I live in California I itemize… I will lose my deductions I’m retired and probably my gross income is the mid-50s thousand
Richard Russell
7 years ago
I support Trump and his handling of the press 100%
Jerry in Nebraska
7 years ago
I have not been able to itemize for ten years or better. Last year was the first time I was able to get a refund from both state and federal. I selected the “unsure” item because I really don’t know what to expect. I am hoping my tax burden will decrease, and there is no way of really knowing until all the numbers are in.
Steve in NY
7 years ago
An income tax is unfair, those with the top 10% of incomes, pay 50% of the income tax while the bottom 50% pay nothing. The tax should be on consumption and everyone should pay a small amount. This would be more fair and the rich who spend more would pay more in taxes based on their spending.
Allen
7 years ago
I agree with Jerry from Nebraska and Richard. None of us have a clue as to what the final bill going across President’s Trump will be like. There is one bill in the House and an entirely different one in the Senate. Hopefully, the final bill will mostly be the best of both bills , and not any of the worst of either. Until, we have an opportunity to read a final bill & not just listen to so many of these naysayers, the jury is out. If the Republicans don’t get something done, there’ll be a problem at the ballot box.
Earnest Tull
7 years ago
I run 2016 taxes in the GOP House plan, My taxes will go up by 10%.
I’m a single male 73 yrs old & itemize, small pension, ss & have to take an RMD.
2016 taxes about 1750 new GOP plan 1925 = +175 tax increase
Roger
7 years ago
One aspect of the House Bill and proposed Senate Bill that is overlooked and misunderstood is the State and Local Tax (SALT) credit, which is eliminated in the House version and limited to $10,000 in the Senate version. I am for either option, but prefer the complete elimination of this credit. The removal seems punitive to those in high tax states, such as California, New York, and Connecticut, among other states. Note that the highest taxed states are mostly controlled by Democrats. While the ‘penalty’ of the loss of this credit is punitive, it will bring the high taxes to the attention of the voters an highest taxpayers in those ‘deep blue’ states.
My hope is that the negative attention of the ‘penalty’ will draw votes away from the Democrats who have, for decades, run their states into serious and damaging fiscal troubles, and yield more votes for Republicans so that they may control the legislature and governor seats, to cut spending and lower taxes.
After some time, the lowered tax rates in those formerly ‘deep blue’ states will be on par with other states, and all states citizens will look more closely at fair and reasonable spending and taxes in their home states. The alternative may be an exodus of taxpayers from ‘deep blue’ states to lower-taxed ‘red’ states, which will, eventually, have the same effect as I described above. So, some high taxed state citizens will suffer higher taxes in the short run, but we may return to a scenario of reasonable levels of taxation in (nearly) all states in the long run. No pain, no gain.
David
7 years ago
I have to agree with several of the other comments, when the final bill arrives what will it look like. The poll you asked us to take I believe is based on the house bill or what was preposed in the beginning. I am lucky so far, Wyoming doesn’t have a state income tax. I call this the Boston tea party tax. When I retire in the next several months I would like to move to a warmer climate but with the taxes being so high in other states I will remain in Wyoming. I will just keep buying warmer clothes with the extra money.
Paul Clagett
7 years ago
The bill does nothing to address boomers like most of us are whose SS income is being unfairly taxed. There should be no tax on a retirees SS income period.
Corry
7 years ago
I live in NY and pay high property taxes which won’t be deductible.
Irv C
7 years ago
I don’t understand how Trumps plan helps. The poor Pay more, the wealthy less? What up with this? I thought he was for the People? Not the filthy rich.
The Drummer in Orlando
7 years ago
This as any attempt to simplify and reduce will not be as successful as the “FAIR TAX” which would completely eliminate personal income tax and do away with the 80,000 pages of the convoluted tax code.
Larry in PRNJ (People's Rep of NJ)
7 years ago
I live in a VERY blue state and pay 12.5% of our income in property, sales and income taxes yet am unable to itemize deductions for federal tax purposes because deductions do not reach standard deduction threshold. I am all for eliminating SALT deductions because it penalizes middle and lower income people living in BLUE states. It gives as much as a 39.6% discount on state taxes paid by those who are able to itemize. Consequently they do not FEEL the effects of high state taxes as much as those who cannot itemize. They continue to blindly vote dems into office who continue to screw the working class. Elimination of SALT may very well change some political minds. To eliminate the rejoinder of “well why don’t you move ?” I value family more than money and family is here.
