Total tax paid
$2,760
Did you know your employer also pays tax on your salary? It costs the employer $473 to pay you $8,500. In other words, every time you spend $10 of your hard-earned money, $3.25 goes to the government.
Real tax rate
30.8%
So, with you and the employer both paying tax, what used to be a 26.9% tax rate now rises to 30.8%, meaning your real tax rate is actually 3.9% higher than what it seemed at first.