Congratulations on finishing your intensive training and medical school. It is quite an achievement that I hope inspires others to pursue their dreams just the same.
Your argument is that having done so much schooling to prepare yourself to become a doctor and having spent so much money to pay for college, you should in fact be taxed less. The new tax bill will do just that—lower your taxes by 4%—despite the fact that you, as a doctor, will make enough income to be considered to be of a high income bracket. The lower tax rate will help you pay your student loans and ensure that you are a happier individual as a result.
I find your reliance on monetary argumentation troubling. I believe there is utility to taxing those who have more to give higher than those with less income. We should also not ignore the negative consequences that the tax bill will have on the happiness of others.
By the logic you provide, we should tax everyone with student loans less. Having student loans is stressful and they can, potentially, take away significant amounts of income. So, why not extend the same tax breaks to others with student loans? I believe your argument defends the tax break for your own individual only, but you are not the only person to have pursued years of schooling and have taken out loans to do so. All of those students sacrifice their happiness afterwards by having to dedicate income to paying those loans. It would thus be in the interest of society as a whole to provide tax breaks for everyone with student loans. That way we have not only happy doctors, but many more happy graduates. We can achieve a greater happiness by extending the tax breaks to more individuals.
The higher tax bracket, to which you will soon belong to, is not unfair. People who are taxed less than doctors still end up with less income than doctors. The increase in taxes with an increase in income is not meant to be a deterrent from earning money. It is meant to take more from those who can afford to give more. The happiness that you give up by paying higher taxes is less than the happiness which a person of lower income gives up, because you have more money left over afterwards. Thus, the utility to tax those with higher income is greater.
The tax bill, which will give a tax break to the rich while having uncertain consequences on the middle and lower classes, has far too many negative consequences to simply be ignored. It is an infringement on happiness of many others whose taxes will not be lowered like yours. Many of those who make less than a doctor will potentially be required to sacrifice more of their own happiness. I believe that the higher number of individuals who will have some of their happiness taken away outweighs the happiness which you will lose.
You have to appreciate the greater utility of your newly acquired education. You pursued your passion, which is the best sacrifice you could have made for society. All those hours you’ve spent studying? You did that to achieve virtue and your own happiness! All those loans you’ve taken out? You did that to achieve virtue and your own happiness! You should consider whether you would be the same person you are today if you did not pursue that virtue, and how of your happiness the tax break is really going to affect. I think you will find that the student loans and the higher taxes do not negate the happiness you’ve achieved by becoming a doctor.