Discussion»Questions»Finance» "A typical family of 4 earning $75,000 will save $2000 in taxes". What will it save if it earns $30,000? Which is MORE typical? $75K/$30K??
A "typical" family of 4 are lucky if they're even able to make $30k - and that's with the kids working (only child labor laws prevent it). Good jobs are a thing of the past. Greed, skyrocketing medical and outlandish taxes/fees have seen to that (mostly greed). What does it say when the highest paying job in your community is McDonald's (11.20/hr)? Although populations have increased (as well as the number of elderly people), medical professions have declined. Why? Because there's no money to be made there. Insurance companies don't like to pay so they make doctors (meaning all medical professions) to jump thru tiny tiny hoops in order to get a fraction of what they're owed. {I.e. - demanding that everything has its own code; limiting what a doctor can/can't do.} All this "red tape" takes time - time that they can no longer spend with their patients. Time that they could have used to see more patients. The result - less doctors, poor medical care (clinics), and doctors who don't care about their patients (just a bunch of cattle they have to heard through). I know many good doctors who were forced to quit or "retire" as they couldn't handle all the red tape insurance companies put them through. They had so much red-tape that they had to spend most their off-hours doing it or it wouldn't get done. That meant less family time and more time worrying (get one jot ot tidle wrong and they'd have to do it all over again. Even if they did get it done, insurance companies only paid them a part (minus fees, of course), and state insurances (for the poor) rarely paid at all. The result is that many doctors had to raise their prices - just to break even. Of course insurance companies want more $$ so they keep jacking up their prices.
So the companies who are required to offer medical to their employees, (although that may end shortly) must spend more per employee. That means less jobs and less pay. Fat cats at the top of the "food chain" want more $$ so they cut wages (or keep them stagnant) all the while demanding more work from less employees. They treat their employees like numbers, not people. {I worked in a place where the employees were referred to as "bodies", not by their name (using a name would infer that the "bodies" were real).} Being treated like crap from management lowers moral. Lower moral means lackluster service from employees to customers (overworked, under appreciated people rarely have "superior" moods). Customers don't want poor service (they get enough of that at work), so they take their business elsewhere - which means less profits for companies. So to get the customers $$$ back, companies merge. Merged companies means that even if the customer goes elsewhere, they're still spending their money with the same company (despite terrible service). Mergers also mean less employees. The first to go - upper management (high salary folks). The common employees are next to go (just make what few employees are left pick up the slack). With all this decrease in the work force, the "upper" person in the company just gets richer and richer.
"Wait, I have to pay taxes on my wealth! No, no, no, no! I'l get my congresspersons to put a stop to that (that's what I pay them for). I'll have them rewrite all the laws to suit ME! Cut taxes for the middle class or the poor? Pfft! Can't do that, I need them to fund all my endeavors with their money (money I was forced to loan them)."
When the middle class is reduced to the poor class, the "upper crust" will have no choice but to turn on themselves (money, money.. must have MORE money!) They will bite, scratch and devour (tax?) the "poorest(?)" rich in order to get their money for themselves. Laws will be written and rewritten making it all appear "legal". As the number of rich declines, so will the need for the number of lawmakers (lest they decide to turn on the super-rich).
Where will it end? It will end when everyone is living in squalor, desperate for a morsel of sustenance as they toil their lives away for the king. Long live the king!
This post was edited by Shuhak at December 15, 2017 5:22 AM MST
Thank you for a very comprehensive reply filled with thought-provoking comments Shuhak. Once again I agree with every word you wrote. Nothing you said is debatable. OK. That said, here's what I want MOST to live long enough to witness. The OBSCENELY wealthy turning on/devouring/destroying one another until they no longer exist..become extinct...eventually turn into tall tales/old wives' tales/fairy tales. SIGH. I think I won't. At 80 even if I live to be 100 (which I plan on doing) I doubt that all the vapid heartless soulless inhumane evil vile obscenely wealthy folks will have all turned on one another. It will take longer I expect to nullify them and turn them into ciphers. But perhaps from on high (hopefully not from down below) I can look down upon the carnage and be part of a very large cheering section! You can't lose when you want all of them annihilated. You do not root for a specific team. You root for all of them to be gone...sent to a cornfield perhaps whose leader is a little boy who will destroy you if you think bad thoughts (from a Twilight Zone episode). Thank you for your reply Shuhak.
The $30,000 household of four will pay little to no tax. The $24,000 standard deduction brings the income down to $6,000. At most they would pay $600, but likely would get some other tax credits; most people do, especially on the low end. If they keep exemptions for dependents, there will be no tax liability. What I read wasn't specific about that. This family has likely paid withholding which will give them a refund most likely.
$75,000 is more typical for a family of four with both parents working.
This post was edited by Thriftymaid at December 14, 2017 7:45 PM MST
Shuhak 