[PhantomGremlin]

The problem is nearly all white-collar people in the SF Bay Area are stingy and blind to the plights of anyone else besides themselves.

Perhaps people should voluntarily give to charity. But let's not be quick to call them stingy if they don't.

Take a $200,000 Bay Area salary, and the taxes paid on it. All numbers crude, my point remains w/o exact amounts:

    8% social security/medicare
    9% state income tax
   25% federal income tax
   ---
   42% that's just in direct taxes

and further:

   8% sales tax
   direct property tax if own house
   indirect property tax if renting
   gas tax
   income tax on stock options

The list is almost endless.

A better question is: where the fuck does all the money already being paid go to?

[amanaplanacanal]

Well, the military budget seems to be doing just fine.

[Throwaway1771]

52% of total, last I checked.