TJ in SC
7 years ago
Those of us that reside in states with more responsible taxe rates should not have our Federal tax dollars going to subsidize those in states that charge exorbitant local and state taxes just because they know we will subsidize them with the itemization breaks. Doing away with the State tax deductions and lowering the over all rate is something I would welcome.
Steve
7 years ago
If they can do their job in D.C , I will believe it when I see it .
Norman Lawrence in York, PA
7 years ago
Until a final version is passed and signed into law everything so far is just speculation. We forget that in Washington double-speak they use a totally different vocabulary. One great example of this: let’s say, Dept. of Education has a budget of $1.5 mil for some program, they request for the coming year a budget of $1.9 mil, they get an approval for $1.7 mil, that to them is a spending cut even though they got additional funds. Semantics at its worst! With Trump’s experience in business and finance I am sure that he will NOT sign anything into law that hurts American citizens.
Steve in TX
7 years ago
Two areas concern me. One is the ability to deduct property taxes and sales taxes (Texas has high sales tax and property tax to make up for no income tax). Secondly, as I understand it, the new tax bill passed by the house includes significant cuts to Medicare.
Joe b
7 years ago
I think that as soon as they have most of this worked with the Senate, they should develop a smartphone app so people can test it out using last years info off their returns. If it’s really simpler it should be easy and if the majority of users save money there would be the nothing to sell.
Ronnie
7 years ago
I have not seen any mention of retaining the additional deduction for those over 65 and/or blind.
joe
7 years ago
Doubling of the standard deduction will definitely result in a significant reduction of my income tax.
joe
7 years ago
Doubling of the standard deduction will significantly reduce my income tax.
The Rev. Neal Humphrey
7 years ago
My wife and I are retired. I’m clergy, she’s a CPA. We pulled out our 2016 tax return and compared the numbers with the information released so far describing the tax reform bill. Our taxes might remain about the same but are likely to go up. Unless they fix the tax reform flaws, this GOP bill is a fraud when it comes to benefitting the middle class.
Patti
7 years ago
Unless government spending is addressed not much will change. We are boomers also and are probably supporting another family with taxes we pay each year. When 50 % aren’t paying taxes and being supported by us (housing, medical, food, childcare, etc) plus receiving 10 to 24k in Earned (haha) Income Credits each year it is very discouraging. Illegals get this also. Here in Maryland our government is raising section 8 housing to 3 to 4,000 a month to move these residents into more affluent neighborhoods. All this does is destroy our property values….complaints about noise, drugs, etc fall on deaf ears.
Vincent
7 years ago
We now pay more in federal, state and local taxes than we to feed and clothe our families. This plan does little for the middle class, unless you take adavantae of the increase in the child tax credit and don’t own a home. The loss of the state and local tax deduction will not be offset by the increase in the standard deduction. It seems the Republicans hate the middle class as much as Democrats. We’re only good for our tax money – either to fund the Welfare Plantation or the country club elite. To pay for the “cuts”, they talk yet again about cutting Medicare, which we paid for. They should be cutting Medicaid, which is a free gift. I believe we need our own Middle Class Party to advance our interests.
Rickster
7 years ago
Depending on what these morons decide to keep in it – for the most part I’ll see a decrease in taxes – which we’ll spend with no problems. I just hope they get it done and reduce the corporate taxes to 20% that will be great. If I get the doubled exemption plus my 401K plus my home owners taxes as minus signs I’ll be better off to the tune of about $1750 a year. That could pay for my gas & electric bill for the year.
And then hopefully they’ll be able to then focus on spending. There is so much money being spent by the federal government there is no way it’s being done efficiently or effectively.
