The New York Post's 61,000 Manhattan Millionaires March Against Health Care
The New York Post is in high dudgeon over Obama's health plan, blasting a "terrifying" potential 57% "mega-tax" on "successful NYers" under "Obamacare" on the front page. Gosh, that does sound like a lot. Glad we're not successful.
Neither are you, by the way. The Post's scaremongering—the bill is a "job-killing" "poi$on pill" that will crush New York's most "dynamic entrepreneurs"—goes on for five-and-a-half paragraphs before we learn exactly what constitutes a "successful New Yorker": Households earning $1 million or more. So, for every dollar those folks earn over $1 million, the combined local, state, and federal taxes under the health care plan would be 57%. Currently, they pay a marginal tax rate of 51.4%.
So yes, millionaire New Yorkers will face a scary tax rate. All 61,000 of them. That's how many Manhattan households made more than $1 million as of 2007, according to the Wall Street Journal. And trust us, there are fewer now. And those who remain probably have good tax accountants.
For purposes of comparison, there are 738,644 households in Manhattan, with a median income of $63,000. We weep for these few "successful" New Yorkers, really we do.
Before you write a comment to the effect of "a million dollars doesn't really go that far in New York," please re-read above where we say that the median income in Manhattan is $63,000, and then reflect on the fact that $63,000 is 6% of 1 million, and on the fact that "median" means that half make more and half make less.