Tax the rich more?

I just did my taxes. No, I'm not the rich, and I am not poor enough to qualify for earned income credit. I fall right in the middle. The working class that unions are trying to incite. I decided to do a little research on the brackets and a few other things.

Here are the tax brackets:

Not over $16,750 ($8 an hour) 10% (single $8,375 which is $4 an hour)
$16,750 - $68,000 ($8-32.69) 15% ($8,375-34,000 $4-16.35)
$68,000 -$137,300 ($32.69-66) 25% (34,000-82,400 $16.35-39.62)
$137,300-$209,250 ($66-100.60) 28% ($82,400-171,850 $39.62-82.62)
$209,250-373,650 ($100.60-179.64 33% ($171,850-373,650 $82.62-179.64)
over $373,650 (over $179.64) 35% over $373,650 (over $179.64)

I notice a couple things in this. First, the single rate for the 10% and the lower part of the 15% bracket are below the minimum wage (Federal is $7.25, and I'll list the states that have a higher one later in this post). That means that they probably get it all back. They don't ACTUALLY pay 10-15% of their wages in. Possibly that's why there's such a big jump between the first 2 brackets. It doesn't matter what you put on the first one, they get it back. Let's put this in perspective and subtract the percentage from the higher amounts of these:

$16,750 would be $1,675, but they more than likely get it back.
$68,000 would be $10,395 and unless they're creative, they don't get it back.
$137,300 would be $34,325 which is half way into the second bracket!
$209,250 would be $58,590 and we're just $10,000 short of the yearly wage of the 3rd bracket.
$373,650 would be $130,777.50 (and I had to do that one twice!).

Now, I'm not sure (because I'm not a tax expert) whether you pay that higher percentage on the whole wage, or you pay the lower tax on the first part, then the higher bracket on what's in that level, etc. I wouldn't doubt that they make it that complicated. That lowers it a little bit. For instance, the $209,250 would end up paying only $43,000 a year instead of $58,590. Oooh, big tax break.

So, after figuring the hourly wage for each, I wondered what the minimum wage was. I didn't realize that a state could institute a higher minimum wage than the Federal one. Federal minimum wage is $7.25. The following states have a higher minimum wage, listed with their actual minimum wage:

Alaska $7.75
Arizona $7.35
California $8.00
Colorado $7.36
Connecticut $8.25
Illinois $8.25
Maine $7.50
Massachusetts $8.00
Michigan $7.40
Montana $7.35
Nevada $8.25
New Mexico $7.50
Ohio $7.40
Oregon $8.50
Rhode Island $7.50
Vermont $8.15
Washington $8.67
American Samoa $2.68-4.69
Washington, D.C $8.25
Guam $7.26
N. Mariana Is. $3.55
Puerto Rico $5.08-7.25
U.S. Virgin Is. $7.25 (unless you're a small business, then $4.30)

Now do you wonder why the Territories don't want to become states? The government and businesses would lose money big time. In Puerto Rico, if a company makes less than $250,000 a year, they don't have to pay attention to that nasty little minimum wage thing, and only need to pay $4.30. I can also see why people from American Samoa come here.

Taking this a little further, I decided to see what the qualifications for Earned Income Credit were. This you won't believe:

$13,460 (single) - $18,470 (married) no children ($6.47-8.88 an hour) Credit $457
$35,535 - $40,545 1 child ($17.08-19.49) $3,050
$40,363 - $45,373 2 children ($19.41-21.81) $5,036
$43,352 - $48,362 3 children ($20.84-23.25) $5,666

And better yet, here's what qualifies you for earned income credit, and can be counted as a dependant child:

Can be son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister or descendant of any of them. They have to be under 19 or under 24 and a full time student.

Oooh, let me move my nephew in and qualify for earned income credit. That would raise the amount I could earn because I only have one qualifying child. I could have taken over $5,000 off my taxes. What a crock. And the left says the tax breaks go to the rich?