The Spouter from Stone Harbor made a math error on Medicare.

Court House - The Spouter from Stone Harbor made a math error on Medicare. A $500K earner does NOT now, nor will they in the future, pay $19K in Medicare tax alone. A couple, filing jointly in 2023, will pay 1.45% Medicare tax on the first $250K of income ($3,625). On the next $250K they would pay 1.45% plus an additional 0.9%, or 2.35% total ($5,875). Grand total would be $9,500, or an average of 1.9%. The employer pays the rest. You may have mistakenly included the max Social Security tax for 2023 ($9,932), to arrive close to your number, but SS is not Medicare.