Reply #25: Before taxes... [View All]

[FLDCVADem]

...yes, it's over $20,000/month gross, but nowhere near that in take home. State income tax, federal income tax, Social Security/Medicare taxes, 401(k), health & dental insurance - no, it certainly isn't near $20,000/month. Your call on the Catholic schools is right on the money - $1,000 for high school, $530 for middle school per month. There are also commuting costs, although those are less than many people have in the DC metro area, as we're only about 20 miles from where we work. What we save in gas costs by being closer is is more than made up for in the size of the mortgage we had to get to be closer. But mortgage interest is deductible whereas commuting costs aren't, and time with the family beats time spent in traffic, so that was a choice we made. Add in a house bought at the peak of the housing bubble (not much choice there, I was leaving the military and had to move out of base housing), and no, I don't have an extra $10,000 lying around the house to buy a heat pump.

But I digress - as I said before, I don't have a big issue with the tax increase. I do however have a big issue with the notion that anyone making $250,000 is filthy rich and that they must have stolen it from someone else in order to get it.