Why are bonuses taxed so high?

Originally Posted by Zaggeron

It's easy to see why people would get around 60% back. Say you get paid twice a month -- 24 times a year and you get a year-end bonus of $7500. $7500 x 24 = 180,000. So your bonus may have taxes withheld as if you were making 180,000 a year. The bracket for that in 2012 was 33%. Add social security and medicare and you are pretty damn near 40%.