How much money do you make?

Unlike in the U.S. "how much money do you make?" is a popular question between Chinese, at least it used to be. I remembered one time when I was in Tokyo airport, waiting for my connection to Beijing, a fellow Chinese passenger who was waiting for the same flight started to chat with me. After some introduction of herself, if I remembered correctly, she was about 60 years old, came to Japan to visit her daughter who married a Japanese, her questions came. It started like: "How old are you? Are you married? Where do you live? How long have you been living in the U.S.? What do you do for a living? How much money do you make?" ...... I wouldn't say that I was annoyed by the question, but I was still surprised that a total stranger felt it is o.k. to ask me that question. So I made up a number.

I can do that to a stranger, but I can't do that to my parents, who ask me how much money do I make every year. To them, the number sounds a lot bigger than it really is, because they don't factor in the taxes. For example, assume I make $100K/year, which I don't, after medical deductions, retirement account contributions, and various taxes, it becomes to less than $51K/year. And if you further factor in sales tax, which is 6% here, that becomes to less than $48K/year. How can I explain all that to my parents who never heard of personal income taxes until the 90's? Even I can't believe it until I see it break down like this. No wonder I don't have any money. It all went to the government.

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	$	Note
Wage/>	$100,000.00/>	Assume $100K/year income/>
Health Insurance Premiums	$2,000.00	Assume $2,000 pre-tax deduction
Dental Insurance Premiums	$200.00	Assume $200 pre-tax deduction
Vision Insurance Premiums	$100.00	Assume $100 pre-tax deduction
Social Security Wage/>	$97,700.00/>	Wage - pre-tax deductions/>
401(k) Contribution	$15,500.00	Assume $15,500 pre-tax contribution to 401(k) account
Taxable Wage/>	$82,200.00/>	Social Security Wage - 401(k) Contribution/>
Social Security Tax	$6,057.40	6.2% * Social Security Wage
Medicare Tax	$1,416.65	1.45% * Social Security Wage
Federal Income Tax	$13,397.50	From 2007 IRS Tax Table
State Income Tax	$2,794.80	3.4% * Taxable Wage
Local Income Tax	$822.00	1% * Taxable Wage
Roth IRA Contribution	$4,000.00	Assume $4,000 after-tax contribution to Roth IRA account
Property Tax	$3,000.00	Assume $3,000 Property Tax
Actual Income/>	$50,711.65/>	/>