The vast majority only use the standard deduction.Yeah, but that's all.
The vast majority only use the standard deduction.
The vast majority only use the standard deduction.
ZX9RCAM,
You are 100% CORRECT. - Well over HALF of taxpayers take the standard deduction, according to the IRS.
yours, satx
Single goes to $12,000.They get almost doubled in 18. Married joint goes to $24,000 and Single goes to $13,000. Head of Household goes to $18,000.
I don't think they were gimmicks at all. The state sales tax deduction for those who didn't have state income tax was a help. It was based on income, then you could add sales tax to the table amount for large purchases including cars, boats, home remodels, etc. For Texans it was a nice additional deduction. My wealthy buddy who has two houses is going from a $50,000 deduction for taxes to $10,000. That result is an additional $15K in taxes he will have to pay in 18. I don't think that is marginal. Its a hit. My last car didn't cost that much.
I also think your 50% is way too high. The ones who don't pay much tax is more around 20%. And they qualify for earned income credit and other programs. But there is a massive amount of people who are no where near the 28% bracket, but who make too much for any kind of assistance.
Many of those are construction workers, many are dual income families, who were not so fortunate to have health insurance provided to them at their jobs. And, they can't afford to pay for it. Many are fairly uneducated, so they didn't understand the premium tax credit under Obamacare.
So when they thought they were getting a refund to buy their kids clothes, or repair their home, or take a vacation, they are suddenly hit by a Obamacare penalty. So a penalty of $2500 for a guy would made $50,000 is equal to 5% of his income. That's a huge chunk for that income level. The working poor and lower middle got hit the hardest by Obamacare. The wealthy paid more, but they could afford it. The working poor and lower MC had to change their lifestyles to pay for that 5% increase in tax/penalty.
And...if you had one dependent child, I think you'd lose, right?Actually everyone is overlooking one thing in the hoopla about the standard deduction going up. The individual deduction went away.
In my case Married filing jointly: Standard deduction $12,700, individual $4050x2= $8100. Total deducts $20,800. Under 2018 Standard deduction is $24,000 with no individual. I actually gained $3200 in deductions but that a long way from what most see as a almost doubling.
Uncle Sam giveth away with one hand and taketh away with the other. Fortunately in this case the giveth hand is bigger.
And it also benefits lots more small business owners, including family farms, whose collective numbers greatly exceed those in congress, that might otherwise have to liquidate their businesses in order to pay the estate tax. It doesn't affect me (LOL) but I am all for it.Notice that once again, what you do not see is as important as what you do. The Democrats are not proposing Estate Tax increases or even suggesting a reversal of the Estate Tax cuts of Bush and Trump (neither of which the Democrats opposed!) Why? Because 75% of the congress is either benefiting or have heirs benefiting from the estate tax cuts. Pre Bush, the estate tax affected estates over $1 million ($2 million for couples.) Bush increased the exemption to $5.6 million (11.2 million for couples). The Trump law doubled the exemption again to $11.2 million or $22.4 million for couples. Again, this is a benefit to 75% of our congress. Anyone still think our congressmen and senators work for us?