I am graphing the marginal combined federal taxes on our single earner family of four with three different combinations of tax rates:
Income only
Income & Payroll (the employee part of social security and medicare)
Income & Payroll (both the employer and employee part of social security and medicare)
The marginal payroll tax rate for this family was 0 until 1979 when the taxable maximum income subject to the payroll tax was greater than this family's median income.
Keep in mind the Tax Policy Center calculate these rates for:
- 4 person family including a married couple with one earner
- Itemized deductions are assumed to equal 23 percent of income through 1986 and 18 percent of income thereafter
Data: Historical Combined Income and Employee Tax Rates for a Family of Four; Historical Social Security and FICA Tax Rates for a Family of Four
