Somewhat arguable since some of the FICA and Medicare are paid by the employer and not directly out of the wages of the employee denominator. The fact remains that the taxes are paid on his behalf and theoretically, very theoretically, if the employer did not pay the taxes it could be available for income to the employee.
Bottom line, total taxes well north of 50%. Welcome to Amerika comrade. How do you like them apples?
An acquaintance living in Norway once argued, convincingly, that he paid the similar taxes there and got more for it than we do here... he was right.
The "employer paid" part of the payroll tax is considered a component of the total compensation package for a given employee, so the employee is actually paying that portion, they just never see it. Remember, businesses don't pay taxes, they just collect them.
.................An acquaintance living in Norway once argued, convincingly, that he paid the similar taxes there and got more for it than we do here................
Sure he does - partly because we pay to defend him with our military might, and we pick up 1/2 the tab for the useless UN.
Imagine you make $100k
You pay directly $10k in federal income taxes
Another $7500 in FICA
Perhaps $5k in state income tax
That is 22.5%, right off the top...
But wait - do you own a car? A house?
My property taxes, for houses, cars, etc, last year totaled $20,000
42.5%
Now, imagine you spend the meager 57.5 % the government allows you to keep ...
It gets taxed. Fuel taxes, sin taxes, taxes on the business you by from, taxes, taxes, taxes,
And GE don’t pay those taxes - you do. Actually, GE pays no taxes at all.
So we get somewhere between 60 and 75 %.