Tax Cuts - how'd it affect your check?

So funny to hear Dems. grudgingly admitting they now get to keep more of their money every week but still looking for something to complain about....

Count Chocula wrote:

I mean, 39.6% for the highest earners seems reasonable to describe as "approaching 40%"

You changed your username there, but I get your point.

That's a marginal rate. You get the lower rates for a very nice income below a certain threshold.

That top end marginal rate mostly affects athletes and movie stars, because it is a paid wage for services.

Most people that make over a million dollars get that income through passive gains and things that are taxed at a different, lower rate.

You can get hit with that rate if you are an LLC owner with high profits. But when those profits get high you would probably change your status to be taxed like a C corp to find beneficial deductions to pay lower taxes.

The tax code was not reformed. It was not made simpler for those that had complicated tax returns already.

I think you hit them all :-)

All I’m seeing in these tax cuts posts are a massive loss of revenue for the government. When your social security isn’t around because the govt has to sell it to make up for these tax cuts, just remember this post.

Don’t get me wrong, extra money in your pockets is a great thing! But it comes at the expense of the government. This is nothing more than a helicopter drop of money to the citizens by the govt. It will come at the expense of our stability when the national debt explodes worse than under obama.

Beautiful Day wrote:

And tuition is raised at the college I'm paying, as of next week. Eff a tax "cut," I need reduced cost in real stuff.

This is just blowing smoke.

Waaaaaah! Waaaaah! I need everything given to me! Waaaaaaah! You blow money right and left on needless cr@p. I know your kind.

Rainy Day wrote:

I never said the GOP would reduce spending. I said in theory if the govt does. I’m not a Republican or a Democrat.

Remember the federal deficit grew more under Obama than anyone in history. I think 98% of politicians are acting in their own self interest.

I do believe a short term tax cut for the vast majority of Americans and corporations is a good thing. Let the multi billion $ companies bring profits back into the US ( Facebook, Google, Apple, etc.)

Look. There wouldn't have been as big a deficit under Obama if 1.. W had paid for his wars by raising taxes instead of putting them on the credit cards and 2.. if the economy didn't have to be rescued by increasing the money supply via the stimulus. And don't give me that BS that the stimulus did nothing. It saved the auto industry and it did what was predicted based on the size.

WhataboutObama... yea, what about him leading us out of the hole that was dug.

Now WhataboutTrump ... 1.5 trillion dollar deficit tax break and crickets from the deficit hawks. Republican deficits (Reagan) are good. Democratic deficits are bad.. bad .. bad.

run with the wom wrote:

Now WhataboutTrump ... 1.5 trillion dollar deficit tax break and crickets from the deficit hawks. Republican deficits (Reagan) are good. Democratic deficits are bad.. bad .. bad.

I see you've learned about politics :-) That's how it works, how it's always worked, and how it will always work. From both sides.

We should reduce the growth of the state and have tax breaks like this every year.

Who's with me?

Start with the EPA, DOEdu, NIH, and NPR.

I am not the original poster, though I realize I can't prove that. But I do agree that comparatively few people would actually pay at the 39.6% rate because not all income is paid wage income.

So far nothing but a 4% tax and health care increase. Thanks Cheeto!

Nothingburger wrote:

So far nothing but a 4% tax and health care increase.

What's your situation that you saw a 4% tax increase?

asdfe wrote:

Nothingburger wrote:

So far nothing but a 4% tax and health care increase.

What's your situation that you saw a 4% tax increase?

Pretty middle class and standard income and deductions. I did get a 2% raise at the end of the year. But let's wait until Feb checks roll in before casting final judgement.

Nothingburger wrote:

asdfe wrote:

What's your situation that you saw a 4% tax increase?

Pretty middle class and standard income and deductions. I did get a 2% raise at the end of the year. But let's wait until Feb checks roll in before casting final judgement.

Ah, ok - that makes more sense.

The next test will be when people file their taxes next year. If they're used to a $X dollar return, whether they get closer to a $2X or an $X/2 return will affect a lot of people's opinions on the tax bill.

I'm a fiscal conservative. I usually get to choose between

GOP - tax cuts and massing overspending

Democrats - tax increases and massing overspending

The latter is the wrong idea, but the former is truly stupid.

I'm not complaining. I am so excited the Bank of China has extended us more credit that I am going to go out and spend like there's no tomorrow. And the best part is I hear I won't get the bill. Some suckers named Children and Grandchildren are gonna have to cough up the cash. I am so proud of myself. I might actually be feeling Great again.

What about bonuses? Have any of you gotten bonuses due to the tax cuts? Seems like most companies are just going to hold on to the massive amount of money they save or keep it within the top executives and board members. I would hope they would at least pass some of it on to share holders. Have any of the running shoe companies given out any additional bonuses? Really curious to know. My company has done nothing in this area. My pay check is a few dollars (like $15) bigger per pay period but I lose a large portion of my SALT deductions so I am one of the few that will pay more in taxes under the new plan. I wouldn't mind as much if I was helping those less fortunate than me but to help those that make far more than me doesn't seem right.

Interesting. What about inflation? A rough average of government numbers (yeah, like they're real) and economic website numbers gives an average between 2.25 - 3%, so we'll say 2.65% average, thereabouts. Just using this for an example. (And I'm not using the Consumer Price Index...so not trustworthy through the years.). Let's say you're grossing $50K a year. Let's say you get a $1500 bump from the new tax cuts/plan/rates. So now you're making $51.5K a year. Sounds good, but if inflation is 2.65% that means you'd have to make $51,325 this year (2018) (That would be 50K x 2.65% then add back in) just to have the same purchasing power (value of money) as you did last year (2017). So in reality, you got $175 back, or about $15 a month, so not as high as you're thinking. Most people never think about inflation and how it is the true, hidden income tax on everything. It's great the government, regardless of who is in power, is letting people keep more of their dollars, but in a sense the dollars are slowly but surely getting worth less, so why not let people keep more of that which is worth less. Just my two 'cents.' (Which by the time you finished reading this paragraph are also worth less than two cents.)

truthseakr wrote:

So funny to hear Dems. grudgingly admitting they now get to keep more of their money every week but still looking for something to complain about....

Was going to say the same thing. It's like they just can't help themselves.

But to measure your net change due to the tax break, you'd have to do the same math for what you would have taken home before the tax break, then calculate the difference. Calculating only one number is meaningless if trying to see the effect of the tax bill.