Just did my taxes and I feel ashamed

[hfojvt]

5. the more you make, the less you pay?

I am not sure how you manage that.

What percentage do you pay?

My total income was $33,359.84 comprised of $31,987.12 in wages, $129.50 in taxable interest, $341.40 in qualified dividends, $901.82 in short term capital gains (on paper (meaning I really did not make that much, because I had losses on paper last year))

I maxed out my IRA deduction at $6,500, reducing my AGI to $26,859.84 and my total tax bill to $1,833. My tax rate is either 5.5% of my total income or 6.82% of my AGI. You are making more than that and paying less than that? How?

Of course, there was another $2,548.82 that I paid in FICA taxes and another $2,548.82 that my employer paid, instead of giving to me. Making my tax rate 20.78%.

There's also income that I don't have to count - now, because it is in my IRA account, or ever - because it is in my much smaller Roth IRA account. That's actually fairly substantial - $1,200 to $1,500. A decent chunk of change, but not something I can spend now. Still, it is nice to have it for eight years down the road when I CAN spend it. Or presumably it will be if I live that long. But how much tax free income are richer people getting from their Roth accounts.

I may try to find out.