Rant: “I hope I didn’t get pushed into the next tax bracket”

Client: “My stocks did pretty good this year, I hope I didn’t get pushed into the next tax bracket. I showed everyone at work how to look at their paystubs in November and cut back on hours so they don’t go over 12%. This tax stuff is easy, people are so stupid.”

I crushed this poor dudes spirit when I explained how tax brackets work. He told me “he’d look into it” but he was “pretty sure that didn’t apply to him” How do you correct clients without making them feel stupid and lash out?