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Why Taxes Make You Feel Empty

The IRS published the tax brackets for 2022 here [1]. The tax brackets are important because they tell you how tax burden is calculated. If you've never calculated your taxes, then understand that you are taxed on a marginal bracket schedule. If you are married and a joint filer, then the schedule starts with $20,550, and has steps at $83,550, $178,150, $340,100, $431,900, and $647,850. Each bracket is a bucket of burden where the tax rate changes from 12%, to 22%, to 24%, then 32%, 35%, and finally 37%. As you fill buckets your marginal tax rate changes. This complexity is why tax accountants make bank throughout the year. Or not ... Inline is an image that is the graph of the marginal rate by income. It's the gray line that is scaled according to the right hand side axis. It's also the only line always increasing. Your taxes are always increasing, no matter how much you make. That's the start of the misery. The hyperbolic-like lines are the relative changes of income