[ifyoubuildit]

So that's almost a quarter. Does that include social security and medicare?

Now what about property taxes (or your landlords property taxes if that's the case, which just goes onto your rent)? Sales taxes? Gas taxes? Alcohol and cigarette taxes? Any of 100 other taxes?

If you aren't brave enough to take on the tax code yourself, how much do you have to waste on accounting services so you don't wind up making a mistake that costs you even more?

Beyond that, what about all the taxes that come indirectly to you through the prices of everything you buy?

And while not technically a tax, every dollar you make is slowly eroded away by inflation.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

That includes social security and medicare (as self-employment tax)

Property tax: $2200/yr Sales tax: hard to say, local rates are in the 5% range

I do my own taxes, have done every year since I moved to the USA 35 years ago.

I don't really have time for this over-generalized argument about "they tax everything", least of all when you try to bring inflation into it.

[ifyoubuildit]

Just to be clear, I'm not claiming nothing should be taxed. My point is that people often look at their federal income tax rate and think thats the whole story, when it's not even close.

New mexico is a middle of the road state when it comes to taxes (https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/tax-burden-by-state...), so that lowers yours a little bit. Mine is on the higher end of that.

Maybe you don't find the argument that taxes increases your costs in other ways compelling, though I don't see how. I think the usual objection to that is "well its worth it", which could be true, but it should show up in an accurate accounting.

I'd argue the same for inflation (this isn't some novel argument on my part https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seigniorage#Seigniorage_as_a...).

I guess back to the original question though. If you're convinced your total tax burden is 22.5%, how much more would you like to have taken?