Joe The Small Business Owner And The Obama Tax Plan

In Pictures: What Plumbers Really Make

Republicans have been hammering away at swing-state voters with their "Joe the Plumber" argument. They say a tax increase levied against families earning more than $250,000 a year--something Obama says he'd do as president--would hurt the middle class.

The "Joe the Plumber" argument came from a voter who confronted Obama and said he was concerned that if he buys a business that would move him above the $250,000 threshold, he would be subject to a tax increase under Obama's plan.

Maybe some business owners make that much, but even top-paid plumbers don't. A new study by a leading compensation data service, PayScale.com, examined salaries for a sampling of jobs with special attention to pay in three swing states.

In Pictures: What Plumbers Really Make

According to the study, it is nearly impossible for Joe the Plumber to make $250,000 a year as just a plumber.

PayScale.com studied a number of typical middle-class jobs and the wages they pay in three swing states: Ohio, Florida and Colorado. They found in many cases that the top 10% of earners in these jobs would still fall short (very short) of $250,000 a year.

The average plumber in Florida makes $54,800 a year. The top earning 10% of plumbers there make at least $111,900. But these aren't entry-level positions. These numbers are based on those with 15 or more years of experience. A family with two top-notch Floridian plumbers could still make only about $224,000 a year--falling short of that $250,000 threshold.

PayScale's database pools 15 million compensation profiles. From this database, they found that even some jobs that are traditionally considered upper class made median incomes far less than $250,000. Among them: corporate attorneys ($141,000), pediatricians ($151,000) and chief financial officers of companies with about 500 employees ($167,000).

Jobs that cross the $250,000 a year threshold on average are few and far between. Cardiologists ($270,500) and surgeons ($298,600) make the cut rather easily. CEOs barely top the mark, with an average income of $251,100--but only when looking at companies with about 500 employees. Accounting firm partners make an average of $267,600, but only at firms with 50 or more partners.

It's just hard to make enough to be taxed more.