If they earned $1 more to make it $8500, their tax wold jump to $1275!
That's a *VERY* common misunderstanding of how things work in the US , but it's incorrect.
See
http://money.howstuf...es/tax-brackets1.htmIn short, only the money ABOVE the previous tax bracket gets taxed at the additional rate.
So in your example, the person making $8500 would pay:
10% in taxes on the first $8499 = $850
15% in taxes on the $1 = $0.15
Note 1: When I say it's a common misperception, I mean that it's believed by most people in the US who are in middle/lower income tax brackets. You can bet your ass that the rich people understand very well how it really works and aren't too concerned with correcting the misunderstanding.
Note 2: I have very strong feelings about these issues like many of you -- but let's remember our policy of avoiding divisive political/religious arguments on DC on the basis that there are better places to debate such things more fully.