• partial_accumen@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    20 hours ago

    What’s the net income? $160k after paltry long-term capital gains tax is going to go a lot further than a single person being taxed fully.

    • Federal Income tax of $160,000/year from long term capital gains: $24,000
    • Federal Income tax of $160,000/year from ordinary income (without FICA and Medicare): $ 27,938.50

    So in this case its only a $3938.50 cent difference between federal taxation on ordinary income vs capital gains income.

    State and local taxes are all over the place for capital gains. My State, as an example, treats any capital gains income as ordinary income at the full tax rate.

    • Serinus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      15 hours ago

      FICA and Medicare count. But then so does health insurance premiums.

      I don’t think there’s anywhere in the world where you can’t get by on $160k. There are plenty of places where it can be tight, especially if the comparison is just a number of your choice.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        10 hours ago

        “can’t get by on $160k” is changing the original premise. The original claim by that poster was: “My point is that $160k is enough for anybody. That much per person would give any household a very comfortable lifestyle even in a HCOL area.”

        “get by” ≠ “very comfortable lifestyle even in a HCOL area”