I'll start this off by saying this is predominantly a rant, and I'm not necessarily looking for answers. It's just frustrating and I needed to vent as there were other issues with my paystub for this pay period that I had to resolve before reaching this point.
I've never been particularly anti-taxes or anti-work all together. I am anti 40hr work weeks, but I do value work and don't mind paying taxes when they go to services that benefit myself and the community (not something we tend to see sadly).
That may have changed today though.
Last pay period I had 88hrs of regular pay (including 8 holiday hours), and 25.5 hours of OT pay. That ended up being somewhere in the ballpark of $3,014 take home.
This pay period I had 80hrs of regular pay, and 41 hours of OT pay. Somehow my take home pay is down to roughly $2,775. Now this is the first month I've been on my employer insurance, but that's only around $55 per pay cycle.
It's just freaking insane that my take home pay is higher with fewer hours worked. I understand that OT is heavily taxed, but come on, it shouldn't be so heavily taxed that I “lose” money. The addition of my health insurance shouldn't make that large a difference should it?
I currently live and work in a state with no local or state income tax, so it's just federal taxes at play here.
Make it make sense 🤦️ (again mostly rhetorical as I just needed a rant).