It would appear that Carl Cannon took Christmas Eve off from his column. I presume this because it appeared to have been ghost written by the current Administration. Like the Trump White House and most Republican leaders, it perpetuates the myth that the benefit of the new tax bill for middle class Americans will be proved by their 2018 paychecks. Seeing more take-home pay due to lower withholding does not prove anything except a lower withholding tax table. The true proof of the impact to a tax payer’s bottom line will come when they see how they are affected by all the changes to allowable deductions, for those who itemize ( which are many more than the public would be led to believe). Once all the newly removed or reduced deductions are applied, and compared to the increased standard deduction, the standard deduction may prove the better choice, although it may well be less than prior years’ itemized deductions. Thus, adjusted gross income may end up being higher than they were taxed on before, sharply reducing or eliminating any of the much touted benefit.
This will be proved out when 2018 taxes are filed in 2019, conveniently after the 2018 elections.
In addition, the reduced personal rates expire after yet another election, so all can expect their taxes to go up, no matter what the possible current benefit. The corporate reductions remain in perpetuity, which remains the gift that keeps on giving.
The lump of coal in the stocking of the American public will become even more evident, once legislators whose duplicity will not be found out until after the 2018 elections, begin to balance the newly deepened deficit on the back of those who likely need it most. The poor, the ill, the elderly.
Happy New Year, America.
Elise Power
Garden Grove, CA
714 534 3769
Sent from my iPad
