J and I have been talking about getting our finances under control for some time now. We were given tickets to a Dave Ramsey event a couple of years ago and even got our copy of “Total Money Makeover” signed when Dave was in the area on his book tour.
This past week we finally stopped talking about it and started to do something about it. We were blessed this year with a substantial tax refund, due in part to my severance from Kroger - severance pay is taxed at the full rate. Since I ended up double dipping for a month or so this year while I was getting my severance pay and working a new job and working out an arrangement to get paid for the time that I was in Wisconsin for my brother’s wedding we were really blessed this year with income like we have never seen.
So this years tax return did not bring any new purchases to the household, instead we opened up a savings account at the local credit union for our (baby step one) emergency fund and the bulk of the refund went to pay off 3 bills (2 of them were major purchases). So we already have an “extra” $115 to add to our debt snowball as we continue to attack this debt and get our financial house in order. Speaking of finances I came across some stats that put some real numbers to some of the political banter…
According to the IRS $43,318 is the median US income.
The means that if your household income is…
$ 60,040+ you are among the top 25% of wage earners.
$ 99,111+ you are in the top 10% and you contribute 68% of tax revenue.
$137,500+ you are the top 5% and contribute 57% of tax revenue.
$328,048+ you are the infamous top 1% and contribute 37% of tax revenue.
Any more numbers or statistical breakdowns are far too upsetting. We need a flat tax! or a more fair tax system, such as a national sales tax and repeal of 16th amendment.
V-Day is different around our place, the day is really more about Kyra since it is her birthday, she is turning 11 this year. YIKES!