Posted on 12/14/2017 9:48:21 AM PST by 11th_VA
Congressional Republicans agreed on a new tax bill Wednesday and, while details are not yet available, it is known that both the Senate and House bills that preceded it would eliminate middle-class tax deductions for agent and manager commissions, union dues, training classes and other business expenses, while preserving deductibility of those items and more for top-earning talent, who typically use a mechanism called loan-out corporations, which are unaffected by the proposed change.
As a result, some working actors would see their taxes almost quadruple, according to an analysis by the stage actors union Actors’ Equity.
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“These draconian changes are mean,” said Equity secretary-treasurer Sandra Karas, who is also a practicing tax lawyer and has prepared by her own estimate hundreds, probably thousands of entertainers’ tax returns. “They slap working people in the face … performers get the shaft.”
“I guess that’s the purpose,” she added during an interview several days ago. “It will change the math on how long people can stay in the industry.”
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“This bill is not policy, it’s payback,” said California Association of Realtors chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young, who has been monitoring and analyzing the legislation.
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...because of their high expenses, working- and middle-class entertainers do itemize, and for them the tax bill looks to be a disaster. They lose the personal exemption and the deductibility of business expenses and SALT.
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* Another actor, who earned over $87,000 paid $9,665 but would have paid $13,294 under the Republican legislation, an increase of $3,629 of 37 percent.
* A married couple, both performers, who earned about $65,000(or about $32,000 each) paid $1,228 in taxes but would have owed $4,535 under the new law, an increase of $3,307 or 269 percent. In other words, their taxes nearly quadrupled.
(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodreporter.com ...
The agents and hollyweird bigshots have been “shafting them”, in more than one way, for years.
Republicans should be lowering taxes in a big way. They are not. They are raising them while spending more and more.
I gotta hand it to Trump. He is just crushing the high housing price blue state fools.
And now they can’t deduct their far left wing union dues anymore either!
They want bigger and bigger government? They want more and more socialism? They want more obamas and Hillaries?
Now they are going to pay for it.
Now the cast of “Hamilton” will be forced to turn homosexual tricks after performances to support the lifestyles to which they become accustomed. A little Trump gift to Pence.
I've heard that about Hollywood. Especially lately.
It’s Time for Blue State Liberals that have been hiding behind SALT tax deductions to start paying ‘their fair share’.
Set it up as a regular business like a one person LLC and write off all legitimate business expenses. I haven’t seen any similar complaints about reduced deductions from unincorporated sole proprietorships losing business expense deductibility.
These are all wrong. Anyone who pays taxes in big tax states will be hit. Any high income person who has a state or local income tax will be hit. Anyone with a big house will be hit.
And everyone making under $100K will have lower taxes.
The standard deduction increases to compensate for decreases in itemized deductions.
Anyhow, liberals are now whining they will pay more taxes. I thought that’s what they want.
The millionaire actors can redistribute their wealth to the lower paid ones.
My heart bleeds for ‘em I tell ya - wondering where all the support went when people were sharing their stories of how barrycare was costing them an arm and a leg.
Tax Reform: Women, Children, and Hollywood Hardest Hit!
One of these doesn’t elicit the proper response.
If the guy wrote, or set up scenery, you know, worked...
An actor making $88K a year is grossly overpaid -- but regardless, the complaints are just more partisan media shilling by some snowflakes. Thanks 11th_VA.
That’s exactly how I operate. I hope there’s a distinction in the tax code between someone who runs a phantom “business” on their own and someone like me whose sole proprietorship has its own tax ID number.
This calculator is not the bill. Its just a version that will not and was never going to be a final bill. You can still deduct up to $10K of state taxes. You get a much larger deduction and exemption. Plus you get a lower rate.
Much of this goes away if you are wealthy. Your house is only deductible up to $750K. You will lose a big deduction on your big house, as well as your second house. And the high income tax states will cost high income people more than the tax break of federal tax percent rates.
Perhaps they should be looking at their State House and asking them why their taxes are so damn high.
Screw the actors!
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