Income Tax | featured news

According to the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, since the passage of Prop 30 in the November election, California-based company relocation inquiries have doubled, possibly tripled, in Central Texas. West Coast entrepreneurs feeling the personal financial stress of an out-of-control state budget and tax policy have heard Texas’ message, and they’re responding.

California’s top earners are now facing a combined 51.9 percent federal and state income tax — the highest rate in the nation — a cause for grumbling and, maybe, an incentive to move.

Gov. Christie and his wife paid $141,158 in federal income taxes for 2011 on a combined adjusted gross income of $567,772.

France’s new 75 percent income tax on the rich may not be popular with millionaires. But it’s being cheered by another group: Paris real-estate buyers. Real estate agents say that the number of multimillion-dollar real-estate listings in Paris has jumped more than 25 percent over last year – due in part to the threat of the new income tax. More than 400 new listings have come onto the luxury real-estate market over the past six months, they say.

Now, at least, there can be no doubt about who is waging class warfare in this presidential campaign. Mitt Romney would pit the winners against the “victims,” the smug-and-rich against the down-on-their-luck, the wealthy tax avoiders against those too poor to owe income tax. He sees nearly half of all Americans as chumps who sit around waiting for a handout.

Will those paying no federal income tax "vote for the president no matter what"? Probably not. A lot don't vote, and of those who do, many vote Republican.

...He dismissed these Americans as freeloaders who pay no taxes, who don't assume responsibility for their lives, and who think government should take care of them.

As we have noted, the problem is more symbolic than real. Most very wealthy people pay a good chuck of their income in taxes. Reid in his statement pointed to “7,000 millionaires” who paid no federal income taxes, which is not very much out of the nearly 250,000 taxpayers who file income taxes with adjusted gross income of $1 million or more.

Paying taxes is bad enough. Finding out you pay a larger percentage of your income than presidential candidate Mitt Romney or billionaire Warren Buffet makes it even worse. But that's the case for millions of American, who pay higher rates because most or all of their income comes from a salary rather than dividends. The capital gains tax rate on investments currently tops out at 15 percent, while the highest rate for earned income is more than twice that at 35 percent.

Taxpayer asks: Hello, I have a question please: If a person owes the IRS back taxes and wants to marry, is the other person affected when it comes to filing taxes jointly? Thank You. Taxgirl says: The short answer is no. Your personal federal income tax liability generally remains your own personal federal income tax liability even after you are married to another person.