Tony
7 years ago
The bill does nothing to protect seniors, especially those living in blue states like New Jersey who own homes, are of low to moderate income, and depend on deductions like state and local taxes, mortgage interest, etc. Forces people like me aged 73 who works 3 part-time jobs to never visualize peaceful, earned retirement. Cruel
Allan
7 years ago
I live in a community in PA that has lost every factory and most work places. Our K Mart just closed, and now Sears is closing. There are no jobs, and about 30% of all homes here are for sale at depressed prices. Old rust belt Western PA. The largest employer in this community by far is the State of PA. My property taxes have doubled; now well over $10,000 which the house says is the limit for a deduction. We have in the greater community about 27,000 people. The State of PA is broke, over 2 billion in this years budget. We pay local Borough property taxes, huge school taxes, county taxes, 6% sales tax, several per cap., and some of the highest gas tax and liquor taxes in the country. We pay out more than $25,000 in state, local taxes.. Supposed to get about $1,300 off our Federal taxes, leaving us as seniors, at over 70 y o a, a $23,700 loss. In retirement we have no way to make up a $23,700 behind loss. How is this a tax cut for millions of seniors? It is a tax on taxes! I have worked hard all my life, so that I could enjoy retirement in my beautiful home. Now I think because of “tax cuts” we are going to have to sell out, at depressed prices, This is not tax reform, but just taking money from people like us to fund other corporations and individuals. I approve of the tax cut for business down to 20%. This will help build employment. But we can’t be employed. . .Plus, no deductions for health care expenses. This tax bill should be opposed by every senior, it needs to be amended to include local taxes at 100%, to allow for health care costs, and in several other ways.
ScarletDove
7 years ago
First, I am a conservative, not a whining liberal! I am all for tax reform BUT seniors will be affected by these tax changes as long as any deductions are eliminated. I am 75, have pension, SS and IRA payouts, worked 40+ years, retired at 71 so I could live financially independent. Why might I ask are medical expenses, st/local taxes and prop taxes being rescinded. Then there are Contributions which I am now able to make as I choose. Without medical expenses able to be deducted, this is a detriment to seniors and/or people who have medical needs. And what about the continuing high premiums of the failed Obamacare for those affected, not able to deduct? This GOP tax plan should only be used for business and corporate, and the individual taxpayers reform needs to be redone separately from corporate/business.
Edward J. Barnas
7 years ago
It is disingenuous to stress the standard deduction basically doubling, and not also saying that the personal exemption(s) will disappear. Last year, my itemized deductions amounted to about $23,500, but when adding the personal exemptions of $8,100, the total subtraction amounted to $31,600. The new tax bill, eliminating the personal exemption, makes my total subtraction only $24,000. Ergo, my taxes are significantly going up – not down
Ken Squires
7 years ago
Because I live in Ca and make less than 100k per year, I expect my taxes to stay about the Same… or eventualy increase in this entitlement prone state…
So because of that, and the oppressive attitudes of liberals towards Conservatives in general, Gun Laws included, next year I will be taking my PERS RETIREMENT TO ARIZONA. So long Libs ??
Lee Glidewell
7 years ago
I’ve always said 10%, period. The Bible mentions “tithing”, or the tenth part is what is fair to the house of God. If it’s good enough for God’s House, it should be good enough for the White House! “Nuff said…
Bob Warner
7 years ago
My taxes will increase significantly. I will lose my deductions for state and local taxes which for 2017 include about $3500.00 sales tax +3000.00 property tax +tax for license plates and wheel tax on vehicles. This results in much higher taxable income and also puts me in the 25% bracket instead of the 18% current bracket.
Roger
7 years ago
That’s wishful thinking. The only route to that situation, one day, is small steps, by first lowering taxes so that GDP increases and Republicans/ Conservatives / Tea Party Patriots gain more seats in state and federal legislatures, and more Republican Governors are seated, allowing the move toward a Flat Tax and a Constitutional Convention that leads to a balanced budget Amendment to the Constitution.
Dee
7 years ago
Why don’t they make it a simple percent of everybody’s income like 10% thus everyone is paying the same percent based on their income. No exceptions.
Maria Rose
7 years ago
I am unsure if how taxes will be effected on income which is primarily Social Security and pensions. Right now anything over $25000 annually is considered taxable after reaching full retirement age. I would like to know if this will change, especially since I don’t use any deductions just standard deduction. I live in a state with high SALT but my income is too low to have ever used that as deduction, so eliminating that doesn’t effect me.
I would appreciate any evaluation of how we seniors are effected on how our retirement income is taxed, as majority of income for most of us is not earned money per se but money coming from benefit funds.
Chuck
7 years ago
As Will Rogers said in 1924: “America has the best politicians that money can buy”.
jeff
7 years ago
I am from Taxifornia. A ONE party state. I may loose Home Tax deduction. Deduction of State Tax. Deduction of Fed Tax. Medical deduction. They Tax SS. and they hate Prop 13 I could give a hoot about Inheritance for the Uber rich. Very disappointed. And Trump condones Killing Elephants.
