tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2760353953251845523.post5102035068112204253..comments2024-02-10T02:14:39.898-05:00Comments on Buckeye Surgeon: Welcome to the real worldJeffrey Parks MD FACShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15650563299849196122noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2760353953251845523.post-53718054129924564352010-05-21T10:44:52.671-04:002010-05-21T10:44:52.671-04:00Yo Buckeye... you are absolutely right. I was a va...Yo Buckeye... you are absolutely right. I was a vascular surgeon in New Mexico for 10 years until I just wore out. Too much work...too little rest... income static despite working harder every year. Money went THROUGH me to everyone else (office, staff, liability ins, taxes) and little stayed with the engine of all this... me and my family. I was out of medicine completely for 7 years before I realized that I really loved it. I am back now doing another residency in a field that I think I can control a bit better (Emergency Medicine). Doctors deserve every dime they get and then some. Unfortunately many like Anon are jealous and that is too bad. Their petty attitude and Obama's monstrosity of a health care plan will result in fewer and fewer docs... more and more health care will be from mid-levels. This is goin' to get far worse before it gets better...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2760353953251845523.post-4837409048593603062008-04-30T19:50:00.000-04:002008-04-30T19:50:00.000-04:00"Our government is an inefficient, bloated, wastef..."Our government is an inefficient, bloated, wasteful monster that has shown no ability in the past to manage our finances."<BR/><BR/>Just like healthcare...<BR/><BR/>TBallAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2760353953251845523.post-63921344752760911112008-04-26T13:11:00.000-04:002008-04-26T13:11:00.000-04:00Anon-Great post. I AM new to this tax game and my...Anon-<BR/>Great post. I AM new to this tax game and my initial response to the absolute number I had to pay was frankly staggering, like a fighter with a glass jaw who gets hit really well for the first time. My point was to highlight the fact that doctors aren't living the high life anymore. Dropping reimbursements plus rising medical school costs (and college for that matter) plus raising taxes on those who make over 250,000 to fund a NHS (HIlary's plan) does not equate to a lifestyle of country clubs and three Lexuses in the garage and kids going off to prep school.If we want to create a social safety net, why not raise taxes on the tuly rich; say incomes >$750,000? Or go after corporations who profit at the expense of the American worker (and the the toil of 14 year old Guatemalens)?<BR/><BR/>Your're right; Obama will raise taxes. It's on his website. Hilary too.Jeffrey Parks MD FACShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15650563299849196122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2760353953251845523.post-79649396642970825122008-04-26T11:58:00.000-04:002008-04-26T11:58:00.000-04:00PPS: Don't forget about the repeal of the death-ta...PPS: Don't forget about the repeal of the death-tax and the decrease in the capital-gains tax. In reality a working stiff gets screwed much more with taxes then some trust-fund baby living of his/her previous generations. Tell me, is that fair?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2760353953251845523.post-3537123916593256622008-04-26T11:51:00.000-04:002008-04-26T11:51:00.000-04:00Buckeye:As a matter of fact I DO write checks for ...Buckeye:<BR/>As a matter of fact I DO write checks for OVER 2K per month for school loans. Been doing that for the better part of 15 years. So I know EXACTLY what it is like. Did somebody hold a gun to your head to take out the loans? I made the decision (like you and your wife) that it was worth the loans (undergrad and med) to become a doctor. Trust me, unless you guys are academics, you probably bring home significantly more than I do being in the fields you are in. We can talk about which "tax bracket" (as with CEO's) we are in, and how unfair it is, but since you are new to the game let me show you how it used to be: <BR/><BR/><BR/>Tax year Top marginal<BR/>tax rate (%) Top marginal<BR/>tax