Tax changes / proposals - discussion

Yeah China is a totalitarian state.

Who are you arguing with about what?

capitalism <> democracy

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UPDATE:

A Senate-led deal by ag state Republicans to fix the glitch in their tax law that is desperately sought by numerous lawmakers from agricultural states and is supported by the rank and file GOP in the House is being blocked by Speaker Ryan because it would acquiesce to the Dems price of an expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit which had previously been cut, even though not fixing the legislation would hurt Ryan’s own farm-state constituents.

If it ain’t for millionaires and billionaires, he’s agin’ it.

Well, looks like Ryan got shamed into abandoning his blockage of the ‘grain glitch fix’ in exchange for undoing the cuts to the ‘Low Income Housing Tax Credit’.

So, once again, it all comes down to Rand Paul whether the Omnibus bill passes or the government shuts down. Again.

Summary of 2017 and on tax law changes for individuals and some general planning tips by a good CPA.

http://www.berdonllp.com/mobile_newsdetail/nid-6022

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He states that 529 plans can now be used for home-schooling expenses, but I thought that was removed from the bill before it passed. Does anyone have a definitive source on this?

Unfortunately, we have had to home-school one of my kids for the last two years. We are working with the school to get him back in, but in the meantime, I may have to spend a few more K on next year’s curriculum. Would be nice to use pre-tax dollars.

Still not working.

A new CNBC poll found that just 32% of working adults reported having more take-home pay due to the new tax law, a real problem for Republicans hoping to run on the issue in November.

Only 38% of that group thought the amount their wages went up helped a “fair amount” or a “great deal”, meaning only 12% of employed adults thought the tax plan helped them in a significant way, which amounts to only 7.2% of the overall sample.

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Interesting. I just googled this and found a WaPo piece on it. Another interesting point from that article:

“There is, unsurprisingly, a partisan divide in how the tax cut’s benefits are being perceived. While 52 percent of Republicans in the CNBC poll say they’ve noticed more money in their paychecks, only 20 percent of Democrats and 19 percent of independents claimed the same thing. Similarly, while 51 percent of those who approve of Trump say they noticed the change in their paychecks and attributed it to the tax cut, only 21 percent who don’t approve of his performance say the same.”

So people literally see what they want to see. I’m curious to see if opinions change next year from Feb-Apr when they file their taxes, but not holding my breath. I think you might be right. Unless we see another big and sustained stock run-up before November, running on tax cuts in 2018 will not work. Maybe in 2020, but only if the stars align just right.

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And in this case the net bottom line difference in peoples pay checks are a mixture of multiple elements. Pay raises + tax cuts - increase in health insurance +/- misc other stuff. That makes it easier to pick out the thing you do/don’t want or expect to see.

Also most Americans don’t really understand dhow their income taxes work in general much less how this tax cut works.

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That’s so true. I am amazed by how many people tell me “I don’t like to work OT, they tax me too much on that”

Or I also hear a lot of people who think their tax return is money from the government to them. The concept that it is the same money they pay during the year is lost on them.

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It’s especially hard in this case. I see my take-home pay increase slightly each paycheck, but I also believe that I’ll be giving all of that back (and then some) at tax time due to my deductions being taken away.

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The key word there is “unsurprisingly”.

I posted about the same phenomenon in regard to the tax cuts that Obama and the Congressional Dems enacted as part of the stimulus legislation. And “unsurprisingly”, the Republicans were/are far more partisan than anyone else, both times. So that’s a wash.

The point, which I made upthread, was that the tax cuts passed by Obama and the Dems were MUCH larger (for the Middle-class), while the tax cuts the GOP just enacted (for the Middle-class) were FAR too small to have either a perception or economic impact.

Heh.

The tax cuts for the Middle-class start expiring in 2019 and 2020.

Unfortunate, but true.

Although, a very large majority have quite correctly grasped that overall it was a massive giveaway to the Rich & Corporate. Beyond that, the details are elusive.

I believe you’re referring to the Obama tax cuts, which were 1. mostly an extension of tax cuts from the Bush administration, so people didn’t feel them nearly as much as you claim, and 2. credits that only lasted a few years (i.e. expired like the Trump tax cuts will).

Yes, essentially, it is a wash.

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Trying to explain that bonus checks aren’t taxed differently, just the witholding rate is different is like trying to mow uphill with a reel mower.

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This is the problem (or genius, depending on which side you’re looking at) with the timing of the sunset provisions. If the benefits do expire without action, people won’t notice that they lost the benefit until after the 2020 election.

I personally don’t think they will allow the provisions which help low/middle class to sunset without renewing them, but even if they do, I don’t see it affecting the 2020 elections.

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Yeah, neither party wants to raise taxes on the low/middle class. And failing to renew the cuts would equate to a tax hike at that point.

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Wrong on both counts.

~ The Middle-class part of the Bush tax cuts that were extended (allowing the upper brackets to rise back to where they were previously) were not part of the tax package in the stimulus legislation.

~ Other than the incentivized tax breaks, no the tax cuts in the stimulus legislation did not expire.

To the contrary, I expect that to be a very lively debate as part of the campaign. Folks are gonna know.

But counter to the GOPs promises that the massive tax cuts for the Rich & corporate would not explode the federal deficits and debt, we will have MASSIVE increases in the deficits and debt by then, which will make it quite difficult to simply extend the Middle-class tax cuts. This, of course, was the entire reason they were temporary to begin with.

The Dems would likely only cooperate with extending the Middle-class tax cuts IF the tax cuts for the Rich & corporate were rescinded.

If you’re referring to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, it was a long time ago so it’s difficult to recall, but most were simply 1 or 2 year changes. The majority of the money was spent on a one-time benefit (it was sort of an extension of the Bush credit - but not really because the Bush credit didn’t “expire”). They also updated the AMT which can’t really be credited to Obama.

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Jacking up the deficit / debt hasn’t stopped anyone from doing anything for 40 years…

We just all moan and whine about it and then keep doing it.

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