BruceM
7 years ago
Being a retired Certified Financial Planner with a focus on tax management, I got tired of reading the biased ‘news’ on whose tax would go up vs go down, so I set to work and created a pretty sophisticated Excel workbook on calculating comparative tax between the current system, the House proposal and the Senate proposal, and then proceeded to run a hundred iterations of household income combinations. The general results are that middle class dual income households with children $300,000 for a couple with two children over 17 in a state with greater than 5% state income tax and greater than a 1.25% property tax will uniformly see their Fed income tax increase. Of course, this is only the proposed tax changes and households will have a variety of tax issues that will affect their final tax.
For ‘average’ retirees, I see mostly a slight reduction in tax. For example, a retired couple homeowners with their mortgage paid or nearly paid off in a state with a 5% state income tax and a 1% property tax and with a $40,000 pension(s) and $36,000 in Social Security who take the standard deduction, their Fed tax will decline by $500 to $800.
C Winslett
7 years ago
Opened to answer the tax poll. Why don’t you allow comments on unsure or somewhere else? My comment on that is what difference does it make at this moment? Because of McConnell and so many other RINO’S, you can’t get real tax reform; thus take what you can get and get rid of the RINO’S.
You mean treat the liberal media like president Regan did ? How they like him or you mean like obama did and had em submit questions before hand and only called on the media that favored him, like CBS that accepted : ‘ Not one shred of evidence’ regarding the IRS!!!!! Maybe ya’ll should sell out to the liberal company that provides the same BS???
James McMahon
7 years ago
I am already too poor to owe any income tax!
Tom
7 years ago
Tax reform, as par for the course, is a big, fat, ugly joke. Will the tax code decrease? NO! It will increase another gazillion pages and the deficit will continue to blossom into a full grown picker-bush. Just try and plow through the IRA section of the tax code. Talk about going dizzy. Nothing will change for most Americans as the DC Swamp will continue to pilfer money for their own uses. Any tax reform relief you might see will likely be erased by rising local and state taxes as the full burden of magnificently underfunded pensions comes into full view…and despite what Congress and the politicians tell us, it is beyond terrifying. Republican or not, I will never trust another politician with ANYTHING!
T-Bone Bob
7 years ago
The House bill does away with medical deductions. That is a major hit on seniors. The Senate wants to keep it, but they don’t seem very enthusiastic about it. We need to see a tax calculator using their proposed rules so we can see what they actually have in mind to screw us.
Verna
7 years ago
While I expect my taxes will remain the same, the process/burden will be ALOT easier
Bruce
7 years ago
Pres Trump has to take what he can get now. Remember, both parties and the entire town of DC is against him. It would not surprise me if the Rino’s in the Senate end up de-railing this anyway. Just remember those that do not support Trump now in the 2018 elections. I’m not saying to vote democrat, It will be time to primary the Rino’s out and elect those that will support this President. Then get better legislation.
Gary
7 years ago
I agree that the tax bill will do nothing for baby boomers on SS and if the idiot senate gets the estate tax to stay in the tax bill will do nothing for retirees. We need taxes lowered for businesses so they can hire more and grow but I do not trust the RINOS to do anything to help anyone but themselves! They never have liked Trump and therefore they do not like the people that voted for him just like the Democreeps!!
JIM
7 years ago
my wife and I are on a fixed income. The tax plan does nothing for retired individuals whose income exceeds the $50,000 cap at which point any income is taxed. IF CONGRESS REALLY wanted to help those of us
that have retirement income more $50,000 but less than $75,000 congress could at least raise the cap to $75,000 or 100,000 to help with the cost of living and health care. The republicans seem to have no problem helping those who have no problem making ends meet with millions in the tax reform compared to hundreds of dollars that would help those of that worked hard and saved all are lives to at least maintain a reasonable standard of living, which has greatly diminished.
Rick
7 years ago
I haven’t heard if there’s anything in either version of the bill about indexing and increasing the $25k or $32k threshold for taxing SS. Does anyone know if either bill addresses this? That’s what AMAC should be fighting for! If the tax on SS can’t be eliminated, at least these amounts could be indexed like everything else – like it should have been all along. If these figures had been indexed to inflation, they would have doubled by now, and most seniors wouldn’t be paying tax on their SS at all!
