How's that tax cut working out?

[child of wonder]

Probably is a good net improvement for me, but my income in 2018 was over 50% higher than 2017. So far it appears I’ll have to pay in an additional $16,000 or so despite having zero exemptions almost all year, but that’s because so much of my income was bonuses and commissions taxed at 22%.

 

[soundforbjt]

I want to hear from the 2 people that voted Tax Rate Went Up - Income $0-50K

I say that because I'm genuinely curious how thats possible unless you itemized on your 2017 return... which is pretty hard to do with an income of < $50k.

Not at all if you lived in Nashville and worked for a upcoming or declining music artist. I used to do just that when I started, I'm now retired but still have many friends there that still do.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Not at all if you lived in Nashville and worked for a upcoming or declining music artist. I used to do just that when I started, I'm now retired but still have many friends there that still do.

Care to explain as to why that meant itemizing over the standard deduction ?

 

[soundforbjt]

Care to explain as to why that meant itemizing over the standard deduction ?

I thought you were a tax professional. Travel, airport parking, per diem, instrument repairs & upkeep, etc.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I thought you were a tax professional. Travel, airport parking, per diem, instrument repairs & upkeep, etc.

Sure, but to my knowledge the current tax reform didn't hinder or take away those types of standard business deductions. Therefore not sure why they would be paying more...

Also are you the actual musicians or just their accomplices?

 

[brianmanahan]

effective tax rate went down %1.5

would've gone up if it weren't for the %20 business income tax deduction, which cut taxes for my side business quite a bit

 

[nOOky]

I'm not sure as I haven't even gotten my tax forms yet, and I put considerably more into my 401k and Roth this year, and got a decent raise.

 

[soundforbjt]

Sure, but to my knowledge the current tax reform didn't hinder or take away those types of standard business deductions. Therefore not sure why they would be paying more...

Also are you the actual musicians or just their accomplices?

Neither, sound engineer and road manager, at the time. You asked why anyone would be itemizing making under $50K, I gave you your answer.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Neither, sound engineer and road manager, at the time. You asked why anyone would be itemizing making under $50K, I gave you your answer.

Sure, I guess it goes back to my original question as to those who itemize with under 50k and are also somehow paying more after the tax reform... Because I just can't come up with many scenarios where that would be true.

Also I'm kinda wondering who here is saying they are paying more in taxes when the reality is just that they made significantly more money for the year...

 

[Jhhnn]

So part of it was just making it less attractive to live in HCOL liberal states - but I'm curious what their overall agenda is if that were so.

It's not like getting liberals in California to start moving to TX (Austin) is going to change their voting.... though I guess they start contributing to tax dollars there.... of course that comes of a vote.

Please. It's just calculated to shift the tax burden onto people whose cost of living is already high. It's not an issue of what's attractive, either, but rather of where people can find jobs.

 

[cytg111]

In the meantime

https://www.techspot.com/news/78405-china-creates-app-tell-you-if-you-near.html

Wonder how the US will ping out on that app?

 

[IronWing]

The new "simplified" Form 1040 moved stuff off form to Schedule 1 so now I have to file three forms instead of two. Thanks Paul Ryan.

 

[kage69]

2% increase for us.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I posted my comment about this somewhere in another thread.

As a citizen of the nation-state known as the United States of America, I pay from my pocket for private goods or anything from groceries to real-estate. I also pay for public goods, from which I might not benefit personally or directly. I know I have to pay for some public goods I don't want: such is the nature of collective decision-making and collective citizen obligation.

I might wish my taxes could be lower. But I resented the fact that Bush had lowered our taxes twice during wars on two fronts when they should have been raised. I was perfectly fine with the idea that my taxes might have gone up $1,000, as opposed to being reduced some $700. If I was against the Iraq War, I was entirely for the idea that taxes should be raised in wartime.

My personal gains of tax reduction from Trump's new tax law were totally insignificant, or about $200.

To hell with him, to hell with his Base, and to hell with his Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017. I hope a downturn under any discernable business-cycle puts a hurt on enough people that they throw the Disaster-in-Chief under the bus. There are more important things than short-term monetary gains arising from under-funding public goods at the federal level.

And there's no such thing as a free lunch, whether it's a lunch, or clean air and medical care.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Have you tried just taking the standard deduction?

TurboTax takes whatever deduction is highest. I'm single, AFAIK my standard deduction would be only 12K.

 

[MooseNSquirrel]

I posted my comment about this somewhere in another thread.

