• surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Income tax is just a fine charged on the company for having employees. It’s not taken from you, it’s taken from them.

    • teejay@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That’s not true. Income is taxed against the individual. Employers are required to withhold income taxes in many cases, but it’s not “a fine charged on the company.” It is a tax on the individual’s income, withheld from the individual.

      • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        But the end result is the same. You don’t “make 50k, and lose 15k to taxes”, you just make 35k. That’s is. That’s what you make. If you want more, talk to your employer.

        • teejay@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          But the end result is the same. You don’t “make 50k, and lose 15k to taxes”, you just make 35k. That’s is. That’s what you make. If you want more, talk to your employer.

          No, that’s exactly what happens. Have you ever filed a tax return? We’re not debating subjective interpretation here. You make a gross income that is then taxed by the government. The income tax that the government takes is taken from your gross income.

          Your employer is taxed on your income by “Payroll tax”, which is a tax against the employer and is not income tax:

          Payroll taxes include amounts paid by both the employee and the employer to cover any federal taxes due, while income taxes specifically refer to the amount owed by the employee to cover their individual federal income taxes owed.

          Source. I’m not trying to be pedantic – in your original post, you said “Income tax is just a fine charged on the company for having employees” which is objectively not true. Income tax != payroll tax.

          • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Yes, you’re 100% factually correct. However, it’s not useful to complain about an income tax because society benefits from those services. Fundamentally, if you’re unhappy with your take home, you need to complain about your salary. And to accept that, you need to make the mental switch to believing that your pre-tax income is not actually your income.

    • SaltySalamander@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      You can certainly tell you don’t work. Income tax is taken from both you and your employer. Your employer matches what you pay.