Mikel Young
7 years ago
Won’t happen. The media is biased and don’t like Trump. We all need to get behind this president and that means congress
Marj
7 years ago
Until I see the Senate version of this Bill I don’t know if I will be hurt or benefited. I do disagree with the House version taking away the deductions for Medical. There are many families with seriously ill children and Seniors with serious health issues. Both can’t afford to lose deductions. Families have more than one child to feed, cloth, shelter and educate. A majority of Seniors are on Fixed Incomes of Soc. Sec..
Kieran
7 years ago
Nobody is talking about retired social security receipts on a fixed income. How is tax reform going to affect us ?
I live in California I itemize… I will lose my deductions I’m retired and probably my gross income is the mid-50s thousand
I support Trump and his handling of the press 100%
I have not been able to itemize for ten years or better. Last year was the first time I was able to get a refund from both state and federal. I selected the “unsure” item because I really don’t know what to expect. I am hoping my tax burden will decrease, and there is no way of really knowing until all the numbers are in.
An income tax is unfair, those with the top 10% of incomes, pay 50% of the income tax while the bottom 50% pay nothing. The tax should be on consumption and everyone should pay a small amount. This would be more fair and the rich who spend more would pay more in taxes based on their spending.
I agree with Jerry from Nebraska and Richard. None of us have a clue as to what the final bill going across President’s Trump will be like. There is one bill in the House and an entirely different one in the Senate. Hopefully, the final bill will mostly be the best of both bills , and not any of the worst of either. Until, we have an opportunity to read a final bill & not just listen to so many of these naysayers, the jury is out. If the Republicans don’t get something done, there’ll be a problem at the ballot box.
I run 2016 taxes in the GOP House plan, My taxes will go up by 10%.
I’m a single male 73 yrs old & itemize, small pension, ss & have to take an RMD.
2016 taxes about 1750 new GOP plan 1925 = +175 tax increase
One aspect of the House Bill and proposed Senate Bill that is overlooked and misunderstood is the State and Local Tax (SALT) credit, which is eliminated in the House version and limited to $10,000 in the Senate version. I am for either option, but prefer the complete elimination of this credit. The removal seems punitive to those in high tax states, such as California, New York, and Connecticut, among other states. Note that the highest taxed states are mostly controlled by Democrats. While the ‘penalty’ of the loss of this credit is punitive, it will bring the high taxes to the attention of the voters an highest taxpayers in those ‘deep blue’ states.
My hope is that the negative attention of the ‘penalty’ will draw votes away from the Democrats who have, for decades, run their states into serious and damaging fiscal troubles, and yield more votes for Republicans so that they may control the legislature and governor seats, to cut spending and lower taxes.
After some time, the lowered tax rates in those formerly ‘deep blue’ states will be on par with other states, and all states citizens will look more closely at fair and reasonable spending and taxes in their home states. The alternative may be an exodus of taxpayers from ‘deep blue’ states to lower-taxed ‘red’ states, which will, eventually, have the same effect as I described above. So, some high taxed state citizens will suffer higher taxes in the short run, but we may return to a scenario of reasonable levels of taxation in (nearly) all states in the long run. No pain, no gain.
I have to agree with several of the other comments, when the final bill arrives what will it look like. The poll you asked us to take I believe is based on the house bill or what was preposed in the beginning. I am lucky so far, Wyoming doesn’t have a state income tax. I call this the Boston tea party tax. When I retire in the next several months I would like to move to a warmer climate but with the taxes being so high in other states I will remain in Wyoming. I will just keep buying warmer clothes with the extra money.
The bill does nothing to address boomers like most of us are whose SS income is being unfairly taxed. There should be no tax on a retirees SS income period.
I live in NY and pay high property taxes which won’t be deductible.
I don’t understand how Trumps plan helps. The poor Pay more, the wealthy less? What up with this? I thought he was for the People? Not the filthy rich.
This as any attempt to simplify and reduce will not be as successful as the “FAIR TAX” which would completely eliminate personal income tax and do away with the 80,000 pages of the convoluted tax code.
