jducoeur

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jducoeur

Thanks to

mindways for the pointer to this long screed in Cracked about the irritating self-justifications of the upper class. It's uncomfortably funny in a rather Carlin-esque way: that is, it is rude, over the top, occasionally a bit nasty and, by and large, correct. Frankly, it's worthwhile reading for us various affluent techie types (who may not be the 1%, but a lot of us are at least 10%), as a fairly good guide to how not to be an asshole about it...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

calygrey.livejournal.com

7)"I pay SO much in Social security taxes..."
(yeah, 8% of the first x dollars, and then nothing - while *I* was paying 15.3% of 100% of *my* income [self-employed].) My brother came out with that one. He earned 3 times what we earned.

It's easy to spend more than one makes, but by the time you're making, hmm, 60K or so, your life is very, very different from that of the folks below you. I've been on both sides of this income divide. This fancy-ass job stuff: big salary, health insurance, Flex-spending, free vacation time, unemployment insurance. It's a heck of a racket, and it's a MUCH easier life.

From:

serakit.livejournal.com

Is there a *rationale* for making self-employed people pay more?

From:

redsquirrel.livejournal.com

Is there a *rationale* for making self-employed people pay more?

Yes. When you are an employee your employer is also taxed am amount that matches your 7.15% Social Security/Medicaid tax; in all 15.3% of your pay is reported to the Social Security Agency under your Social Security number although you yourself only paid 1//2 of that.

If you are self-employed, as your own employer you pay both the employer and employee portions as reported on Schedule SE. However 1/2 the Self-Employment Tax - i.e.the 7.15% employer portion - may be deducted from you reported profit and other income to arrive at your Adjusted Gross Income on pg.1 of Form 1040. Your AGI is the figure on which your Federal income tax is then calculated. It's effectively the same as deducting the employer portion as a business expense. Yes, it's rather convoluted. Nobody (sane) ever said the US Tax code was simple.

From:

calygrey.livejournal.com

While that deduction is nice, it's not saving in taxes nearly the equivalent of not having paid it at all.

You don't pay Federal taxes on that 7.15% of your income, which does not come out to being the equivalent of not forking over any of that 7.15% chunk.

From:

mneme

Sure, but the idea is not to have tax loopholes (the idea, not the practice). If you paid 7% on self employment, what about couple employment? Could you avoid paying half your social security taxes by being self employed? Would companies go to contractors-only just to avoid having to shell out that 7.15%? (keep in mind that if you're pricing yourself correctly, you should end up earning just as much either way when consulting). The government is getting the same amount either way as it is, the question is how it's presented, not where it's coming from (not really; the 7.15 percent you don't have to see for trad employment is still coming out of your salary, as it's part of the cost of employing you).

Basically, if they're going to give you a bonus for self-employment, this probably isn't the right place for it.

Now, making SS regressive by only taxing the first XX (plus the extra regression of more middle and higher class people living longer)? That should go.

From:

evil-macaroni.livejournal.com

Great article!

From:

evil-macaroni.livejournal.com

In early 2009 I had the occasion to metaphorically rip a guy's head off for #6: I was recently unemployed & he was whining about not getting a bonus that year. Cry me a river!

From:

mneme

Oops. Was thinking about a different repost (the "how much in a bubble are you" one which downchecked you for not fishing or being a jock). Yeah, that one's great; right on the money in terms of blind justifications.