home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Xref: sparky misc.consumers:14246 misc.taxes:2777
- Newsgroups: misc.consumers,misc.taxes
- Path: sparky!uunet!darwin.sura.net!mips!sdd.hp.com!hp-col!lpj
- From: lpj@col.hp.com (Laura Johnson)
- Subject: Re: Middle-class salary range
- Sender: news@col.hp.com (Usenet News)
- Message-ID: <1992Jul21.173826.20893@col.hp.com>
- Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 17:38:26 GMT
- References: <92203.085726F0O@psuvm.psu.edu>
- Organization: HP Colorado Springs Division
- Lines: 36
-
- F0O@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
- >
- > Just seems strange to me. The government has programs for the lower
- > class/poverty level. Certainly they must have income limits in which to
- > base their programs on. Or the luxary tax which was supposed to be for
- > certain luxary items, which probably only the upper middle-class/rich
- > could afford to buy. One would think there world be salary ranges for
- > each class, or how does the government distinguish between the groups?
- >
- > [Tim]
-
- The luxury tax applies to certain items regardless of who buys them. There
- is a federally defined "poverty level", hence a federal definition of "poor";
- however some programs for the poor use this poverty level and others have
- their own definitions (intrinsic to the program itself). There are no
- federal programs for the middle-class, therefore no definition of what it
- is.
-
- Clinton used to talk about middle-class tax cuts (still did sometimes). Who
- this applies to would depend on the exact wording of the bill as passed
- through Congress. As I recall (this is very fuzzy in my mind, I may be
- wrong) he had originally suggested an upper limit of $70k/year, then the
- math didn't work out well and he dropped it to $50k/year. I think this
- was the number for a married couple/family, not for a single person (single
- person would presumably have a lower limit).
-
- On another subject that's being discussed...By getting married, you gain
- if one spouse makes much more than the other, because the rates are lower
- for "married filing jointly." You lose if you make similar amounts, because
- you go into a higher bracket, and this outweighs the benefit of the
- "married" rate. Hence the tax code favors the traditional "breadwinner +
- homemaker" married couple.
- --
- lpj@hpctdls.col.hp.com
- Opinions expressed are my own, but may be licensed for a nominal fee.
-
-