Feel smarter than your average Joe. Taxes broken down with pictures!

This article aptly titled, How America Pays Taxes in 10 not-entirely Depressing Charts appeared in The Atlantic in 2014, but considering that what you pay taxes on probably hasn't changed very drastically over the last 20 years I'll go ahead and say this article still applies to you (average Joe, that's you).

I've provided one chart below to tantalize you, while the others can be perused at your leisure.  Now if you need more of a reason to read this article I'll summarize it like this, knowing that your taxes are coming up is a bummer but often when we are paying tax we aren't sure where to source our complaining.  If you're into complaining *hand shoots up in the air* this article will help you pin point where your money is going, what it is spent on, and how it's fluctuated over time.

Get your pens out, some congressmen have some strongly worded letters coming their way.

If you want to find more things about taxes feel free to look at more graphs like this one from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 

Did The Donald bring up something of merit?

I consider Donald Trump to be good for just about nothing, in fact, I've been attempting to ignore his whole "candidacy," but alas he's brought a tax reform that's interesting back to the table, and from the Right no less.  The tax reform in question is the carried-interest tax.  It was previously discussed eons ago when Obama mentioned, but failed to act on it back in 2011.

So what exactly did Trump suggest?  Check out the full article here, or only read my summary and feel super on top of political conversations when your silly friends are commenting on Trump's hair malfunctions or similar nonsense.

How taxes make people feel; "Many voters are frustrated by years of stagnant wages and growing income inequality, which has been exacerbated by the tax code’s preferences." These preferences are seen explicitly in the carried-interest tax.

Even an old NY sweetheart joined the conversation, George Pataki, former governor of New York, joined Mr. Trump’s side. “I would not give a special tax break to the Wall Street fat cats,” Mr. Pataki said, adding, “It’s hard for me to say I’m with Donald Trump on anything, but on this issue, I agree with him.”

Did you think I would summarize all the high points and not actually discuss what in the world the carried-interest tax break is?

WRONG my dear friends.

Basically, as I understand it, the carried interest tax break means that people who make an abnormal amount of money - think hedge fund dudes (yes dudes, there are few women in this realm) and some private equity firms.  So these people are moving their money in two separate ways, one of those ways gets taxed like it's income, because it is, the other way is they spread it out over time and get it taxed like capital gains, or at a rate of around 15% which is less than income is taxed.

Besides the New York Times, I found further information on the capital gains tax here.