rate (%) on<BR/>earned income,<BR/>if different<1> Taxable<BR/>income over-- <BR/>1913 7 500,000 <BR/>1914 7 500,000 <BR/>1915 7 500,000 <BR/>1916 15 2,000,000 <BR/>1917 67 2,000,000 <BR/>1918 77 1,000,000 <BR/>1919 73 1,000,000 <BR/>1920 73 1,000,000 <BR/>1921 73 1,000,000 <BR/>1922 58 200,000 <BR/>1923 43.5 200,000 <BR/>1924 46 500,000 <BR/>1925 25 100,000 <BR/>1926 25 100,000 <BR/>1927 25 100,000 <BR/>1928 25 100,000 <BR/>1929 24 100,000 <BR/>1930 25 100,000 <BR/>1931 25 100,000 <BR/>1932 63 1,000,000 <BR/>1933 63 1,000,000 <BR/>1934 63 1,000,000 <BR/>1935 63 1,000,000 <BR/>1936 79 5,000,000 <BR/>1937 79 5,000,000 <BR/>1938 79 5,000,000 <BR/>1939 79 5,000,000 <BR/>1940 81.1 5,000,000 <BR/>1941 81 5,000,000 <BR/>1942 88 200,000 <BR/>1943 88 200,000 <BR/>1944 94 <2> 200,000 <BR/>1945 94 <2> 200,000 <BR/>1946 86.45 <3> 200,000 <BR/>1947 86.45 <3> 200,000 <BR/>1948 82.13 <4> 400,000 <BR/>1949 82.13 <4> 400,000 <BR/>1950 84.36 400,000 <BR/>1951 91 <5> 400,000 <BR/>1952 92 <6> 400,000 <BR/>1953 92 <6> 400,000 <BR/>1954 91 <7> 400,000 <BR/>1955 91 <7> 400,000 <BR/>1956 91 <7> 400,000 <BR/>1957 91 <7> 400,000 <BR/>1958 91 <7> 400,000 <BR/>1959 91 <7> 400,000 <BR/>1960 91 <7> 400,000 <BR/>1961 91 <7> 400,000 <BR/>1962 91 <7> 400,000 <BR/>1963 91 <7> 400,000 <BR/>1964 77 400,000 <BR/>1965 70 200,000 <BR/>1966 70 200,000 <BR/>1967 70 200,000 <BR/>1968 75.25 200,000 <BR/>1969 77 200,000 <BR/>1970 71.75 200,000 <BR/>1971 70 60 200,000 <BR/>1972 70 50 200,000 <BR/>1973 70 50 200,000 <BR/>1974 70 50 200,000 <BR/>1975 70 50 200,000 <BR/>1976 70 50 200,000 <BR/>1977 70 50 203,200 <BR/>1978 70 50 203,200 <BR/>1979 70 50 215,400 <BR/>1980 70 50 215,400 <BR/>1981 69.125 50 215,400 <BR/>1982 50 85,600 <BR/>1983 50 109,400 <BR/>1984 50 162,400 <BR/>1985 50 169,020 <BR/>1986 50 175,250 <BR/>1987 38.5 90,000 <BR/>1988 28 <8> 29,750 <8> <BR/>1989 28 <8> 30,950 <8> <BR/>1990 28 <8> 32,450 <8> <BR/>1991 31 82,150 <BR/>1992 31 86,500 <BR/>1993 39.6 89,150 <BR/>1994 39.6 250,000 <BR/>1995 39.6 256,500 <BR/>1996 39.6 263,750 <BR/>1997 39.6 271,050 <BR/>1998 39.6 278,450 <BR/>1999 39.6 283,150 <BR/>2000 39.6 288,350 <BR/>2001 39.1 297,350 <BR/>2002 38.6 307,050 <BR/>2003 35 311,950 <BR/><BR/><BR/>I think this speaks for itself. Graphs are all over the internet Google "historical top tax brackets". Being a doc in the late 70's would have sucked from a "tax" perspective. Do CEO's and other business types rip off america with outrageous salaries while sending or middle class manufactoring jobs overseas to China and other countries. Of course and I don't agree with it especially in light of the fact that China is STILL COMMUNIST AND VERY LIKELY WE WILL GO TO WAR WITH THEM AT SOMETIME IN THIS CENTURY (I have pre-teen/teenage boys by the way). Have you seen the hypernationalism in China related to the Tibet and the olympic flame. Utterly scary given their illegal occupation of Tibet. But given our illegal occupation of Iraq, what are we going to say. The sad fact is we have an awful neocon president who doesn't have the political will or interest in changing the status quo. Hell, his answer is to increase our federal debt to give us some of that debt back to us (ie the rebates). This man is NOT A FINANCIAL CONSERATIVE. He is a slime ball who avoided the draft by sitting in the national guard (I am a vet) and went to Ivy colleges thanks to daddy. But I digress. Yes our government is bloated and inefficient, but so are the europeans. Every been in the UK for awhile (I have). Their NHS is terrible when it comes to getting thing done in a timely basis (they now have a two tier private/NHS system). The germans are better, but if you where just paying attention to the news, German docs were on strike recently due to their poor pay and the expectation that they would work more hours for no additional pay. Given where you live I am sure you know about the problems of the canadian system. That stated there is coverage for all in these countries. The simple fact is for Americans to accept that type of system, they will have to accept A: Rationing, B: longer waits, C: loosing the ability to sue their docs. I am a practicing doc (for a long time). I think americans will not be willing to accept that trio, yet. That stated I do think some type