Effective fed tax rate now above 20%
New one for me this year...wife worked about a month in California....Cali takes your total Federal income to calculate the state tax rate to apply to that portion of the earnings. So we had the honor of paying Cali an extra 4% or so (above what my CO state tax rate is) on that income. I guess they need it more than me.
Think of it as a loan that you got from the .gov with no interest. Now think of all the loans you gave them (also with no interest).
Then they send a letter saying that you need to pay them quarterly, which of course you forget, and they charge you interest and penalties to make up for it
For six years, Audrey Ellis and Adam Feuerstein worked together at PwC, the giant accounting firm, helping the worldâs biggest companies avoid taxes.
In mid-2018, one of Mr. Feuersteinâs clients, an influential association of real estate companies, was trying to persuade government officials that its members should qualify for a new federal tax break. Mr. Feuerstein knew just the person to turn to for help. Ms. Ellis had recently joined the Treasury Department, and she was drafting the rules for this very deduction.
That summer, Ms. Ellis met with Mr. Feuerstein and his clientâs lobbyists. The next week, the Treasury granted their wish â a decision potentially worth billions of dollars to PwCâs clients.
About a year later, Ms. Ellis returned to PwC, where she was immediately promoted to partner. She and Mr. Feuerstein now work together advising large companies on how to exploit wrinkles in the tax regulations that Ms. Ellis helped write.
Ms. Ellisâs case â detailed in public records and by people with direct knowledge of her work at the Treasury and at PwC â is no outlier. (...)
Yeah..... Thankfully Vivaldi has a built-in translator.
Besides..... The damn Germans speak English better than many English speakers here and there around the world. How is a hapless English speaker going to learn German?
rough translation:
on top of this, VAT is charged on all fuels. It is levied on the cost price of the goods and on the energy tax. As a result, roughly 64% of the price paid for gasoline goes to the state as tax.
No..the VAT tax is only on the fuel (like the other taxes). No tax on tax.
No, that's not right. The listed price of gasoline includes petrochemicals tax. When you go to pay, they'll charge VAT on the gross price (i.e. cost price plus petrochemicals tax).
"AuÃerdem wird auf alle Energieträger die Mehrwertsteuer fällig. Sie wird auf den Warenpreis sowie die Energiesteuer erhoben. Insgesamt landen damit beim Benzin ca. 64 Prozent der Tankrechnung als Steuern beim Staat."
rough translation:
on top of this, VAT is charged on all fuels. It is levied on the cost price of the goods and on the energy tax. As a result, roughly 64% of the price paid for gasoline goes to the state as tax.
Just be glad that guys like me are not in charge. There would be a full VAT charge on food, books, etc. (Then there would also be a generous negative income tax/guaranteed income but that is for another discussion.)
Let me get this right. The sales tax taxes the excise tax on fuel? Not sure I would do that. But then Germany shows commitment to providing incentives for its citizens to USE LESS.
Contrast that to North America where the dominant approach appears to be demonize supply and distribution while complaining of high fuel costs.
Funny thing about activists. Some go on and on about taxing the rich. But instead of clamouring for higher green/carbon/excise taxes on fuel and other demand-reducing steps, they want to shut down supply and distribution (pipelines). That will make many oil companies richer as well as reduce public funds available for regular services, helping low-income and poor people, subsidizing greenfield energy projects, etc.
We are in pretty broad agreement on these points. I too see great social benefits from a basic guaranteed income, particularly for people already on a benefit, low income households, artisans, etc.
And yes, sadly a lot of activism is counterproductive. If you are going to use tax as a steering element, then at least target stuff with high opportunity costs that would otherwise go scott free.. like taking fish from the sea, like polluting the environment for future generations, etc.
Generally, there is little political support for reducing taxes here. Only one party actively advocates it, the FDP (which btw is doing well as Merkel's party implodes from her absence, leaving a political vacuum to fill).
Let me get this right. The sales tax taxes the excise tax on fuel? Not sure I would do that. But then Germany shows commitment to providing incentives for its citizens to USE LESS.
No..the VAT tax is only on the fuel (like the other taxes). No tax on tax.
Happily. Sales tax of 19% on all non-food commodities (excluding books and education certain other items). Food items and books have a sales tax of 7%. Gasoline tax of 65.45 euro-cents a litre (= US$ 2.91 a gallon if I used the converter correctly), PLUS sales tax of 19% on the gross total of gasoline + gasoline tax.
danke schön
Just be glad that guys like me are not in charge. There would be a full VAT charge on food, books, etc. (Then there would also be a generous negative income tax/guaranteed income but that is for another discussion.)
Let me get this right. The sales tax taxes the excise tax on fuel? Not sure I would do that. But then Germany shows commitment to providing incentives for its citizens to USE LESS.
Contrast that to North America where the dominant approach appears to be demonize supply and distribution while complaining of high fuel costs.
Funny thing about activists. Some go on and on about taxing the rich. But instead of clamouring for higher green/carbon/excise taxes on fuel and other demand-reducing steps, they want to shut down supply and distribution (pipelines). That will make many oil companies richer as well as reduce public funds available for regular services, helping low-income and poor people, subsidizing greenfield energy projects, etc.
Thanks. Now shock us and report the sales taxes and fuel taxes that Germans must pay.
Happily.
Sales tax of 19% on all non-food commodities (excluding books and education certain other items). Food items and books have a sales tax of 7%.
Gasoline tax of 65.45 euro-cents a litre (= US$ 2.91 a gallon if I used the converter correctly), PLUS sales tax of 19% on the gross total of gasoline + gasoline tax.
EDIT
not sure if this is a customary metric but the various arms of German government (federal government, state government, municipal authorities) collected EUR 739.7 billion in 2020 or
⬠8,910 per capita (= US$ 10,513 per capita).
Appears US government revenue is comparable at US$ 10,420 per capita.
