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Taxes are a real eye-shocker when you first start working and you see how much of your paycheck never makes it into your hands, but you get used to it after a while. But you're right--you'll end up giving at least 30% of every dollar you earn to the government or somewhere else. It's very difficult to have everything you want once you realize what your net take-home pay is. Some other things to expect to come out of your paycheck:
Federal Taxes
State Taxes
Social Security...
Health insurance (Insurance premiums have been on the rise too, in part due to the lottery judgement problem, and hence the need for tort reform)
Dental Insurance (usually pretty minimal)
Retirement savings (401k, IRA, or whatever your company may offer).
Once all of that is taken care of you finally get access to your own leftovers to pay for rent, food, entertainment, student loans, etc.
Fortunately for us (unfortunately for Dean, Clark, etc) tax hikes should be harder to pass than tax cuts!
We threw the idea of a consumption tax out in another thread--an idea I thought sounded pretty good. I also liked Occrider's suggestion to have the matrix/catalog of what the taxes would be on stuff--I just don't think it will ever become a reality, and I know that it would have problems just like any other tax solution, I just don't know what they would necessarily be yet.
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