I live in a VERY blue state and pay 12.5% of our income in property, sales and income taxes yet am unable to itemize deductions for federal tax purposes because deductions do not reach standard deduction threshold. I am all for eliminating SALT deductions because it penalizes middle and lower income people living in BLUE states. It gives as much as a 39.6% discount on state taxes paid by those who are able to itemize. Consequently they do not FEEL the effects of high state taxes as much as those who cannot itemize. They continue to blindly vote dems into office who continue to screw the working class. Elimination of SALT may very well change some political minds. To eliminate the rejoinder of “well why don’t you move ?” I value family more than money and family is here.
Those of us that reside in states with more responsible taxe rates should not have our Federal tax dollars going to subsidize those in states that charge exorbitant local and state taxes just because they know we will subsidize them with the itemization breaks. Doing away with the State tax deductions and lowering the over all rate is something I would welcome.
If they can do their job in D.C , I will believe it when I see it .
Until a final version is passed and signed into law everything so far is just speculation. We forget that in Washington double-speak they use a totally different vocabulary. One great example of this: let’s say, Dept. of Education has a budget of $1.5 mil for some program, they request for the coming year a budget of $1.9 mil, they get an approval for $1.7 mil, that to them is a spending cut even though they got additional funds. Semantics at its worst! With Trump’s experience in business and finance I am sure that he will NOT sign anything into law that hurts American citizens.
Two areas concern me. One is the ability to deduct property taxes and sales taxes (Texas has high sales tax and property tax to make up for no income tax). Secondly, as I understand it, the new tax bill passed by the house includes significant cuts to Medicare.
I think that as soon as they have most of this worked with the Senate, they should develop a smartphone app so people can test it out using last years info off their returns. If it’s really simpler it should be easy and if the majority of users save money there would be the nothing to sell.
I have not seen any mention of retaining the additional deduction for those over 65 and/or blind.
Doubling of the standard deduction will definitely result in a significant reduction of my income tax.
Doubling of the standard deduction will significantly reduce my income tax.
My wife and I are retired. I’m clergy, she’s a CPA. We pulled out our 2016 tax return and compared the numbers with the information released so far describing the tax reform bill. Our taxes might remain about the same but are likely to go up. Unless they fix the tax reform flaws, this GOP bill is a fraud when it comes to benefitting the middle class.
Unless government spending is addressed not much will change. We are boomers also and are probably supporting another family with taxes we pay each year. When 50 % aren’t paying taxes and being supported by us (housing, medical, food, childcare, etc) plus receiving 10 to 24k in Earned (haha) Income Credits each year it is very discouraging. Illegals get this also. Here in Maryland our government is raising section 8 housing to 3 to 4,000 a month to move these residents into more affluent neighborhoods. All this does is destroy our property values….complaints about noise, drugs, etc fall on deaf ears.
We now pay more in federal, state and local taxes than we to feed and clothe our families. This plan does little for the middle class, unless you take adavantae of the increase in the child tax credit and don’t own a home. The loss of the state and local tax deduction will not be offset by the increase in the standard deduction. It seems the Republicans hate the middle class as much as Democrats. We’re only good for our tax money – either to fund the Welfare Plantation or the country club elite. To pay for the “cuts”, they talk yet again about cutting Medicare, which we paid for. They should be cutting Medicaid, which is a free gift. I believe we need our own Middle Class Party to advance our interests.
Depending on what these morons decide to keep in it – for the most part I’ll see a decrease in taxes – which we’ll spend with no problems. I just hope they get it done and reduce the corporate taxes to 20% that will be great. If I get the doubled exemption plus my 401K plus my home owners taxes as minus signs I’ll be better off to the tune of about $1750 a year. That could pay for my gas & electric bill for the year.
And then hopefully they’ll be able to then focus on spending. There is so much money being spent by the federal government there is no way it’s being done efficiently or effectively.
