Thank You Republicans

Gotta wonder about folks who seem to enjoy others' pain. 

Very Trumpy.

I also just saved a bundle on my car insurance.

I was pleasantly suprised when I filed.  I had envisioned having to pay $4k to $5k but I was wrong, I only had to pay $2,500 this year.  Compared to getting back about $1k last year.   

Now that I am thinking about it...... I was right with my first number.  We had adjusted our withholdings back in January last year.

I can put it this way: The tax rate on my household’s gross income went from 10.0 percent to 12.6 percent.

drummerboy said:
Is any presidential candidate running on repeal of this tax "cut"? They seem to be awfully silent about it.

All the presidential candidates want to change the tax code in one way or another, but as for who prioritizes repealing the SALT cap?  

That I don't know, but there are only 40 Congressional Democrats right now signed up as co-sponsors of SALT cap repeal (the "Stop the Attack on Local Taxpayers Act"), which is far from a majority of the Democratic caucus.  Even if other Democrats would support an unlimited SALT deduction but don't feel like becoming co-sponsors, it's still not a majority of theDemocratic caucus, let alone the whole House of Representatives.  

Of the 40 Congressional Democrats who are signed on as co-sponsors, 30 are from NY, NJ, or CA.

NY, NJ, and CA have some powerful members of Congress who might insist that a SALT cap repeal be inserted into any tax code changes, but I think that getting a full repeal would at least require a lot of arm twisting.  To ask Democrats from moderate-tax and low-tax states to support an unlimited tax deduction is asking them to raise taxes on their rich+affluent people so that rich+affluent people in NJ can get a tax break. 

Since the benefits of SALT cap repeal would overwhelmingly go to high-income people (according to Brookings, the top 1% would get 56% of the benefits), a SALT cap repeal wouldn't be controversy-free even among progressives.  

Also, the TCJA also doubled the standard deduction, which nullifies the SALT deduction for millions of middle-income people.  I don't think there is any chance that this change will be reversed.  Therefore the higher tax costs of life in NJ versus life in normal-tax states will remain more acute for middle-income people than pre-TCJA no matter what.

http://fortune.com/2019/03/09/salt-cap-taxes-state-local/

https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2019/02/11/blue-state-lawmakers-launch-effort-to-repeal-salt-cap-847174

Robert_Casotto said:
I also just saved a bundle on my car insurance.

 You have a driver's license?

Did the republican tax plan work- off hand I think so - lowest unemployment numbers in employment history - lowest unemployment claims in 60 years - middle class manufacturing jobs are returning to US for first time in a generation  - not too bad - not bad at all!

Runner_Guy said:
Of the 40 Congressional Democrats who are signed on as co-sponsors, 30 are from NY, NJ, or CA.
NY, NJ, and CA have some powerful members of Congress who might insist that a SALT cap repeal be inserted into any tax code changes, but I think that getting a full repeal would at least require a lot of arm twisting.  To ask Democrats from moderate-tax and low-tax states to support an unlimited tax deduction is asking them to raise taxes on their rich+affluent people so that rich+affluent people in NJ can get a tax break. 

They may have Texas on their side pretty soon. Property taxes are skyrocketing -- they're now among the highest in the country. It's a huge issue with the current session of the legislature since the state hoards sales tax income instead of redistributing it to the municipalities. Tax season is here, upper-income residents are realizing what the SALT cap is all about, and they're not liking it.

comandante said:
Did the republican tax plan work- off hand I think so - lowest unemployment numbers in employment history - lowest unemployment claims in 60 years - middle class manufacturing jobs are returning to US for first time in a generation  - not too bad - not bad at all!

 The fact checkers at DNCalternatereality.com disagree.

kthnry said:

Runner_Guy said:
Of the 40 Congressional Democrats who are signed on as co-sponsors, 30 are from NY, NJ, or CA.
NY, NJ, and CA have some powerful members of Congress who might insist that a SALT cap repeal be inserted into any tax code changes, but I think that getting a full repeal would at least require a lot of arm twisting.  To ask Democrats from moderate-tax and low-tax states to support an unlimited tax deduction is asking them to raise taxes on their rich+affluent people so that rich+affluent people in NJ can get a tax break. 

They may have Texas on their side pretty soon. Property taxes are skyrocketing -- they're now among the highest in the country. It's a huge issue with the current session of the legislature since the state hoards sales tax income instead of redistributing it to the municipalities. Tax season is here, upper-income residents are realizing what the SALT cap is all about, and they're not liking it.

 Perhaps discontent with the SALT cap will spread, but if it does, it doesn't necessarily mean that the unlimited SALT tax deduction will be brought back, since doing so would be very costly and the Democrats are a lot more responsible than the Republicans are.  NJ should be prepared for a compromise where the deduction is lifted to $15,000 or $20,000.  

Our effective rate went up about 2%. We owe thousands despite increasing withholding last January. 

It would be nice if the SALT cap were by taxpayer and not by tax return. If we were single, my wife and I could each deduct $10k. Got married? Sorry, you lose. 

Runner_Guy said:
 Perhaps discontent with the SALT cap will spread, but if it does, it doesn't necessarily mean that the unlimited SALT tax deduction will be brought back, since doing so would be very costly and the Democrats are a lot more responsible than the Republicans are.  NJ should be prepared for a compromise where the deduction is lifted to $15,000 or $20,000.  

Unfortunately there wasn't enough discontent with high taxes before the SALT cap.