Six thousand dollars is no small amount and, in some cases, can mean the difference between living comfortably and barely getting by. However, for one employee in California, it meant taking home just $47 more. Under the username Felinesaloon, the worker says it felt a tad ironic, considering how thousands of dollars on paper turned into nothing more than a couple extra dozen when it reached their account.
How did someone’s $6,000 raise become just 0.8% of what they took home? According to Felinesaloon, it wasn’t just because of taxes. In their Reddit post on r/MiddleClassFinance, they said their “open enrollment happened”: health insurance went up, their parking fees got more expensive, and several payroll deductions changed as well over the course of seven months.
In other words, when combined with more taxes, expensive benefits, and other deductions, a higher gross pay, even in the thousands, can become a surprisingly small net increase overall. It might be easy to solely blame taxes. However, even the IRS explains that people whose income moves into a higher bracket are affected only by the higher rate on the income in that next bracket, not their entire salary.
Reddit Found OP’s Raise More Depressing Than Exciting
When looking at everything from the bigger picture, it logically makes sense, but that doesn’t make it any less mildly infuriating that $6,000 “turns into” $47. “This is where I laugh and cry at the same time,” joked a user in the comments of Felinesaloon’s post. “It’s like a dog chasing its tail. Get 3% raise but cost of living increases at 3% so you effectively go nowhere. Ever,” remarked another.
“Welcome to America moment,” expressed a third. “This explains the current state of things. Look at it this way, if you hadn’t got the raise you would be down that amount.” A fourth claims that many Americans don’t understand how messed up their income is because of healthcare not being covered in taxes or public transit not being viable.
As one person essentially put it, “Uncle Sam got a raise. You, not so much.” With all this in mind, the raise could become more of a disappointment than something to cheer about. Even so, Felinesaloon concluded their post on a humorous note: “Now I can afford one more grocery bag every two weeks.”
