Why do single people with no dependents pay the highest comparable tax rate?
The same type of logic that dictates the wealthy should be taxed at a higher rate is applied to single people with no children. It’s assumed that they have more disposable income because they have no dependents to care for and can therefore more readily absorb a higher tax hit. Edit – The true failure in the logic of it all becomes apparent when non-custodial divorced parents are not permitted to claim tax deductions for children, but they’re paying a ridiculous portion of their income to support children and are still taxed at the higher single rate as if they had no dependents. I’ve not been personally impacted by it, but my ex and the father of my children has. We’ve worked out a system between us to keep him from being hit as hard, but he would be taxed to heck and back if we hadn’t.
