Hey, people interested in 70% marginal tax rates on income above $10M - have I got a thread for you.
What would that tax rate look like IN PIZZA?


I don’t know how many brackets @AOC’s got in mind, but let’s start with the 2019 tax brackets. Here we go!
What would that tax rate look like IN PIZZA?



I don’t know how many brackets @AOC’s got in mind, but let’s start with the 2019 tax brackets. Here we go!
A large 16 inch pizza
is about 200 square inches. Cut into 10 pieces, that’s 20 square inches per piece.
If each square inch is $1000, each slice would be $20,000 (which is $5000 more than an annual salary working at minimum wage).
How many bites of your
do taxes take?

If each square inch is $1000, each slice would be $20,000 (which is $5000 more than an annual salary working at minimum wage).
How many bites of your

You can get all the 2019 tax brackets for single, married, capital gains, etc. here https://www.forbes.com/sites/jrose/2018/12/05/tax-brackets-and-rates-2019/amp/, but I’m going to look at the big picture for a married couple, filing jointly.
NOTE: a single person eating their own
all by themselves are LIVING THEIR BEST LIFE
NOTE: a single person eating their own

If you have one pizza ($200K), or only part of a pizza, the first two slices 
don’t get touched. The next three 

lose about 10% each.
The other half of the pizza loses 22% from each of the five slices



.





The other half of the pizza loses 22% from each of the five slices





If you have TWO pizzas (another ten slices 








), those lose about 24% each. So your second pizza is taking a hit, isn’t it? But hey, haven’t we all tucked into our second large pizza and thought, “I’m glad I have so much pizza!”.










Setting aside your first and second pizzas, what happens with pizza #3? Each of those ten slices 








lose 32%.
Three pizzas, thirty slices




























and you’ve lost about five 



.










Three pizzas, thirty slices



































If you have a table big enough for four or five pizzas, #4 and #5 would lose about 35% and 37%, respectively. So of those 


















you had on top of the first 



























you’d lose 




more.























































We’re up to the top bracket for 2019: 37% on income over $612K for married filing jointly. That’s four pizzas, forty slices.
Here’s the question: how many MORE pizzas do you get to have at this rate before you hit the proposed 70% rate on income over $10M?
Here’s the question: how many MORE pizzas do you get to have at this rate before you hit the proposed 70% rate on income over $10M?
The answer will shock you.
And just for context, let’s assume that it’s not just you and bae eating all these pizzas. You’ve got kids to feed, right? How much pizza is enough? When do you have an *ridiculous* amount of pizza?

Remember, you lose 37% of each slice
after your fourth large 16” pizza, ie at $612K.
So pizza #5, pizza #6, pizza #7... they all lose 37%, not quite


, leaving you with more than 




of the pizzas at the top of this pile of boxes.
Ready for the 70% answer?

So pizza #5, pizza #6, pizza #7... they all lose 37%, not quite










Ready for the 70% answer?
Let me give it to you in emoji form. The 70% rate kicks in after 


















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































That’s right.
You don’t start paying that 70% rate until your 667th slice.
You’ve got a stack of SIXTY TRUMPING PIZZAS to eat before you have to worry about that new 70% rate even *applying* to you.
That’s assuming there’s no intermediate tax bracket between 37% at >$612K and 70% at >$10M.
But listen... here’s the thing to think about.
Buddy, how much pizza do you need? With sixty pizza boxes stacked in your living room, are you really afraid of going hungry?
But listen... here’s the thing to think about.
Buddy, how much pizza do you need? With sixty pizza boxes stacked in your living room, are you really afraid of going hungry?
And hey, if you want to keep your first 80 or 100 pizzas at that 37% rate, we can talk about that. I’m sure your cholesterol can handle it.
But if you have 60 pizzas delivered to your door every Saturday night, doesn’t it seem like NBD to share a slice or two?
But if you have 60 pizzas delivered to your door every Saturday night, doesn’t it seem like NBD to share a slice or two?
Thank you for coming to my TED talk. If you’d like to buy me a pizza, I won’t say no, because I can never get my anchovy-and-black-olive fix when ordering pizza with the fam.