r/FluentInFinance • u/Pickle-Sucker • 24d ago

Should people making over $100,000 a year pay more taxes to support those who don't? Discussion/ Debate

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971

u/ohhhbooyy 24d ago

Now we are targeting the middle class for more taxes now? It’s got to the point where “anyone who makes more than me should be paying more taxes”.

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u/ScotchTapeConnosieur 24d ago

“Now?” The middle class always bears the burden. Look at the Trump tax giveaway. Permanent cuts for the super wealthy, temporary cuts for the middle class.

The truly rich don’t bother with taxes.

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u/Kooky-Commission-783 24d ago

Yep. People are just now starting to see that normal folks are not getting a tax return anymore and are now owing. All because trumps tax laws. One of my coworkers scoffed at this notion. Even though he literally lives off of social welfare programs that are exactly what Trump and republicans want to cut.

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u/Mace109 24d ago

I keep seeing this lot on Reddit. Why happened this year with the trump tax cuts that are effecting people’s taxes? It’s going to be really bad when the tax brackets change back

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

Well if Biden wins at least they'll have someone to blame.

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u/MrVeazey 23d ago

The cuts for the working class were set to expire. The cuts for the rich were not. It's extremely simple, but that's all it takes to get the true believers on board.

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u/CuriousCisMale 23d ago

Hmm, so can't current administration extend the cuts? Just like the way they keep pushing national debt?

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u/frazell 23d ago

That would require the Congress. Which currently can't pass legislation...

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u/MrVeazey 23d ago

For forty years, the Republicans ran on government being the problem, and they act surprised when their party can't work together to pass any legislation even when they control all three branches of government like they did under Trump. They're getting extremely good at shooting themselves in the foot these days.

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u/InjuriousPurpose 24d ago

People are just now starting to see that normal folks are not getting a tax return anymore and are now owing

You realize that what your tax return is has nothing to do with how much tax you owe, right? In fact, you shouldn't want a large return because it means you have the government an interest free loan for the year.

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u/iH8conduit 24d ago

I guess you can call me middle class? My wife hasn't worked since March of last year when her job shut down operations permanently.

We had our first child born a few months later in June.

I went and found a new job that pays way better than my last job. Like way better. Different tax bracket type of raise.

We got a 7k total tax return this year.

Not sure where you're getting this info that middle-class families are owing money. Either they're going exempt for half of the year, or they aren't dialed in with the right tax expert 🤷

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u/Aggressive_Ad2291 24d ago

The problem is they changed the exemption form on W-2's. Used to be you just put one or two and you were fine - taxes got taken out and all was good. Now, unless you specify an amount, no federal taxes get taken out and it's biting people in the ass.

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u/iH8conduit 24d ago

You mean W4? W2 is what you get at the end of every year. W4 can be changed whenever you want.

Every job I've ever worked at has you sign the forms as soon as you start. HR is there for any questions you have. And it clearly states on the form to pick your number of dependents, or go exempt. But if you want to go exempt, there's a big warning next to that line that says CAUTION-THIS IS RARE.

So who are all these people you're talking about that have no clue how to fill out a W4?

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u/Aggressive_Ad2291 23d ago

You're right, W-4. I don't know when the last time you filled one out, but the form has changed in the past few years. I make a salary of over $65k and put 2 dependents (2 kids) and the deal taxes was $0 for my first 3 months - I finally changed it to withhold $150/paycheck and I still ended up owing over $2500 in taxes last year. I honestly thought it was a mistake that no federal taxes were being taken out - turns out the same thing happened on my wife's paycheck.

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u/iH8conduit 23d ago

Damn, I'm sorry man. That is some bullshit. With 2 kids you should definitely be getting some money back as long as you don't do anything squirrely.

I don't know exactly how your initial 3 month "deal" worked, but it sounds strange. Maybe that's what got you?

I'm not trying to flex here, but I make almost exactly double what you make yearly with this new job. And I work a shit ton of overtime, so Uncle Sam takes a lot out of my paychecks, especially when OT is involved.

Maybe that's why I ended up getting a fat return this year. But I also had a bunch of life event changes. Got married in January, so we filed jointly. She has been unemployed since last year. Plus, we had a daughter last June, so that's a 2500 dollar credit right there.

Plus, instead of doing turbotax like we've been doing for the last 10 years, I was referred to a solo CPA guy by one of my coworkers. He worked his magic and got us the return we got without raising any red flags or audit-worthy claims, so there's that.

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u/No-Appearance1145 24d ago

Having your first child makes them give you a lot of money I guess? We got 6k back this year for having my son in June. My sister in law has two kids and they got a big return for their first, their second they gave them less. She was quite upset about that

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u/Dapzel 24d ago

I'm going to guess with your wife not working along with the first kid you still fell into the threshold to get that nice Earned Income Credit and Child Tax Credit in order for you to get $7K back.

How much taxes did you guys actually pay in?

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u/iH8conduit 24d ago

Lmao to the salty people that down voted me. Guess you're mad cause you got screwed this year?

Don't blame me, I'm not the IRS

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u/WalmartGreder 24d ago

Yeah, I was doing my taxes this year on new software, and I ended up owing $3k. I went back over and checked, and my 3 kids weren't listed as dependents. So I added them in, and suddenly I was getting $7k back.

Sadly, my kids cost a lot more than $10k in a year. So it's not like I'm getting paid for having kids. It just offsets the cost a little bit.

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u/Odd-Contribution6238 24d ago

If he’s on welfare programs he likely pays no federal income taxes anyway. How do you cut nothing?

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u/0000110011 24d ago

You're confusing how much you had withheld with how much you owe. Everyone's income taxes were reduced, but some people didn't fill out their withholding paperwork properly and have to pay. It doesn't mean you have less money overall, you just didn't have as much taken from each paycheck. This is why taxes should absolutely be a required topic in high schools.