this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2025
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Federal taxes plus state taxes plus property taxes (if you own any) plus vehicle taxes (usually in the form of plates and fuel taxes) plus sales taxes (on anything you buy) plus who-knows-what all else.
It adds up to a good chunk of the average working person's paycheck.
Edit: Forgot to add county and local taxes. For example, Cook county Illinois adds substantial sales taxes and gas taxes on top of state sales and and federal gas taxes.
Hot take: I think any involuntary expense forced on you by your government is, essentially, a tax regardless of whether it goes into government or corporate coffers, and should be included in the discussion.
Health insurance being the major example, given that's paid for by taxes in civilized countries. Arguably, the insurance, gas, and maintenance on a car that many of us would happily trade for a functional public transportation system.
TBH Ima put Social Security in the tax section too as I doubt people under 50 are gonna collect on it.
Hi, disabled under 50 yo person here, my only income is SSDI, Social Security Disability Insurance.
Don't worry, us disabled folks are entirely used to our existence being entirely forgotten about.
I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. I didn't forget and I'm not worried, I chose to not bring it up because it's a shitty comment thread not a research paper. Generally, SSDI is not really worth bringing up on if it is taxes or not and I'd personally argue that tying someone's ability to live disabled to their previous work is needlessly cruel.
You said you doubt people under 50 collect on Social Security.
... Disabled people do.
Hey I mean yeah, sure, unless its your only source of income!
Not like I'll become homeless and die within 3 to 6 months if taxes going toward SSDI suddenly get reclassified or rerouted or totally removed!
Not like that's the case for about 6.3 million Americans under the age of 65 whose only income is SSDI!
https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/
sigh
At least we agree on that.
I'm still not sure what you're trying to say here. I have agreed with everything you have said, you're just really annoying about having to self insert yourself into a comment thread like you have to be the center of attention. Tell me, what happens if people under 50 now can never pull from social security for retirement? They will also face 3-6 months before homelessness and death. You immediately made it about how it's not a tax because you're one of those who gets to use it as opposed to pay in and never claim.
I never once argued for the removal of SSDI, I only ever brought up how tens or hundreds of millions could face very harsh retirements. For the average American worker, social security is deducted from their pay and they might never see what you now rely on.