Why did you not leave more or less immediately? I know that hindsight is 20/20, but still, it is pretty obvious you were not taken seriously at all.
I lasted six months. The only reason I stayed that long was because we were promised some huge bonuses for meeting our sales targets, which never happened. I got like $50.
My manager gave her two weeks notice a week before I did and our region manager didn't find anyone to cover. He expected me to run the entire store by myself for a week. I said no and walked out. They had to leave the store closed for several days because absolutely nobody worked there. It was extremely cathartic.
In the US (assumption of location), we have nearly no social net. We pay 30+% in taxes, but little to show for it if we lose jobs, or dealing with horrific jobs.
And with the spates of homeless arrests, even sleeping under an overpass or rough camping is illegal.
And of course, the worse the job, the less the pay, and the stickier the employees due to not being able to save.
Ive been in similar situations, with terrible jobs, up to and including a manager who ordered me to lie to a state entity over his botched fix.
Those who make capital gains do not.
Of course, those who make capital gains don't need a social safety net, but discussions about taxes need to include both tax tracks because they behave so very differently.
But yea it's probably top 10%.
If you include medical costs outside of FICA, which many other Western countries get for near free after taxes, then it looks... quite different.
Edit: I am barely getting 30% in NYC, even including FICA (zip code 10118)
https://smartasset.com/taxes/income-taxes
$90k as single is $27,171, or 30.19%.
$90k as married filer shows $20,758, which is 23.06% (incl FICA).
But, again, I would not include all of the social security portion of FICA (6.2%), since presumably you will be getting some of that back.
The state took it from me, either directly before I saw it, at a point of sale, as some convenience fee (restaurants, bars, etc), liquor fees to punish my drinking, or countless other state-sanctioned money transfer.
I like a return on my investment, and the same goes for the government I live in. And although this sounds like some libertarian style drivel, I'm not complaining about the taxes themselves, but what I get in return for what I pay for. And in this country (USA), it aint much. The most I've seen the govt do, after kilodollars paid in, was a whole $1200 singular check during covid. Everything else I "get", is fee'd, fine'd, and taxed to death.
I would prefer a strong safety net for everyone. Universal healthcare. Free K-12 school lunches. Free university classes/degrees.
Yeah, I look at the WHOLE package of taxes, what I pay in, and what I get. Well, there's a reason why I'm talking with my partner about leaving the country, and even possibly renouncing. But hell, even US citizenship is a -$3500 hole in my pocket.
Sure, there's edge cases where founders and early startup workers get paid income and capital (stocks, etc) both, but that's not the scope of the article.