The bill does nothing to protect seniors, especially those living in blue states like New Jersey who own homes, are of low to moderate income, and depend on deductions like state and local taxes, mortgage interest, etc. Forces people like me aged 73 who works 3 part-time jobs to never visualize peaceful, earned retirement. Cruel
I live in a community in PA that has lost every factory and most work places. Our K Mart just closed, and now Sears is closing. There are no jobs, and about 30% of all homes here are for sale at depressed prices. Old rust belt Western PA. The largest employer in this community by far is the State of PA. My property taxes have doubled; now well over $10,000 which the house says is the limit for a deduction. We have in the greater community about 27,000 people. The State of PA is broke, over 2 billion in this years budget. We pay local Borough property taxes, huge school taxes, county taxes, 6% sales tax, several per cap., and some of the highest gas tax and liquor taxes in the country. We pay out more than $25,000 in state, local taxes.. Supposed to get about $1,300 off our Federal taxes, leaving us as seniors, at over 70 y o a, a $23,700 loss. In retirement we have no way to make up a $23,700 behind loss. How is this a tax cut for millions of seniors? It is a tax on taxes! I have worked hard all my life, so that I could enjoy retirement in my beautiful home. Now I think because of “tax cuts” we are going to have to sell out, at depressed prices, This is not tax reform, but just taking money from people like us to fund other corporations and individuals. I approve of the tax cut for business down to 20%. This will help build employment. But we can’t be employed. . .Plus, no deductions for health care expenses. This tax bill should be opposed by every senior, it needs to be amended to include local taxes at 100%, to allow for health care costs, and in several other ways.
First, I am a conservative, not a whining liberal! I am all for tax reform BUT seniors will be affected by these tax changes as long as any deductions are eliminated. I am 75, have pension, SS and IRA payouts, worked 40+ years, retired at 71 so I could live financially independent. Why might I ask are medical expenses, st/local taxes and prop taxes being rescinded. Then there are Contributions which I am now able to make as I choose. Without medical expenses able to be deducted, this is a detriment to seniors and/or people who have medical needs. And what about the continuing high premiums of the failed Obamacare for those affected, not able to deduct? This GOP tax plan should only be used for business and corporate, and the individual taxpayers reform needs to be redone separately from corporate/business.
It is disingenuous to stress the standard deduction basically doubling, and not also saying that the personal exemption(s) will disappear. Last year, my itemized deductions amounted to about $23,500, but when adding the personal exemptions of $8,100, the total subtraction amounted to $31,600. The new tax bill, eliminating the personal exemption, makes my total subtraction only $24,000. Ergo, my taxes are significantly going up – not down
Because I live in Ca and make less than 100k per year, I expect my taxes to stay about the Same… or eventualy increase in this entitlement prone state…
So because of that, and the oppressive attitudes of liberals towards Conservatives in general, Gun Laws included, next year I will be taking my PERS RETIREMENT TO ARIZONA. So long Libs ??
I’ve always said 10%, period. The Bible mentions “tithing”, or the tenth part is what is fair to the house of God. If it’s good enough for God’s House, it should be good enough for the White House! “Nuff said…
My taxes will increase significantly. I will lose my deductions for state and local taxes which for 2017 include about $3500.00 sales tax +3000.00 property tax +tax for license plates and wheel tax on vehicles. This results in much higher taxable income and also puts me in the 25% bracket instead of the 18% current bracket.
That’s wishful thinking. The only route to that situation, one day, is small steps, by first lowering taxes so that GDP increases and Republicans/ Conservatives / Tea Party Patriots gain more seats in state and federal legislatures, and more Republican Governors are seated, allowing the move toward a Flat Tax and a Constitutional Convention that leads to a balanced budget Amendment to the Constitution.
Why don’t they make it a simple percent of everybody’s income like 10% thus everyone is paying the same percent based on their income. No exceptions.
I am unsure if how taxes will be effected on income which is primarily Social Security and pensions. Right now anything over $25000 annually is considered taxable after reaching full retirement age. I would like to know if this will change, especially since I don’t use any deductions just standard deduction. I live in a state with high SALT but my income is too low to have ever used that as deduction, so eliminating that doesn’t effect me.
I would appreciate any evaluation of how we seniors are effected on how our retirement income is taxed, as majority of income for most of us is not earned money per se but money coming from benefit funds.
As Will Rogers said in 1924: “America has the best politicians that money can buy”.
I am from Taxifornia. A ONE party state. I may loose Home Tax deduction. Deduction of State Tax. Deduction of Fed Tax. Medical deduction. They Tax SS. and they hate Prop 13 I could give a hoot about Inheritance for the Uber rich. Very disappointed. And Trump condones Killing Elephants.