of univerasal coverage (not single payer NHS) will be instituted eventually. But as Mass has shown this will be a messy issue. If we do ever have NHS, I GURANTEE you our salaries are going to take a huge drop. Then given are debt load you and I are really screwed. As far as a obama, I like the guy to. However, you are fooling yourself if you don't think he is going to rasie taxes. HE WILL raise taxes on the upper-middle and upper classes. My opinion is that as long as he does it to the united HMO CEO's of the world more so than us, and honestly tries to get a grip on our out of control national and budget debt, then I don't have a problem with it. In conclusion buckeye, you (and I) actually pay less in percentage income than previous docs but we make less relatively speaking. It is not going to get better and you better face that fact right now. But look on the bright side, you are not a blue collar cleveland manufactoring worker who is about (or has) lost his job due to a greedy CEO/CFO sending his job to China, about to lose his house due to the subprime debacle, and barely able to feed his family due to the increase in food/gas prices. Life could be much much worse. Good luck and welcome to the "real world"<BR/>PS: If you want to fight a fight you can win then lobby against the 10.1% medicare cuts coming down the pipeline this summer which is going to kill care for our aging and poor (ie. the WWII generation who really deseve our protectection and respect). Specifically send your later to Pete Stark D-California who is the head of the ways and means committee and has shown a distinct dislike and lack of respect for doctors.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2760353953251845523.post-12320417686167285842008-04-16T15:53:00.000-04:002008-04-16T15:53:00.000-04:00great post and spot on re: which citizens (america...great post and spot on re: which citizens (americans?) support the US government. While I wouldn't change our system of government, I wonder why we are surprised when via the democratic process, people on the receiving end of benefit programs vote to elect people who promise them even greater benefits.<BR/>Creating dependence rather than independence seems to be the goal of both Clinton and Obama.<BR/><BR/>When Obama talks about wanting change he really means that he wants the coins in your pockets. <BR/><BR/>When Hillary says she wants to make America better she fails say for who or how. Her support for the repeal of the bush tax cuts suggests to me that I am not on her list of who to make America better for!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2760353953251845523.post-39681853145957383962008-04-15T15:18:00.000-04:002008-04-15T15:18:00.000-04:00This is definitely sad to hear and dreadful to loo...This is definitely sad to hear and dreadful to look forward to (i am a foreign medical graduate preparing for the board exam). I wonder whether that is why many US healthcare professionals are opting to practice abroad (e.g. in Thailand, Singapore). Politicians nowadays do seem to forget what human suffering means to average citizens. Thanks, Dr. Buckeye for the informative post, as always.HMShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17168620011502808236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2760353953251845523.post-4301759253172380852008-04-14T21:21:00.000-04:002008-04-14T21:21:00.000-04:00You are so right. I had an income this year for th...You are so right. I had an income this year for the first time in my life, and I'm appalled by the realization of how much money, from a resident's salary, the federal and state and local authorities want. Income tax, property tax, school tax - get your hands out of my pockets! I can only imagine how much worse it'll hurt when I move up the tax brackets. <BR/><BR/>Hillary wants to undo the tax cuts. Yeah, like with millions of dollars flowing through her fingers it'll make any difference to her. Talk is free for her. I don't understand how anyone who has a job can <I>not</I> vote Republican - not that the Republicans do such a great job of keeping the government's hands off our money, but sometimes they get the concept. Go Ron Paul!