For many, many US workers tax time is a windfall. In the past I had many years where the government paid us a huge chunk. One year it was close to 10K.
Even though a credit is not the same thing as a refund, I’d still disagree that a credit is a windfall. You still have access to the tax code - and can see that, given your situation, you should be receiving a credit at the beginning of the next year. It’s not a windfall if it’s something you can plan for.
Even those that receive credits can still receive a refund.
Most people (myself included, honestly) don't know if they will be getting a refund (and how much) or having to pay until they do the taxes.
Most people work fairly steady W2 jobs, even if it’s in retail. Unless they just have a horrible boss who randomly changes their schedule and hours, most anyone could roughly calculate what they will owe. Plus, history is the best indicator of the future, so they could just go by last years returns as long as their situation didn’t change.
Even for a small business owner, it’s still not technically a windfall since you can calculate the amount of taxes owed at any given time based on any income you’ve made thus far.
So you think he's saying that you have proportionally less income than if you hadn't crossed the tax bracket cutoff? Since you only cross the cutoff by earning more income, isn't that the same as saying "I would have had more income if all of my income had been taxed at the lowest tax bracket rate"?
How is that different from just saying "I don't support having tax brackets”?
I didn’t explain myself well, but yes, Mr. FrugalNL understands my gist. You’re making marginally less
per hour if the more hours you work or a raise causes you to go up a bracket. Call it marginally less per hour or just "marginally less", whatever you want. Are you going to deny a raise on the basis of this? Of course not. Are you going to go against working extra hard for a raise when you know there is a marginal utility of work? Maybe. The incentive to work more or less knowing you're getting paid "less" is a very real thing.
No one has advocated
against a marginal tax rate system. I'm simply acknowledging facts. Saying "it's there and that's all you can do" is fine, but that doesn't mean there aren't inherent facts within that system.
How is that different from just saying "I don't support having tax brackets"?
I think it's very different, and irrelevant. The question of "do you make proportionately less as you move through the brackets" and "do you support the brackets" are two totally different things. This isn't a political discussion and I'd rather it not turn into one.
Complaining about taxes is a wildly popular hobby that I just don't get. It's a bandwagon I avoid, I guess.
No one here has complained about taxes yet. I think anyone educated enough on the tax code would agree that it needs to be simplified. But no, I’m not inherently against paying taxes in any shape or form.