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

Post by HWR_14 » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 4:06 AM UTC

PopAlongKid wrote: post #40

jrockway wrote: post #8

This is very interesting. I learned that the last year I made enough money to pay AMT is the year they got rid of AMT. Damn!

No one "got rid" of AMT, it is still alive and well in both the federal tax code and some states, such as California. In fact, it is more popular than ever: the temporary TCJA tax changes (2018-2025) for individuals mostly consisted of moving features of AMT into the regular tax regime. No personal exemptions, large standard deduction, no mortgage interest deduction for equity debt, limited state and local tax (SALT)…

Post by jliptzin » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 4:48 AM UTC

refurb wrote: post #60

standardUser wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to be actually wealthy for most "loopholes" come into play. Just like today, non-wealthy high earners take the biggest hit in taxes. And there are way more of those than actually wealthy people. Back then, the hit was even bigger, but the group being hit the hardest was smaller. Politically, this setup seems to help keep those high-earners voting for lower taxes, which makes sense to them since they're the o…

You did have to be wealthy, but $100,000 in 1980 is equivalent to $383,000 today which is pretty wealthy. So it’s basically income above $400,000 today. And many of the tax “loopholes” involved real estate investment which would be accessible at that income level.

Post by trash_goblin » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 4:58 AM UTC

jliptzin wrote: post #83

refurb wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You did have to be wealthy, but $100,000 in 1980 is equivalent to $383,000 today which is pretty wealthy. So it’s basically income above $400,000 today. And many of the tax “loopholes” involved real estate investment which would be accessible at that income level.

$380k is not wealthy. Most people can live just fine on $380k, don’t get me wrong, but it is basically upper middle class. If $380k/yr is wealthy then what is $20 million/yr?

Post by onlyrealcuzzo » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 5:16 AM UTC

Aeolun wrote: post #86

My tax was 50% higher in 1988 than in 2020. Did taxes really come down to this extend over the past 30 years?

Post by LeonB » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 5:19 AM UTC

jliptzin wrote: post #83

refurb wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You did have to be wealthy, but $100,000 in 1980 is equivalent to $383,000 today which is pretty wealthy. So it’s basically income above $400,000 today. And many of the tax “loopholes” involved real estate investment which would be accessible at that income level.

$380k is not wealthy. Most people can live just fine on $380k, don’t get me wrong, but it is basically upper middle class. If $380k/yr is wealthy then what is $20 million/yr?