In California as a single person, with only the standard deductions and not deducting anything else (no health insurance or 401k) you would have to make 210k to pay 1/3 of your salary. If you pay $100 a month in health insurance premiums and put 5% into 401k then you have to make over 275k to pay 1/3 of your salary in income tax
You also have to pay federal tax. And if you are in the top tax bracket you are earning somewhere between 700k and infinity money so what you are taxed on in that bracket can be almost nothing or it can asymptotically approach 100% of your earnings. In any case the top federal tax brackets is 37% and the top california tax bracket as you said is 12.5% which so happens to add up to 49.5%. Plus all the other stuff like social security and whatnot.
1/3, huh? You must be a high-earning Californian or New Yorker. I don’t think anyone else pays that much.
In California as a single person, with only the standard deductions and not deducting anything else (no health insurance or 401k) you would have to make 210k to pay 1/3 of your salary. If you pay $100 a month in health insurance premiums and put 5% into 401k then you have to make over 275k to pay 1/3 of your salary in income tax
top tax bracket in those states is somewhere in the 50% neighborhood
Top tax rate in California is 12.5%. and it marginal so only the portion you make above the cutoff is what’s taxed at that percent.
You also have to pay federal tax. And if you are in the top tax bracket you are earning somewhere between 700k and infinity money so what you are taxed on in that bracket can be almost nothing or it can asymptotically approach 100% of your earnings. In any case the top federal tax brackets is 37% and the top california tax bracket as you said is 12.5% which so happens to add up to 49.5%. Plus all the other stuff like social security and whatnot.