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Balrahd
OK, choose your own hypothetical income levels and plug them into the brackets.

According to the Turbo Tax tax estimator a married couple filing jointly who makes $105k combined income would pay $14,723 in federal income tax with no deductions.

A single person making $80k would have paid $14,236
A single person making $25k would have paid $2,046
A combined total of $16,282

A difference of: $1,559 savings if married filing jointly

I'm not saying it doesn't suck to be the one getting screwed the hardest by taxes, I'm just saying my proposed situation is going to be about 100 times more likely than your proposed situation.

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Balrahd
And fyi, with 370k/year in joint income (my hypothetical example) you are playing over 100k a year in federal income taxes. Think about that. A hundred thousand dollars.. gone. And note, this does not include social security taxes or state income taxes. 200k/year is not going to get you a "few million in assets unless you're retarded." Or maybe it will, but I doubt it.

My *pre-tax* earnings are WELL under $200k/year and I'll feel ashamed if I die with less than a million or two in assets lying around (retirement accounts, home, etc.) I suppose it's your prerogative to blow it all without accumulating assets. Theoretically you could make millions each year and die with no assets I guess.

Also, and this goes with all of the tax brackets and income levels... almost no one is actually paying those tax rates. If you're paying $100k on $370k household income I suggest you fire your CPA.