Perpetuating the myth that student loan forgiveness means “your taxes are paying off student loans,” when it really means “government is telling banks to fuck off with their excessive interest rates on student loans.”
Tax money isn’t going to the banks* or the students. The students have usually paid off the loans, and are now struggling with the interest debt. The gov’t telling the bank to give up on that debt isn’t hurting anyone, but the bank doesn’t get as much profit as they could have - and since the banks own the senators & media outlets, we get the myth that student loan forgiveness means “taxes paying off student loans.”
*note - I think some deals do include the gov’t giving the banks some money to “cover their (imaginary) losses.”
The bottom 50% of Americans make less than $40k a year. They do pay some federal taxes, but with the standard deduction, the 19.3% of working Americans that make less than $15k a year don’t pay any federal taxes. The standard deduction goes up to $22.5k for a head of household (i.e. a single working parent). Given that the federal minimum wage still works out to $15,080 a year, that means a full-time minimum wage worker doesn’t make enough to get hit with income taxes.
And that’s not even getting into state income taxes, Medicare taxes, and Social Security taxes. Those all have different brackets and some states are more regressive than others. There are states like Texas that don’t have income taxes, but they make up for it by taxing everything else through things like sales and property taxes.
Of note: sales tax is always the most regressive taxation model, and tariffs are basically sales taxes on steroids.
There are states like Texas that don’t have income taxes, but they make up for it by taxing everything else through things like sales and property taxes
Fun fact: last I checked (~2 years ago) TX was like 8% more taxed than famously tax-happy CA, which pissed some Texan dickheads off when I pointed it out
They just try to slide it under the radar by not showing the taxes on your payslip because you’re more likely to look closer at that than your receipt from the grocery store.
So why did you say it’s 50% when it’s 19.3%? And is that 19.3% of the 50% of americans? Because that would then make it 9.65%.
I just don’t get what you’re getting at here. I make $30,000 a year and definitely still pay federal taxes. Or does, somehow, me getting a tax return mean that I don’t pay taxes? I’m lost.
I didn’t say they paid no taxes at all, but I was explaining how the bottom 50% of earners in the country pay very little, if anything. The 19.3% is the bottom 19.3% of earners in the country, not a percentage of the bottom half.
I would argue that if you get everything (or most of your withheld taxes) back on your return…that means that you effectively didn’t pay federal income taxes or paid very little. If you get most of your withholding back every year, you could look at how you filed your exemptions on your I-9 and increase the number to the maximum allowable. I know some people that put the maximum allowances so that no federal tax is withheld from their paycheck and they just pay the balance at the end of the year when they file their taxes instead of getting a return.
Their solution is always put it on the consumer. Them prices are to high you need to cut it. Cut it…cut it…cut it. And the downward spiral continues. Straight to the singularity, the butthole of human ignorance.
at least here the student loans are given out directly by the state. which means the state sets the interest rate. for the past 10 years, it has been 0%.
Perpetuating the myth that student loan forgiveness means “your taxes are paying off student loans,” when it really means “government is telling banks to fuck off with their excessive interest rates on student loans.”
Tax money isn’t going to the banks* or the students. The students have usually paid off the loans, and are now struggling with the interest debt. The gov’t telling the bank to give up on that debt isn’t hurting anyone, but the bank doesn’t get as much profit as they could have - and since the banks own the senators & media outlets, we get the myth that student loan forgiveness means “taxes paying off student loans.”
*note - I think some deals do include the gov’t giving the banks some money to “cover their (imaginary) losses.”
Also in the US, the bottom 50% don’t pay a dime in federal income taxes.
Also the concept of “MY” tax dollars is super selfish.
Imma need a source on that. Bottom 50% of who?
The bottom 50% of Americans make less than $40k a year. They do pay some federal taxes, but with the standard deduction, the 19.3% of working Americans that make less than $15k a year don’t pay any federal taxes. The standard deduction goes up to $22.5k for a head of household (i.e. a single working parent). Given that the federal minimum wage still works out to $15,080 a year, that means a full-time minimum wage worker doesn’t make enough to get hit with income taxes.
Edit: Here’s a wikipedia article with the numbers I pulled and the tax bracket info is on the IRS website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_States
An important thing to note is that 50% don’t pay federal tax, as you said here
They still pay sales tax and taxes of that sort (which actually are significant), just not the federal income/property taxes
And that’s not even getting into state income taxes, Medicare taxes, and Social Security taxes. Those all have different brackets and some states are more regressive than others. There are states like Texas that don’t have income taxes, but they make up for it by taxing everything else through things like sales and property taxes.
Of note: sales tax is always the most regressive taxation model, and tariffs are basically sales taxes on steroids.
Fun fact: last I checked (~2 years ago) TX was like 8% more taxed than famously tax-happy CA, which pissed some Texan dickheads off when I pointed it out
They just try to slide it under the radar by not showing the taxes on your payslip because you’re more likely to look closer at that than your receipt from the grocery store.
So why did you say it’s 50% when it’s 19.3%? And is that 19.3% of the 50% of americans? Because that would then make it 9.65%.
I just don’t get what you’re getting at here. I make $30,000 a year and definitely still pay federal taxes. Or does, somehow, me getting a tax return mean that I don’t pay taxes? I’m lost.
I didn’t say they paid no taxes at all, but I was explaining how the bottom 50% of earners in the country pay very little, if anything. The 19.3% is the bottom 19.3% of earners in the country, not a percentage of the bottom half.
I would argue that if you get everything (or most of your withheld taxes) back on your return…that means that you effectively didn’t pay federal income taxes or paid very little. If you get most of your withholding back every year, you could look at how you filed your exemptions on your I-9 and increase the number to the maximum allowable. I know some people that put the maximum allowances so that no federal tax is withheld from their paycheck and they just pay the balance at the end of the year when they file their taxes instead of getting a return.
If your tax return equals what was deducted from your pay checks you effectively have not paid taxes, yes.
Their solution is always put it on the consumer. Them prices are to high you need to cut it. Cut it…cut it…cut it. And the downward spiral continues. Straight to the singularity, the butthole of human ignorance.
I really wish we would make it a crime to spin narratives in bad faith.
Every public statement by a politician should be considered under oath
…and as such, a shit load of them should be jailed for perjury.
at least here the student loans are given out directly by the state. which means the state sets the interest rate. for the past 10 years, it has been 0%.