How do tax brackets work?

mmmk, so it has come to my attention that some people don't understand how progressive taxes work. It's probably because you're in the lowest bracket and have never had to think about it. Let's say you are Cam Barker, a Black Hawk with a mid-range salary of 3,000,000 dollars. If Illinois switched to tax-brackets from the flat tax Cam would be taxed 3% on the first 20, 000, 5% up to 100,000, and 7% above that. Those numbers are arbitrary, but you can see that progressive taxes don't just take 7% of 3 million, but tax each level independently. Therefore, the percentage someone in a higher bracket really pays is not so high. This site has a thingy where you can put in your own numbers for your federal taxes, whoo fun!

"Ahhh, yes!" you say, "I get it! It really is a fair way of getting some money to service the fine citizens of Illinois." Don't you want a chance to vote about it? Go back in this blog a bit and you'll find a link to your state reps. shoot off a lil' email and feel good and smug for a while, yes?