y
no distespect intended, but there are some math issues with this...
but the biggest issue is the $100,000 the recruit was getting under the table was not taxed (yes, that was illegal) to the recruit. so, the recruit now needs ~$125k to net ~$100k after they pay their various self-employment taxes.
There are no real math problems. I've been doing this for most of my adult life, I know what I was saying.
I never analyzed the RECRUIT side of the equation. I only analyzed the BOOSTER side of the equation.
And what I was saying is that if YOU PERSONALLY wanted to pay a recruit an illicit 100K, and you weren't using your corporate money, you would need greater than 100K (because an illegal bribe is not tax-deductible). I used 25% as a "dumbed down" proxy for personal tax rates, since nobody pays the STATED rate for income taxes after deductions, but clearly the effective tax rate is related to each person's individual tax position.
So I'll clarify. Depending on where you stand on your PERSONAL taxes, the money needed to YIELD an illicit payment of $100K could be anywhere between $110K and $160K. When Mitt Romney was running for president, he actually left some deductions on the table so that he would not pay BELOW 10% in federal taxes, and even Warren Buffet has talked about how little he pays in taxes. But, sure, depending on whether someone gets all of their income from a paycheck, or it is a mixture of pass-through income and interest/dividends/cap gains, the actual tax rate may differ.
But in all honesty, very few truly wealthy individuals pay greater than a 25% effective tax rate. Sorry, folks.
ARTICLE OCT 7, 2021
The Forbes 400 Pay Lower Tax Rates Than Many Ordinary Americans
A recent study finds that the Forbes 400 paid an effective tax rate of 8.2 percent over recent years—lower than many middle-class Americans.