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2760353953251845523.post-17974931200498926122008-04-14T12:48:00.000-04:002008-04-14T12:48:00.000-04:00the mental burden of these loans is hard to explai...the mental burden of these loans is hard to explain to people who don't have them. if you don't think 2 grand a month for 30 years is a lot of money, then we will never see eye to eye. loans until your children are out of college? pay it off early at the expense of your as yet extremely underfunded retirement savings? your kids will never qualify for financial aid so you should save something for their education, depending on your personal values. we all hear about how powerful compound interest is-it works against physicians with student loans and again in lost time to save for retirement. for people who grew up poor, the gross amount of $ going toward loans is stunning, even if their income is in a high range and can cover it. i acknowledge that it is hard for people not living the dream to understand the situation.<BR/> <BR/>physicians also are not guaranteed a salary-their income every year depends on them running their practice efficiently, while at the same time praying congress doesn't reduce their revenue by 10% or even 20% as they are scheduled to do so. i am sure this nice family is adjusting to the rigors of being in practice-estimating taxes quarterly can be tricky and even for experienced people, the amounts can be stunning. moreso early on while you are accumulating a nest egg. it's not that they can't do it (i presume), it is that they are not feeling as wealthy as the numbers would imply.<BR/><BR/>it could be worse for them-they could both be in primary care and make 1/2 the money. of course, some would still think it is ridiculous to worry about the loans.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2760353953251845523.post-86937213628848034122008-04-14T10:01:00.000-04:002008-04-14T10:01:00.000-04:00Anon-Do you write checks for over two grand a mont...Anon-<BR/>Do you write checks for over two grand a month to Wells Fargo? Well we do. It isn't pleasant. And my point is that the burden of taxation in this country falls on the people who are making a good living but aren't mega-rich. Doctors generally are in the same tax brackets as CEO's and actors and professional athletes. And still, on top of that, we have to pay separate for our health insurance. The top tax brackets in Europe run from %28-%48 and this buys them all-encompassing social benefits like health care, schooling, etc. What do we get with our buck? Bigger local and federal bureaucracies, the occasional patched pothole, and a public school system that fails many of our kids despite increased spending per pupil(http://abcnews.go.com/2020/stossel/story?id=1500338). Our government is an inefficient, bloated, wasteful monster that has shown no ability in the past to manage our finances. On a personal level, I prefer Barack Obama to John McCain, but I'm concerned that his platform seems to advocate a return to bigger government, more taxation, and the creation of new bureaucracy (national health care). Why should we trust that such a plan would make our lives better? You mean to tell me that my family doesn't give enough? That the solution to our national ills is for the Buckeye family to fork over 45-50% of our income? I don't buy it.Jeffrey Parks MD FACShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15650563299849196122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2760353953251845523.post-39271578950185811722008-04-13T22:56:00.000-04:002008-04-13T22:56:00.000-04:00re: For a family like my own, it's a significant b...re: For a family like my own, it's a significant burden.<BR/><BR/>OMG you must be kidding me. Your combined salary should be in the neighborhood of 400-500K per year (in private practice). If you think 150 K (or 300K combined) in student loans on that type of salary is a "significant burden". Then you didn't truly grow up in a modest home.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2760353953251845523.post-40984165859138827552008-04-13T17:59:00.000-04:002008-04-13T17:59:00.000-04:00You need a good CPA or tax attorney.You need a good CPA or tax attorney.Devorrahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14542045173559671539noreply@blogger.com