not typically in those countries where income tax brackets are in place.
Here (not the US) we have such a system, consisting of brackets of 35, 43, and 56 (I think it is) percent. The first 30k for example is taxed at 35%, everything over that but below say 60k is taxed at 43%, and everything over that at 56%.

But that’s only the immediately obvious. Many other taxes and premiums are based solely on the total income before taxes.
As a result someone who’s just inside a higher bracket might end up earning a lot LESS after taxes than someone who’s just below that bracket.
Every time one gets a promotion or raise in salary one has to calculate carefully whether it would be wise to accept as accepting might mean more work for less actual income (and I’ve had more than one colleague actually refusing a promotion because of that, personally have never had one that didn’t mean a jump in income large enough to get out at least even after taxes).

So in small ways people here are already going Galt, and have been for decades, by refusing to take on more work and responsibilities if they’re punished for it by ending up with a lower income.

It has been some months since I last wrote on this board/site. By now, it should be obvious to all how bad things are. The prior administration threw sand into the tank (what with Medicare drug entitlements and a ~$700B bailout plan). The current one is now busy punching holes in the hull (starting with another ~$800B bailout plan – and I’m sure all here know the rest).

All talk of just a few percentage points increase in tax is now obviously out the window. There is the expiration of the prior tax cuts. There are proposed increases in medicare/medicaid and marginal federal tax rates, taxation of so-called Cadillac medical insurance plans, tax penalties on insufficient medical insurance plans, war tax, a “cap and trade” tax, etc. The states add yet another layer to this vile cake.

I’m not going to re-iterate the objections to all this – they are common, clear and well-known.

We have done some restructuring of both our small business and our personal finances. Examples are (business) deferring the hiring of anyone (at least until we know how the land lies WRT entitlements, etc.) and (personal) preparing this year to convert much of our tax deferred accumulation into Roth plans. We are learning to make do with less (make more from raw material). We aim to minimize the damage and (if we deem it necessary) exit with as little loss as possible. For now, many of the aforementioned federal tax proposals are not (yet) reality (the state situation is another story). Thus, we have not initiated an exit. But it is good to be prepared. If it becomes necessary to have to make do with less, we can – and with less lost to taxes.

There is a difficult issue. Where does one put cash reserves? While our investments are in a wide gamut of productive vehicles (international and local), our cash reserves are in dollars. The massive deficit spending (past and present) must surely result in inflation. We believe the US dollar is going to shrink rapidly (indeed, perhaps it is started in some quarters – anyone examine their various services bills recently?).

The first answer many give is “gold”. But has anyone actually attempted to take physical delivery? What of the spread in price between that listed on exchanges and that asked by sellers of the actual metal? Does anyone have any fear of a repeat of the FDR gold confiscation? And then there’s what happened to the price of platinum over the past few years – scary. Others say “property”. But it is terribly illiquid, and is usually subject to that most pernicious of taxes.

In the event that Going Galt becomes necessary, What asset class will be relatively immune to inflation, be liquid and be difficult to tax (education, perhaps )?

Anyway, most people in this blog would probably understand intuitively that individualists are primarily the types that have always and will always be the group to lead humanity forward in terms of most important matters of progress and innovation. The irony is that the rest of society benefits the most from the work of the this minority group; unfortunately, there also exists the truly and inherently evil types who benefit themselves by limiting the ability of individualists to pull humanity forward by (ironically indeed!) persuading the rest of humanity to give them the power to do so.

I naturally distrust any person – usually of religious or political bent – who comes to me and claims their goal in life is to help me. My thought is always: “Don’t you have your own problems to take care of…and I prefer to solve my own problems in my own way, anyway, thank you.”

So to solve the problems that I (and we) are given today and henceforth for the forseeable future I am indeed choosing to “Go Galt” by retiring early (am 38 y.o.) from my relatively high paying job (+500m/yr) and investing in a mix of investments that will ensure that I do not exceed the income point where the progressive tax system begins to become truly nonsensical. I own my cars and only have a small mortgage (tax benefits!) so will live a peacefully content and quiet life in my personal Galt’s Gulch while I have physically prime yrs remaining rather than toiling away these great yrs for the nearly complete benefit of others…I know – How selfish!