From what I've seen, some people have an in-born desire to work hard, and some don't. Taxes do not change this. The emphasis on taxes strikes me as a bit of posturing, and a ridiculous one at that. I've never had a single acquaintance say to me, "Yes, I've worked 70 hours a week these last few years, but they are raising nominal rates on my top brackets this year, so I will only work 50 hours a week from now on." Humans just don't work like that.
In my head, when I'm dealing with people, and especially when I'm hiring people, I slot them into 1 of 4 groups:
1.) ambitious - will do whatever it takes
2.) guilt ridden - aims to please, will make sacrifices for the job, though they can slip into burn out or depression
3.) multiple agendas, balances family and a job, stable but not extraordinary, will sometimes work extra in emergencies.
4.) unmotivated - their interests are away from work - hobbies, romantic partner, children, drug addiction, travel, art, writing, health problems - whatever, the issues are legion, but the point is the same - work is a low priority for them, they give it the minimal effort needed.
None of these categories change based on taxes.
For my part, I enjoy working, and that enjoyment wouldn't change if my taxes went up or down.
Possibly there are a few people, at the margin, who really are influenced by the tax rate, but I suspect this is a rare taste, like people who like yak butter. After all, you have to be willing to spend an inordinate amount of time studying the tax code before you can figure out how changes in work habits will effect your total tax bill over the long term, and few people are willing to make that effort. Hell, most people are not even willing to study their own investments, and leave all investment decisions to some advisor, or simply go with an index mutual fund, so that portion of their lives can function on auto-pilot.
I do not think I've ever known anyone who changed their work habits due to changes in the tax code.
I do know people who figured out their marginal hourly rate after taxes, and decided to cut back their hours worked to stay under that.
When figuring the hourly rate, one must take into account not only taxes, but loss of unemployment compensation, earned income credit, etc. There are definitely folks who do this and choose to work less because their net hourly rate is not compelling.
Well, like I said, "I suspect this is a rare taste, like people who like yak butter. After all, you have to be willing to spend an inordinate amount of time studying the tax code before you can figure out how changes in work habits will effect your total tax bill over the long term, and few people are willing to make that effort."
In my head, when I'm dealing with people, and especially when I'm hiring people, I slot them into 1 of 4 groups:
1.) ambitious - will do whatever it takes
2.) guilt ridden - aims to please, will make sacrifices for the job, though they can slip into burn out or depression
3.) multiple agendas, balances family and a job, stable but not extraordinary, will sometimes work extra in emergencies.
4.) unmotivated - their interests are away from work - hobbies, romantic partner, children, drug addiction, travel, art, writing, health problems - whatever, the issues are legion, but the point is the same - work is a low priority for them, they give it the minimal effort needed.
None of these categories change based on taxes.
For my part, I enjoy working, and that enjoyment wouldn't change if my taxes went up or down.
Possibly there are a few people, at the margin, who really are influenced by the tax rate, but I suspect this is a rare taste, like people who like yak butter. After all, you have to be willing to spend an inordinate amount of time studying the tax code before you can figure out how changes in work habits will effect your total tax bill over the long term, and few people are willing to make that effort. Hell, most people are not even willing to study their own investments, and leave all investment decisions to some advisor, or simply go with an index mutual fund, so that portion of their lives can function on auto-pilot.
I do not think I've ever known anyone who changed their work habits due to changes in the tax code.