First, this is stupid, and I don’t think anyone actually believes this. I mean, somebody believes it because it’s a big world with a lot of people, but I see this used often as an example of ignorance, and I’ve never met an individual who turned down a raise over taxes. It seems like quicksand, something a lot of people know about and talk about, but exceedingly rare.
Second, there are subsidies and government programs with a gap between the upper limit of making enough to qualify for the program and the lower limit of making enough where you take a net loss. Medicaid alone is worth thousands of dollars, and getting a raise that puts you out of the Medicaid bracket could cost more than the value of the raise. There are sliding scales and other gap-closing legislative efforts, but it seems to me that this is a more likely cause of someone turning down a raise.
This must be a big blue collar conspiracy, I’ve heard this tax bracket thing from several of them. I can see it being a right wing talking point because taxes=bad but idk, I only get those talking points from my parents.
No, I know someone personally who I had to convince, over a number of days, that he was wrong.
He was convinced there were cases where you’d be better off not taking a raise (we are not considering welfare cliffs here - this was a government job and no one in the office had reason to be struggling).
First, this is stupid, and I don’t think anyone actually believes this. I mean, somebody believes it because it’s a big world with a lot of people, but I see this used often as an example of ignorance, and I’ve never met an individual who turned down a raise over taxes. It seems like quicksand, something a lot of people know about and talk about, but exceedingly rare.
Second, there are subsidies and government programs with a gap between the upper limit of making enough to qualify for the program and the lower limit of making enough where you take a net loss. Medicaid alone is worth thousands of dollars, and getting a raise that puts you out of the Medicaid bracket could cost more than the value of the raise. There are sliding scales and other gap-closing legislative efforts, but it seems to me that this is a more likely cause of someone turning down a raise.
This must be a big blue collar conspiracy, I’ve heard this tax bracket thing from several of them. I can see it being a right wing talking point because taxes=bad but idk, I only get those talking points from my parents.
My mom did this in the early 2000s
Had a coworker refuse overtime for exactly this reason. 25-years ago I was too ignorant to argue it properly, but I knew she was somehow wrong.
No, I know someone personally who I had to convince, over a number of days, that he was wrong.
He was convinced there were cases where you’d be better off not taking a raise (we are not considering welfare cliffs here - this was a government job and no one in the office had reason to be struggling).