Dear Uncle Sam: I hate you, too.: seanan

Dear Uncle Sam: I hate you, too.

So here's the basic thing: I grew up below the United States poverty line. Way, way below the poverty line. "I really thought yellow boxes meant it was food" and "let's have government cheese sandwiches" levels of below the poverty line. One thing you don't get when you're below the poverty line in America? Dental care. Combine this with a dental phobia (brought on by the rare occasions when I actually saw a dentist, as the dentists assigned the charity cases were often shouty) and an adulthood spent largely temping, and, well. Nothing good can come of this.

Because I am a working author with a day job and good dental insurance for the first time in my adult life, I thought "hey, I'm finally in the position to actually pay to have all the necessary work done." Not "the cosmetic work." The "chewing is fun and awesome and I enjoy being able to do it" work. I found a dentist, I organized my finances as responsibly as I could so that I would be able to pay for everything...

...I got slapped upside the head with self-employment taxes, which, as anyone who's ever looked at the forms can tell you, is obscene. They don't adjust for your situation, either. There's no box to check for "I need lots of medical work, I am employed by a non-profit, and I live in one of the highest cost-of-living regions of the country, so please, don't assume I can afford what you're asking me for." If you make ten dollars income that can be hit with the self-employment taxes, the government wants between three and five dollars of that, even if you're not going to get any more money that year.

Why am I bitching about this now? Because I finally got my full estimate for the rest of my dental work. And that, combined with my final quarterly tax payment for the 2009 tax year, will basically kill my savings account, which I have worked so very hard to build. A lot of my expenses for the year have been deductible—including a lot of my medical, given the level of extensive that it's achieved—but the bills still have to be paid now. If it weren't for the sheer scope of the taxes I've had to pay this year, I'd be fine. Instead? I'm crazy irritated.

Screw you, too, Uncle Sam.

hoppytoad79

October 18 2009, 20:04:14 UTC 7 years ago

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What the freak is with 30-50% taxes for the self-employed? Incredibly stupid and I'll join you in raising a mob to storm D.C. and yell angry things while brandishing torches and pitchforks.

dormouse_in_tea

October 18 2009, 20:05:22 UTC 7 years ago

Sadly, I know where the numbers come from. It's because self-employeds pay both halves of Medicare and Social Security taxes, for starters. *sighs*

jenk

October 19 2009, 01:11:48 UTC 7 years ago

Social Security taxes are 15.30%. Officially the employer pays half and the employee plays half, but when you're self-employed, you pay the full amount. This starts on the first dollar earned through $106,800 in income. No way to reduce it through exemptions or deductions, but if you make enough? You will have paid the max SS tax and your effective tax rate goes down.

The income tax rate for singles starts at 10% (and after exemptions it's effectively zero for the first few thousand) but increases for additional amounts. Note this is in addition to social security taxes.

So for a self-employed person, effective tax rates start at 25% and increase from there. And if the self-employed person also has a "day job", the day job income and social security tax withholding will be figured for day job only --- so the self-employment income and social security tax will be at higher income tax rates too.

For a single person, a day job with income of $8,350 puts your self-employment income in the 30% tax rate (15.3% SS + 15% income tax). Day job income over $33,950 puts self-employment income into a 40% tax rate (15.3% SS + 25% income tax). And so on.

This is not including the state income tax, medicare, and so on.

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Dear Uncle Sam: I hate you, too.

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