Why cut taxes?

[Moliere]

My take:

Reduces income tax brackets: Overall it's a reduction across the board, which is fine with me. Tax brackets need to either grow with inflation or be adjusted every once in a while and this is one way to do it. It does impact me and reduces my tax bill, so I guess I'm happy.

Nearly doubles the standard deduction: I haven't used the SD in a long, long time so personally I don't care. I do think it's a good thing for many people that have lower incomes. Most people that itemize are in larger income tax brackets so this is a benefit for the lower income earners. Is it a good thing overall? I'm a proponent of everyone paying something, or most people paying something so I'm not a huge fan. I'd prefer a lower tax rate (maybe 2-5%) for those poeple over a higher SD, but whatever.

Eliminates personal exemptions: Not a fan personally or in general. While I don't think taxes should incentivize people to have kids, you also shouldn't be hurt for having a larger family and this one hurts larger families. It might be a wash for me with the lower tax rates, but I like the personal exemptions applied per person/child. I'm sure older people will like this one as will most Americans with 2 or fewer kids.

Expands child tax credit: This is good and so is the increase in the phase out level, which levels should be adjusted every year based on inflation. I also like that the increase is not refundable. A refundable child tax credit is dumb, IMO. This makes up a bit for the loss of the personal exemptions

Eliminates tax exclusion for dependent care assistance accounts: Honestly have no idea on this one. Most publications say this is used mainly by higher income families, so I'm fine with it going away. I like tax-exclusions for things like HSAs or Child Care (not a huge fan of this but I see the benefits), but I think it's been taken a bit overboard and this pull back is a good thing.

Repeals state and local tax deductions, but preserves property tax break: I'm sure my state lobbied hard for the property tax break to stay in. I pay over $10K/year in property taxes so the elimination of that deduction would have hurt me, but it would have really hurt Texas real estate. However, it makes no sense to eliminate state/local tax deductions but keep the property tax deduction. This may continue to draw more people to states that have higher property taxes to make up for the no income tax. So while this helps me, I'm overall not a fan and think the palying field should be evened out among state/local taxes.

Limits deductible mortgage interest: I think I'm with Wuap on this one. I don't mind the full repeal of this deduction. I have a mortgage and find myself disincetntized to pay it down/off due in part to this deduction. I'd rather stick my money in the market and ride that wave because while I pay a bit in mortgage interest, the deduction reduces my effective interest rate on my mortgage. I saw one publication say this would reduce people taking the deduciton to 4% of total filers, mainly due to the increase in the standard deduction but also because the cap would be lwoered to mortgages under $500K. Crazy, but if people aren't really using it, get rid of it. I got a feeling the realtor coalition is going to be ticked abou

Repeals many other deductions: I support this one. Too many random deductions and the thresholds are too high (7.5% of AGI, really?).

401ks not touched: It's crazy this was even considered. This is a huge savings vehicle for middle income families and taking it away would be ludicrous. People move jobs all the time now and having a 401k with a decent limit ($18K in 2017) is a great way to save without the access to pension plans or other outdated retirement type plans.

Repeals the Alternative Minimum Tax: Support. AMT is dumb and needs to go away. If you simplify the deductions, AMT is no longer needed.

Repeals the estate tax: Don't support. I'm a big supporter of the estate tax and think it should be expanded to trust funds and other vehicles used by the rich to stow away money. Generational wealth is one of the problems in the US and inhibits some class mobility. I actually support lowering the threshold to lower than $5mm but finding a way so that small/family businesses aren't impacted (such as family farms/ranches).

Other stuff I wish was in there: I'd prefer to eliminate the automatic withholding by employers and require people to pay taxes by themselves. That would change a lot of the perception of how much is paid. I also support raising the SS tax ceiling, however the ceiling shouldn't be elminated. SS was never meant to provide a luxurious retirement so I wish all thse old people would stop complaining about barely surviing on SS. Um, that's the point of it, to keep you alive. If you want to go on cruises and travel then you should have saved your own money to do that.

[Omaha 680]

When the Libertarians take over you'll be thanking those two.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Won't you be out of a job when the libertarians take over? Being most of my clients are public transit agencies, I guess I will too.

[frank ryan]

Guys, can we all agree that frank ryan is the most creative poster when it comes to inventing ways to use f-bombs?

I love swearing.

[Uncle Ted]

When the Libertarians take over you'll be thanking those two.

[Bo Diddley]

That’s a good thing?

When the Libertarians take over you'll be thanking those two.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Jeff Lebowski]

That's not accurate. I'm as liberal as they come, but I'm a fuck've a lot more nuanced with my politics than the folks you are comparing me against. I've praised plenty of Republicans, including Kasich, McCain, Spencer Cox, Greg Bell. I've also voted for some of those guys. Lebowski is s Republican and Bluek is a Libertarian. We're just aware of how Trump is turning the country into a kakistocracy.

Guys, can we all agree that frank ryan is the most creative poster when it comes to inventing ways to use f-bombs?

[Jeff Lebowski]

Yes.

I wasn’t asking you. I already know you are

[Uncle Ted]

That’s a good thing?

Yes.

[Jeff Lebowski]

That’s a good thing?

[Bo Diddley]

I think Drumpf is destroying the republican party just like the Clintons are destroying the democratic party... God bless them.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Kakistocrasy. I love that word. Thank you Frank!

[Topper]

I find it funny that none of the talk about taxes is ever that we should ensure the government is using the money with some level of responsibility. I work very closely with a government agency and the idea of saving money or not spending every penny designated to them is worse than rape. If they get $10,000 for a project, they are going to spend $11,000 minimum every single time.

This is absolutely true. We need more efficiency in the government but that would require so much institutional knowledge of each department and subdepartment that no official has this knowledge. However, if we could be build in incentives to reward employees who use the money more efficiently rather than less efficiently we could probably discover lots of lost money.

[Uncle Ted]

what is a kakistocracy?

n/m. FOllowing Huskyfree's lead I googled

The first hit I got was a picture of Darth Vader...



So does that imply that Drumpf is Lord Vader? If so, cool. I always thought the Rebels were a bunch of wimps.

[Crockett]

That's not accurate. I'm as liberal as they come, but I'm a fuck've a lot more nuanced with my politics than the folks you are comparing me against. I've praised plenty of Republicans, including Kasich, McCain, Spencer Cox, Greg Bell. I've also voted for some of those guys. Lebowski is s Republican and Bluek is a Libertarian. We're just aware of how Trump is turning the country into a kakistocracy.

That's on us the people.

When you call Mitt Hitler and character assassinate him you are not going to like what comes next. When political correctness reigns and identity politics are used you are not going to like what comes next. We disincentivize good people from entering politics and reward the rough and dirty.

PS - I had to google kakistocracy, too.

[Uncle Ted]

That's not accurate. I'm as liberal as they come, but I'm a fuck've a lot more nuanced with my politics than the folks you are comparing me against. I've praised plenty of Republicans, including Kasich, McCain, Spencer Cox, Greg Bell. I've also voted for some of those guys. Lebowski is s Republican and Bluek is a Libertarian. We're just aware of how Trump is turning the country into a kakistocracy.

I think Drumpf is destroying the republican party just like the Clintons are destroying the democratic party... God bless them.