most people are freeloaders who don't pay taxes needs to end. even the lowest quintile paid an average of 16% of their income in various taxes. for someone making $14K, that 16% ($2200) is a serious cut of their living. for comparison, the upper quintiles pay ~30%. see this chart[0] found in this article[1].

[0] https://itep.org/wp-content/uploads/WPTiAgraph2.jpg [1] https://itep.org/who-pays-taxes-in-america-in-2018/

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