re: Here's the budget breakdown of a couple that make $500K and still feel average

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Well they need to quantify what makes up that number because it's clearly more than just federal which would be closer to ~22% (standard deduction) on that salary. Another 3.5% for FICA and assuming they live in CA it's roughly another ~4% bump. It's not good but it's still not 40%.

I think it's weird that they don't have any medical deductions.

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Your effective tax rate estimate may be a little on the low side. Would have to assume person lives in a high state/local tax area as well to get to 40% though.

LINK

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But a Tax Foundation study reveals how much the average person pays overall in taxes after income taxes, FICA, business taxes, excise taxes, and deductions and credits have all been accounted for. These were the average total tax rates for various income levels:

Less than $10,000: 10.6%
$10,000 to $20,000: 0.4%
$20,000 to $30,000: 4.1%
$30,000 to $40,000: 8.5%
$40,000 to $50,000: 11.7%
$50,000 to $75,000: 15.2%
$75,000 to $100,000: 17.7%
$100,000 to $200,000: 21.6%
$200,000 to $500,000: 26.8%
$500,000 to $1 million: 31.5%
Above $1 million: 33.1%

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