Show HN: Calculator for US individual income tax, from 1970-present

Post by thnujmikkkk » Wed, Jun 29, 2022, 10:57 PM UTC

sgjohnson wrote: post #20

nicoburns wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A quick google shows that yes, there was a 70% marginal tax rate (applying to income over $108,300 - not inflation adjusted - for a single filer) as recently as 1981 https://taxfoundation.org/historical-income-tax-rates-bracke...

But nobody ever paid it as there were millions of loopholes.

Post by Melatonic » Wed, Jun 29, 2022, 10:58 PM UTC

ErikVandeWater wrote: post #6

FullyFunctional wrote: post #3

That's brilliant work, thanks! Imagine if IRS would produce something like this (open sourced) and we could file our returns like this.

The IRS can already calculate your taxes for you. In other countries you just have to confirm what the revenue department calculates as your liability and hit "submit". You have to do the calculations yourself because TurboTax et al., and accountants lobbied so taxes are complicated and must be completed by the filer (or their accountant).

Post by randomhodler84 » Wed, Jun 29, 2022, 11:00 PM UTC

thatfrenchguy wrote: post #4

Why a 500k$ wages/salaries limit here? :)

Post by pessimizer » Wed, Jun 29, 2022, 11:01 PM UTC

FullyFunctional wrote: post #17

ErikVandeWater wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The IRS can already calculate your taxes for you. In other countries you just have to confirm what the revenue department calculates as your liability and hit "submit". You have to do the calculations yourself because TurboTax et al., and accountants lobbied so taxes are complicated and must be completed by the filer (or their accountant).

I didn't point that out: I originate from a country in which I used to get a postcard summarizing what they thought I owed with a "Yes, I agree" checkbox and a field to sign. You could always file an extensive return if desired, but unless you had complicated (notably international) transactions, the return was basically accurate. This only works because there's a high level of trust in the government and low corrupt…

Post by ajmurmann » Wed, Jun 29, 2022, 11:05 PM UTC

jandrewrogers wrote: post #21

keehun wrote: post #12

Are all the dollar amounts in the simulated tax output at the top of the page inflation adjusted? For example, I inputted married, with no dependents with $500,000 salary and in 1977, the federal amount was $299,864 and in 2020 was $133,947. I assume these amounts can be compared without further adjusting for inflation? Tangentially, did federal taxes really come down that much?

In the 1970s there were massive tax deductions that don't exist today, so the actual tax incidence was much lower than what is implied by the marginal tax rates. There was a major overhaul of the tax code in the 1980s that simultaneously eliminated many of the tax deductions and offset that loss of deductions with lower the marginal tax rates. The change was approximately revenue neutral but made the tax code simpler…