My wife and I have a combined income of about $110,000.00 We live in a house that cost us less than $100,000.00 five years ago (<1,400 sq. ft.) and we drive a Dodge Dakota truck and a Saturn coupe. While earning 100 grand sounds like a lot of money it certainly doesn't seem to go very far (no fancy house, no fancy cars, travel vacations only every two or three years) because we don't like going into debt for anything other than our house, home improvements and cars (although we are trying to save and pay as much cash as possible for our next car). We do okay but are not rich by any stretch of the imagination. Two years ago we had to pay additional tax on April 15th and last year we didn't owe anything extra because of some charitable contributions we made. This year we are actually getting money back from the IRS because our tax bracket was changed. Who says the tax cuts were only for the rich? Anyone else benefit from the tax cuts?
How dare you be "rich"!!! You must have won life's lottery as Tom Daschle stated. J/J Congrats on benefitting from the tax cuts! That is money better spent by you as a discerning consumer. Congrats on minimizing your debt as well, it shows restraint in these days.!
I was just curious about where you live, 111chase111. For some reason I was thinking NYC, but I've got a feeling I must be off base. Wouldn't be the first time!
Well your income is in probaly about in the 70% percentlile for US families. Without kids you are in the top of the middle class in terms of spending power, which some define as the 30% to the 80% percentile. Which is $159 K in the table below. ********** Historical Income Tables - Families -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table F-3. Mean Income Received by Each Fifth and Top 5 Percent of Families (All Races): 1966 to 2001 (Families as of March of the following year. Income in current and 2001 CPI-U-RS adjusted dollars 28/) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Top Year Lowest Second Third Fourth Highest 5 fifth fifth fifth fifth fifth percent ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Current Dollars 2001 $14,021 $32,466 $51,538 $76,646 $159,644 $280,312 2000 30/ 14,122 32,289 50,747 74,791 156,919 278,063 2000 29/ 14,232 32,268 50,925 74,918 155,527 272,349 1999 13,320 30,996 48,933 72,153 147,779 254,840 1998 12,526 29,482 46,662 68,430 140,846 246,520 1997 12,057 28,252 44,575 65,363 134,285 235,021 1996 11,388 26,847 42,467 62,052 125,627 217,355 1995 25/ 11,265 25,955 40,637 59,457 119,453 204,863 1994 24/ 10,387 24,575 38,808 57,366 115,608 198,336 1993 23/ 9,739 23,390 37,066 54,946 111,017 191,612 1992 22/ 9,586 23,121 36,527 53,094 98,802 155,557 1991 9,734 23,105 35,851 51,997 95,530 147,817 link link
AND?????? You'll get another tax cut under John Kerry as well. “But rather than debating real differences, the Bush campaign is engaged in the politics of deceit and distortion. They are spending millions of dollars trying to mislead Americans about the basic facts. Here are the facts: .”If you make less than $200,000, you’ll get a tax cut under my plan. If you make more than $200,000 a year, you will go back to paying the same tax rates you did with President Clinton and our country will get health care and education that is needs and deserves. I acknowledge the truth; the top 2% will pay more than they do now. Everyone else will get a tax cut under a Kerry Administration. Let me repeat: 98% of individuals – and 99% of companies and small businesses – will pay lower taxes under my plan
My post has nothing to do with John Kerry. I was merely demonstrating that Bush's tax cuts are not "only for the rich" as some people like to argue. Or, I'm rich. But I don't feel rich.
Watch out for the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) which could end up costing you a lot in taxes. For those whoe don't know about the AMT it was designed so that wealthy people who could avoid taxes through tax shelters would still end up paying something. An unforeseen side affect of the recent tax cuts is that it has pushed a lot of middle class people of about your means into the AMT where you end up paying more for the AMT than you would have even if you didn't have the tax cuts. I'm not an accountant so maybe one of the more finacially savy posters here could explain it better.
Wait I thought Kerry was going to raise taxes in his first hundred days in office? Are you saying we (everyone making less than $200k) will get an increased tax cut and only the people making $200k will get a tax increase? I'm not calling you a liar but I have heard from multiple sources that Kerry (including kerry who has criticized the tax cuts) will repeal Bush's most recent tax cuts almost immediately.
Ok I see teh last part of your quote Achilleus but I don't understand how raising taxes will somehow lower my taxes? Sounds like political BS to me that somehow by raising taxes that taxes will be lowered? That must be "new math" that I don't understand.
The part that you are not getting is that Kerry is going to raise taxes only on the richest 2%. If you don't make more than $200K, his tax plan actually lowers your taxes from where they are now.
A tax cut under John Kerry? Don't bet on it. Where was that "middle class tax cut" that Clinton promised everyone. Instead, the b*stard raised taxes and with his idiot luxury tax on yachts and fancy cars, deep-sixed the yacht-building business. So don't count on any Democrat to ever lower taxes. The last who did was JFK. Tax cuts are a code to them for credits if you spend money on the things (like fuel-efficient cars, etc.) that they deem acceptable.
The most ridiculous Repblican tax cut was the one for the 3000 richest estates in the country. That one was for roughtly the top .1%. It was just so dellciously Republican in a good old fashioned rich folk way.
$110K on either coast wouldn't go very far. But $110K in the south and midwest is living large. Plus if you do have kids, you'll get a $1K back on the child tax credit. Bush increased it from $600 to $1K.
AMT kicks in around 200k and goes up to around 500k. IT was designed to keep people from taking masssive deductions and not paying anything. However it is flawed up because it was not ever indexed to inflation. Therefore instead of getting the super elite that was designed to get, it gets more and more of the upper middle class. However the radical anti tax lobby doesn't ever say anything about it though, because it hits hardest on educated urban professionals on the east and west coasts, in other words: democrats.
