It's not what you make but what you get to keep. Think about that for a second. If you are a physician in California that makes $500K per year, do you really make $500K per year? No you don't. With combined state and federal taxes, you make half of that. The Federal government and the State of California made the other half. Believe me, I've been there. I spent the first year after residency as a W2 employee and it's painful. I've illustrated how painful this is to my children by getting an ice cream cone then taking half of it myself and telling them I'm taxing them. They get the point. However, their first inclination is like many others—they try to get two scoops instead of one. They don't ask the question, "Daddy, is there a way that I can pay less tax?" It's human nature to accept certain things in life. Even Benjamin Franklin famously said, " …in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes" While as a physician I can tell you that we do not have a solution to the former, the latter is a problem with several potential solutions. Look at our current president. Well…I guess he did pay $750! The truth is that it is the right of every citizen to legally mitigate the amount of taxes they pay. I've heard the argument that it is unpatriotic to decrease your tax burden. However, understand that the tax code is written as a series of incentives. In other words, if you are paying less taxes, you are doing something that the government theoretically wants you to do. Anyway, if you are concerned that reducing your tax bill is unpatriotic, you probably don't like Wealth Formula Podcast anyway so I won't say much more about that. However, if you would like to seriously start to change your tax, my friend and CPA Tom Wheelright says there is only one way. You have to change your facts. And, if you want to change your facts, I can tell you with some level of certainty that there is almost always a way to do it. You just have to have the right advisors. Of course, Tom Wheelwright is my tax advisor and he is the best in the business. So, if you want to start keeping more of what you make, don't miss this week's episode as Tom and I focus on the concept of creating passive income.