I am self-employed. I write myself a modest paycheck every 3 months. Here is what I pay in taxes.

I pay 12.4% to social security
I pay 2.9% to medicare
I pay .4% to federal unemployment
I pay 14.5% to federal income tax
I pay 3.4% to state income tax
I pay 6.0% to state sales tax
I pay .9% to hidden taxes on gasoline, phone service, cigarettes, etc.
I pay 7.0% to local property taxes.

Folks, that is 47.5% of my annual income. Does this seem reasonable to everyone?

 

Actually, your figures are flawed, since you seem to be adding the last three items as if they're a percentage of your income, which they are not.

You can reduce your self-employed tax burden by filing under s-corp status.

 

Even though the tax amount from the last two items is not calculated on income, those are the percentages when I calculate the actual taxes paid against my total income.

The tax amount from sales tax is calculated against disposable income, so my effective sales tax should be (100 - (47.5 - 6))/100 * 6 = 3.51%

So my actual total tax burden is 45.1%

Whether 47.5% or 45.1%, these percentages are very typical for the average person. The average person cannot claim s-corp status.

 

You're not considering your deductible expenses or investments. Also, you aren't considering tax deductions like medical expenses, dependants, mortgage interest, yada yada yada.

You pay a lot less taxes than you think. Now, go out and party with your new-found income.

You're welcome.

 

Yes, I have considered my deductible expenses. Note: my 14.5 percentage does not correspond to any tax bracket. These percentages were calculated from my actual tax payments.

I have never paid much attention to taxes before. Life's circumstances have forced me to become self-employed. I write the checks that pay my taxes -- not my employer. People may much more taxes than they think.

 

Well, I expect my personal figure is about 10 - 15% less than yours, and I think that's quite reasonable. You could always move to Canada or GB for some perspective.

 

If I were you, I'd shoot myself.

 

BANG!! BANG!!

 

..one taxpayer less...this will increase our taxes by 0.000000001 %

 

be careful with the ricochet.