As a citizen of the nation-state known as the United States of America, I pay from my pocket for private goods or anything from groceries to real-estate. I also pay for public goods, from which I might not benefit personally or directly. I know I have to pay for some public goods I don't want: such is the nature of collective decision-making and collective citizen obligation.

I might wish my taxes could be lower. But I resented the fact that Bush had lowered our taxes twice during wars on two fronts when they should have been raised. I was perfectly fine with the idea that my taxes might have gone up $1,000, as opposed to being reduced some $700. If I was against the Iraq War, I was entirely for the idea that taxes should be raised in wartime.

My personal gains of tax reduction from Trump's new tax law were totally insignificant, or about $200.

To hell with him, to hell with his Base, and to hell with his Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017. I hope a downturn under any discernable business-cycle puts a hurt on enough people that they throw the Disaster-in-Chief under the bus. There are more important things than short-term monetary gains arising from under-funding public goods at the federal level.

And there's no such thing as a free lunch, whether it's a lunch, or clean air and medical care.

This.

Republicans promised us tax reform, jnstead we got tax cuts for the rich donors. Hell they even admitted it.

Meanwhile, we still need the reform part, but it's clear that since Reagan Republicans have no idea what their f8scal responsibility slogan actuslly means.

 

[Dulanic]

Sure, I guess it goes back to my original question as to those who itemize with under 50k and are also somehow paying more after the tax reform... Because I just can't come up with many scenarios where that would be true.

Also I'm kinda wondering who here is saying they are paying more in taxes when the reality is just that they made significantly more money for the year...

I did mention rate vs amount. Mine went up in rate over 1% mostly due to home office deduction removal and SALT cap.

 

[fskimospy]

So part of it was just making it less attractive to live in HCOL liberal states - but I'm curious what their overall agenda is if that were so.

It's not like getting liberals in California to start moving to TX (Austin) is going to change their voting.... though I guess they start contributing to tax dollars there.... of course that comes of a vote.

Their agenda is that people in those areas don't vote for Republicans and this tax plan was almost entirely based around rewarding people who vote for Republicans. It's a bad idea for the country, as this bill creates additional barriers for people living in the most productive areas of the country, but I don't think the Republicans actually cared about what was good for the country.

I'm serious too, there's almost nothing in that tax bill that actually made economic or tax policy sense, it was just a smash and grab loot job for the donor class.

 

[Stokely]

Tax "reform" LOL!

I prefer calling things what they are, so I call it the "Blatant Money Grab By the Ultra-Rich, Who Cares it's Just the Deficit". Bit of a mouthful, but you can always just use "BMGBURWCIJTD" (hey if people can say the names of unspeakable elder gods, this will work too.)

 

[K1052]

Incidentally the CBO says GDP growth about 2% then expected to go lower from there for the foreseeable future.

It should be a priority to reverse the corporate tax cuts and implement major increases on the income streams of the truly wealthy.

 

[Jimzz]

200k+ Household income and looks like it will be a fair amount less.

With that said its a BS tax cut that primarily helps the wealthy while raising the deficit. We need to raise taxes, not cut them. Once we balance our bills then we can talk about cuts in funding/taxes.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Incidentally the CBO says GDP growth about 2% then expected to go lower from there for the foreseeable future.

It should be a priority to reverse the corporate tax cuts and implement major increases on the income streams of the truly wealthy.

The drop in GDP growth is very likely is mostly attributed to a global slowdown. If anything, our ability to not be as bad as other countries is looking pretty good.

 

[fskimospy]

The drop in GDP growth is very likely is mostly attributed to a global slowdown. If anything, our ability to not be as bad as other countries is looking pretty good.

Yeah but considering the colossal amount of fiscal stimulus we've been engaging in thanks to this tax cut that's pretty bad.

 

[purbeast0]

I went from getting around $3k last year to owing $150 this year, federal. I haven't done state yet but state we usually get around $600 back so who knows. Our total deductions went from $46k last year to $24.5k this year.

So fuck you Trump you fat slobby fuck.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I went from getting around $3k last year to owing $150 this year, federal. I haven't done state yet but state we usually get around $600 back so who knows. Our total deductions went from $46k last year to $24.5k this year.

So fuck you Trump you fat slobby fuck.

It's not a matter of "how much you get back" it's a matter of what is the total amount of tax you paid.

For all you know, the amount being withheld from your paycheck was significantly less than the previous year.