Being a retired Certified Financial Planner with a focus on tax management, I got tired of reading the biased ‘news’ on whose tax would go up vs go down, so I set to work and created a pretty sophisticated Excel workbook on calculating comparative tax between the current system, the House proposal and the Senate proposal, and then proceeded to run a hundred iterations of household income combinations. The general results are that middle class dual income households with children $300,000 for a couple with two children over 17 in a state with greater than 5% state income tax and greater than a 1.25% property tax will uniformly see their Fed income tax increase. Of course, this is only the proposed tax changes and households will have a variety of tax issues that will affect their final tax.
For ‘average’ retirees, I see mostly a slight reduction in tax. For example, a retired couple homeowners with their mortgage paid or nearly paid off in a state with a 5% state income tax and a 1% property tax and with a $40,000 pension(s) and $36,000 in Social Security who take the standard deduction, their Fed tax will decline by $500 to $800.
Opened to answer the tax poll. Why don’t you allow comments on unsure or somewhere else? My comment on that is what difference does it make at this moment? Because of McConnell and so many other RINO’S, you can’t get real tax reform; thus take what you can get and get rid of the RINO’S.
You mean treat the liberal media like president Regan did ? How they like him or you mean like obama did and had em submit questions before hand and only called on the media that favored him, like CBS that accepted : ‘ Not one shred of evidence’ regarding the IRS!!!!! Maybe ya’ll should sell out to the liberal company that provides the same BS???
I am already too poor to owe any income tax!
Tax reform, as par for the course, is a big, fat, ugly joke. Will the tax code decrease? NO! It will increase another gazillion pages and the deficit will continue to blossom into a full grown picker-bush. Just try and plow through the IRA section of the tax code. Talk about going dizzy. Nothing will change for most Americans as the DC Swamp will continue to pilfer money for their own uses. Any tax reform relief you might see will likely be erased by rising local and state taxes as the full burden of magnificently underfunded pensions comes into full view…and despite what Congress and the politicians tell us, it is beyond terrifying. Republican or not, I will never trust another politician with ANYTHING!
The House bill does away with medical deductions. That is a major hit on seniors. The Senate wants to keep it, but they don’t seem very enthusiastic about it. We need to see a tax calculator using their proposed rules so we can see what they actually have in mind to screw us.
While I expect my taxes will remain the same, the process/burden will be ALOT easier
Pres Trump has to take what he can get now. Remember, both parties and the entire town of DC is against him. It would not surprise me if the Rino’s in the Senate end up de-railing this anyway. Just remember those that do not support Trump now in the 2018 elections. I’m not saying to vote democrat, It will be time to primary the Rino’s out and elect those that will support this President. Then get better legislation.
I agree that the tax bill will do nothing for baby boomers on SS and if the idiot senate gets the estate tax to stay in the tax bill will do nothing for retirees. We need taxes lowered for businesses so they can hire more and grow but I do not trust the RINOS to do anything to help anyone but themselves! They never have liked Trump and therefore they do not like the people that voted for him just like the Democreeps!!
my wife and I are on a fixed income. The tax plan does nothing for retired individuals whose income exceeds the $50,000 cap at which point any income is taxed. IF CONGRESS REALLY wanted to help those of us
that have retirement income more $50,000 but less than $75,000 congress could at least raise the cap to $75,000 or 100,000 to help with the cost of living and health care. The republicans seem to have no problem helping those who have no problem making ends meet with millions in the tax reform compared to hundreds of dollars that would help those of that worked hard and saved all are lives to at least maintain a reasonable standard of living, which has greatly diminished.
I haven’t heard if there’s anything in either version of the bill about indexing and increasing the $25k or $32k threshold for taxing SS. Does anyone know if either bill addresses this? That’s what AMAC should be fighting for! If the tax on SS can’t be eliminated, at least these amounts could be indexed like everything else – like it should have been all along. If these figures had been indexed to inflation, they would have doubled by now, and most seniors wouldn’t be paying tax on their SS at all!
Won’t happen. The media is biased and don’t like Trump. We all need to get behind this president and that means congress
Until I see the Senate version of this Bill I don’t know if I will be hurt or benefited. I do disagree with the House version taking away the deductions for Medical. There are many families with seriously ill children and Seniors with serious health issues. Both can’t afford to lose deductions. Families have more than one child to feed, cloth, shelter and educate. A majority of Seniors are on Fixed Incomes of Soc. Sec..
Nobody is talking about retired social security receipts on a fixed income. How is tax reform going to affect us ?