[SkyPilot]

I believe that of course, yes - people recognize that certain states have outrageous taxes (property, state, local). Some states have personal property taxes - gee, those are fun! If you move there and own an RV, boat, or cars, you are in a for nice "surprise." That's how states who don't have higher taxes in one area get to soak people through another means.

But if raising the taxes of millions of middle class Americans (many of them solid Republicans, Trump supporters, military veterans, cops, nurses, and parents) is the "solution" to attempt to entice local governments to lower their tax burden - then that is insanity. All local governments will do is shrug as families suffer. All the Feds are going to do is shrug and say "Well, we got our pound of flesh out of these saps so that the corporations and our donors could get a massive rate cut." Again, it cannot be emphasized enough: this is political suicide. This betrayal will cause the GOP to not only lose the House, but the political wave will drown Republican candidates at every level. The Democrats are already writing the commercials about families getting creamed - and this times, they don't even have to lie.

Mnuchin, Cohen, Ryan, and the entire editorial board of National Review has convinced many that NY, CT, MA, MN, NJ, CA, and other states are being "subsidized" by their tax dollars. No matter how many times that has been refuted here, people don't want to hear it. Deductions (dating back to 1913 in the Tax Code) from high tax states are "subsidies" from other people's wallets? Even though those same states carry the great majority of the Federal tax burden?

The false rhetoric allows a certain crowd to feel like they are "victims." It allows them to be angry and to be, yes, entitled.

It is the equivalent to scene in the Lord of the Rings - The Towers, where Saruman yells to the Wildmen that their land had been stolen from them by the people of Rohan, and they buy it hook, line, and sinker.

"They drove your people into the hills, to scratch a living of rocks!Take back the lands they stole from you. Burn every village!"

And so, rather than bring us together against the evil Democrats and the media, this Tax Bill (remember when it was called a "Tax Cut?") has divided us and will tear the GOP apart. Nice.

And all so that the donors, K Street, and Facebook come out like winners with a rate cut from 35% to 20% - AND the corporations get to keep those "evil" SALT deductions for themselves that are being take away from the rest of us.

Great job GOP! What's next? Are they going to try and pit Jews and Christians against one another?

[kearnyirish2]

If the middle class pays more income taxes then Trump will be voted out in 2020 and the Dems will win both houses of Congress. Obama wasn’t elected in a vacuum; working people are getting nowhere and they know it.

[Scotswife]

I live in Trump country in NY. (Yes - it exists)
Did my mortgage and SALT put me over the old standard? Yes it did - but not by much. The new standard does exceed our estimated itemized deductions.
In our situation - we are looking at the loss of 7 personal/dependent exemptions.
So it doesn’t really matter what state I live in - I will use the new standard and still wind up in the hole.
This is not “relief” - this is not “easing the burden” on our middle class family.
To top it all off, they are eliminating education credits.
“Simplification” via elimination of many beneficial tax breaks is NOT what people voted for.

[Jarhead9297]

As I stated in another post concerning this topic

Because of the crippling fed tax policy I look for any legal way possible to steal back my money from Uncle Sam. States are not the problem, the problem is with the feds and anyone thinking the elimination of a “tax entitlement” is akin to a voluntary mutually beneficial monetary transaction for the greater good.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

That’s why I want much lower rates: 12% for FICA-covered income and 25% for the rest. $12,000 standard deduction, $24,000 for couples, $18,000 for head of household, with a willingness to negotiate it upwards. With the current rate schedule (evidence that “tax reform” is actually a covert spending resolution), we would need to keep part of SALT, if not all of it, and the whole MID as well. With the three rates Trump proposes and their brackets, we would need to keep part of SALT and MID.

As an aside, I would also like to re-introduce the personal exemptions, for self, spouse and child and non-child dependents alike. I would also want to allow a complete deduction of all adoption-related expenses (in place of the adoption credit), with an allowance to carry the remainder over into the next tax year, in case only part of the expenses causes a person’s tax to go to zero. That way, we will put our money where our mouth is in the pro-life cause.

(And, of course, if Congress decides to lower the rates even below what I propose, so much the better! Cut spending! Even military spending has some waste! :-) )

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I may just barely benefit from this thing. The 12% rate only goes up to $45K, and I lose my personal exemption. Pathetic.

[usconservative]

Great job GOP! What's next? Are they going to try and pit Jews and Christians against one another?

Some already do, they join the Democrats in that ......

When exactly is the revolution anyway? I've been waiting for years. I'm only getting older and more feeble. I at least want to share in some of the fun taking the DC establishment out from their offices and into a waiting open noose strung over a strong oak tree branch, a vat of tar and a pile of feathers.

I mean geez, I want to party like it's 1776!

[nopardons]

Great post and possibly THE best post EVER to have placed on this thread, in FR’s entire history!