Where are you getting those numbers? Not saying you're wrong, just curious. A quick look online shows ~18k federal, ~6k CA, and ~6K SS + medicare, which is 30%ish

Apologies. I used the paycheckcity.com calculator, which gave take-home pay after all withholdings. It did not take into account over-paying (and thus the refund at the end of the year).

Wikipedia says federal tax for those making between $83,600 and $174,400 is a fixed $17,025 + 28% of the amount over $83,600.

ftb.ca.gov says that California state tax for those making between $48,942 and $250k is a fixed $2,154.83 + 9.3% of the amount over $48,942.

This gives

California: $6,903. Federal: $21,617.

Then there's about $6600 in SS+Medicare+SDI and approximately $5500 standard federal deduction for a grand total of about $30k in taxes.

And that's excluding the possibility of 401k, or IRA, or SEP-IRA, out of which you've got to be eligible for at least one.

well, your lease is $25k, so $40 saved == is naked, barefoot, hungre and not yet even at the office =D