So about $100k per year, per person (after taxes)
I know that this is nothing out in Silicon Valley, but for reference, the median income in the US is $19k (net) per year, and about $15k (net) per year in Europe (if you include eastern Europe).
I can't tell from your comment whether you feel 100k is high (hence the "optimistic") or low (hence the warning at the end).
Real, adjusted, individual including non working and part-time population above 15yo: $38k/yr
Including only full-time workers: $57k
Median household income: $71k
The US has enough problems, no need to make up much smaller income numbers than the reality.
That graph seems to be just incorrect. All three of the links it's supposedly sourced from don't have it on their pages. There is a remark of "own work," so I think a Wikipedian assembled it themself. Given that it frankly contradicts the article it's in, I would assume that it's in error.
And I agree that neither income tax nor income + payroll tax adds up to the 33.5%. I don't know if there are more taxes which need to be considered. 13% total tax seems low.
Employee share of payroll tax is, employer share (which is shown reaching down from the bottom) is not.
> 13% total tax seems low.
Given what I've actually paid with a far above median income, 13% soubds reasonable. Its low as a nominal rate, but there are lots of credits and deductions available, and the before-tax median personal income is well below the cutoff for EITC, which can be a huge one. Heck, a large minority of the population pays zero or negative net income tax.
Comparing comp for two people who are working really hard, doesn't really work when you're comparing to a median income that includes lots of people who don't work or don't really work.
Similarly, comparing median net income (which includes taxation) with a pre-tax windfall doesn't really make sense, either.
Further, we're not adjusting for time value of money...
And, very interestingly and more nuanced, you can take into account how a person changes over time. For example, while I was a grad student, I worked full time and definitely fell under the poverty line. But would you really consider me a poor/destitute person?
About 60% of Americans break into the top 20% of household income at some point in their lives(>$110k/yr). In the same vein, almost 20% of Americans will earn less than the poverty rate at some point in their lives ($24k/yr).
Like I said, I think Americans have many problems, but if there is one thing we are good at it is income (and the consumption that comes with it).
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/05/05/308380342/most...
The federal income tax rates for lower income brackets reach 0%. State, sales, payroll, and other taxes aren’t going to come anywhere near 50%.
The real, net, median income in the United States is significantly higher than what the OP quoted.
> That would require greater than 50% taxation, which isn’t realistic at all in the United States.
My point is that higher than 50% total taxation on a large single-year income (considering local and corporate taxes) is entirely possible in the United States, though it may be less in some states than other. I’m not saying that the estimate is correct as the Tarn Brothers don’t live in California. But if they took the income to a corporation, paid corporate income tax, and then took the whole income or a large part of it as dividends in a high tax state, then >50% is quite possible. On a pass-through entity, close to 50% is the standard and unavoidable in high tax states.
That's off by close to half. The median income in the US is around $37,000 [1], the median full-time income is around $53,000 [2] and the median US household income is up over $70,000 [3].
It's also worth noting that those median incomes are paying low tax rates on that income (typically ~15%-20% including federal + state + local + fica, depending on the location).
[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N
It's way higher, between $50-70k https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2022/demo/p60-27...
Your (net) number in the US is way too low.
The real (aka inflation adjusted) median earnings for US workers is around $42K before taxes.
Tax rates at the lower end of the income spectrum in the US are very low. Federal income tax is effectively 0% for the bottom income brackets, though they’ll have to pay some payroll taxes, state taxes, sales taxes, and others along the way. Even considering that, there’s no way to go from the >$40K median earnings to your $19K net income figure.