A short update to the post I had about tax rates a couple days ago: when calculating our tax rate compared to Romney’s, I was unsure if the 13.9% rate was based on Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), or on total income. Turns out it was AGI; if you use gross income, it would be a 10.7% rate, and he paid 17.6% of his taxable income in taxes. For us, the rates are as follows:

In addition, for Gross Income, I’m including all income, even money that was deducted from our taxes for retirement savings, because we pay FICA taxes on that amount.

All in all, the discrepancy is even more obvious. More importantly, though, is how this shows the myriad number of ways to calculate tax rates: the myth that 47% of people “pay no taxes” exemplified that well. I think the most honest, most intuitive calculation is the one on gross income: of all the money I take home, how much do I pay in taxes? I don’t like AGI or taxable income, because that leaves out huge details that matter. Say two (purely hypothetical) families make $100,000 a year, but one family pays $6,000 on $60,000 in taxable income, while the other pays $3,000 on $30,000 in taxable income. They both paid the same 10% rate on taxable income, but one family paid twice as much in real dollars as the other. That’s certainly not the same rate or the same treatment, and it begs the question of why the disparity in taxable income.

If we are to have an honest debate on the complexity of the tax code and the deductions out there that can result in drastically different tax rates for the same income, using easy-to-understand comparisons is required.

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So Julia and I did our 2011 taxes last night. We came out pretty well all things considered. Not nearly as well as some presidential candidates, but well enough to have no real complaints. Speaking of presidential candidates, however, despite our miniscule income compared to Mitt Romney, we still paid a higher percentage of our income in taxes than he did. Which is, dare I say, a patently ridiculous outcome.

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It’s stories like these that make me wonder if having a rational, adult conversation about budget priorities is even possible. People like roads. They use them every day. Most people would say that the quality of roads in this country is not great. And yet nobody wants to raise the federal gas tax, despite the fact that it has remained unchanged for eighteen years.

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“We can’t raise taxes, that will drive away jobs!” Such is the oft-repeated refrain uttered by Republicans at the Capitol. The implication is that it’s a direct correlation: high taxes means fewer jobs. But is that really the case? The statistics seem to say otherwise.

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• Currently Listening To: "Long Hot Summer Night", Jimi Hendrix

The U.S. tax system is a mess. But overhauling it is a daunting task. The last time in happened, in the 80s, it was more of a miracle than anything else: the stars aligned, both sides wanted reform, and the leadership was strong enough to turn aside the special interests. It is these special interests that fight reform: A tax loophole that helps a hundred people to the tune of millions but costs the average taxpayer a buck will be furiously defended by those hundred people, while the vast majority who don’t benefit probably don’t know it exists, let alone feel like fighting against it.

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