Most Americans pay more in payroll taxes â€" which finance Social Security and Medicare â€" than they do in income taxes. The rich are different.
Mitt and Ann Romney paid virtually no payroll taxes in 2011, because nearly all their income came from investments on which payroll tax was not owed.
For most taxpayers, the 2.9 percent Medicare tax levied on wage income will be the same next year as it was in 2011. But starting in 2013, high-income taxpayers will pay more â€" and in the Romneys' case â€" much more.
Married taxpayers with income over $250,000 will pay a 3.8 percent Medicare tax rate on income over that amount, and all income will be covered, including the capital gains that make up most of the Romneys' income.
If their 2013 income were unchanged from this year, their Medicare tax bill would exceed $500,000.
That tax was passed as part of the health care bill enacted by Congress and signed by President Obama in 2010 â€" a law known as “Obamacare.†Mr. Romney has pledged to seek repeal of that law.
