Kansas Republicans claim tax bill will be good for the middle class. It won’t be

The Kansas City Star ^ | 24 Nov 17 | Steve Rose

[Brilliant]

I predict the personal exemption will be reduced but not eliminated. That is the only aspect of it that potentially hurts the middle class. But even with that feature you either need a large family or a medium size family plus a large SALT deduction for it to increase your tax. And in all likelihood the increase will be negligible even then if you’re in the middle class.

But I give you credit for advancing the Dems’ talking points.

[SkyPilot]

Posters who argue that a measly doubling of the standard deduction equals removing all the deductions and exemptions are either clueless or simply uninformed. It is a tax increase on two earners to pay for the corporate donors permanent tax cut.

Yup.

[SkyPilot]

Agree. Poor trump. He is so anxious for a legislative victory that he’s probably willing to sign practically anything at this point and that even assumes that he knows the establishment has been playing him for a fool on this tax reform .

If Trump increases taxes on millions of middle class Americans who voted for him, MAGA is dead.

Dead.

[SkyPilot]

That is the only aspect of it that potentially hurts the middle class.

Are you kidding?

Both the Senate and House bills are full of poison darts that hurt the middle class.

Those who deduct medical expenses, those who pay student loans, those in grad school, those who pay alimony, those who have an RV, boat, or second home......I could go on and on.

Do you realize what the GOPe did when they crafted these horrible bills?

The clowns in the GOPe gave away the store to the corporations and their donors.

They then were forced to go searching in the tax code sofa cushions for spare change to "pay for" the giveaways to the corporations and GOPe donors.

That meant that almost every legitimate deduction that people have depended upon or used is either being eliminated, capped, restricted, or under minded.

[Okeydoker]

I pray you are right!

[Okeydoker]

Absolutely correct. The tax increases are not on democrat voters, but trump supporters! The gop are not called the stupid and corrupt party for nothing. They dont care if they are in the majority or not, they get the donor globalist money regardless.

[WilliamIII]

If you’re ok with people being required to send more money to DC, why don’t you write a check now, and not wait for the GOP tax increases on middle class to pass?

[WilliamIII]

You admit it will raise some peoples taxes, and you’re ok with that. Sorry I’m not. I voted GOP because they said they were for cutting govt, not raising taxes

[Scotswife]

There appears to be misconception that the only divisive issue is SALT.
I’m from NY - but my increase isn’t due to SALT.
I’d have this same increase no matter where I live.

[Brilliant]

Well as you said earlier you can give everyone a tax cut, then you’ll need to cut spending which is not going to happen. That would require a lot more conservative votes than we have and Trump would veto it anyway. What the GOP is doing is giving the vast bulk of the middle class a tax cut. There are a few in the middle class who currently benefit disproportionately from the SALT deduction or the personal exemption, and they rite won’t benefit as much or might even have a slight increase. Some would argue though that it’s only because they previously were receiving a tax break that the rest of us could not benefit from.

[IWONDR]

“That meant that almost every legitimate deduction that people have depended upon or used is either being eliminated, capped, restricted, or under minded.”

amen!

[IWONDR]

“What the GOP is doing is giving the vast bulk of the middle class a tax cut. There are a few in the middle class who currently benefit disproportionately from the SALT deduction or the personal exemption, and they rite won’t benefit as much or might even have a slight increase. Some would argue though that it’s only because they previously were receiving a tax break that the rest of us could not benefit from.”

obviously, you only take the standard deduction, which you do understand that even with the proposed doubling of the standard deduction is itself going to be reduced significantly by $18,000 for a couple with 2 children [4 x $4050] when the personal and dependent deductions are eliminated?

also, you do understand that the cut in tax rates for individuals is only temporary [expires in 10 years] unlike the permanent rate cut for corporations?

[Brilliant]

$15,000 actually because they are increasing the child tax credit slightly. And the increase in the standard deduction is set off against that leaving just a $3000 increase in taxable income. So it’s a question of whether the lower tax rates will offset the additional tax on that $3000. Even if not, we are only talking about a few hundred dollars of actual tax. The $3000 is not the additional tax. It’s the additional taxable income. The amount of tax on that is at most a few hundred dollars, depending on your tax bracket.

You can’t commit Congress 10 years down the road anyway. Not for individuals. Not for corporations.

[Scotswife]

“Some would argue though that it’s only because they previously were receiving a tax break that the rest of us could not benefit from.”

And who are these “some”? - and why are they so resentful when others use a deduction they cannot.
I don’t begrudge another taxpayer when they claim deductions I cannot.
Soon I’ll have 3 kids in college. So far this plan is leaning towards eliminating education deductions. Should we not have those deductions since every American doesn’t have college age children?
Not everyone is elderly - so the elderly shouldn’t get to deduct their long term health care costs.

This is not the message that was presented to the public during the presidential campaign.
If republicans really think it’s a great idea to penalize large families and “simplify” the code by removing beneficial deductions - then they are going to lose 2018 and 2020.