3 ms·

They "make" 70k but only actually see 30k. They used to be taxed on the 30k, which amounted to little or nothing, but the proposal will tax them on the 70k. Pay

They "make" 70k but only actually see 30k. They used to be taxed on the 30k, which amounted to little or nothing, but the proposal will tax them on the 70k. Paying the difference between tax on 30k and tax on 70k out of 30k minus living expenses is painful.

gnicholas 9y ago
Yeah, but where does the $11k calculation come from? Did she run it through tax software from 2016, which doesn't include the larger standard deduction? This change would dramatically reduce the taxes owed by many people who do not itemize. The author admits she isn't a tax lawyer, so I'm curious to know how she arrived at such a detailed figure. Did she use a "how would the GOP tax bill affect your taxes" calculator from some website? She didn't just pull the number out of thin air, and its odd she doesn't say where it came from.
- mattkrause 9y ago
  I just sketched it out above and 11k seems about right.
- theptip 9y ago
  If I lob $70k into the first income tax calculator that Google gives (https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-tax-calculator#ueiFyiZr57 https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-tax-calculator#ueiFy...) I get a $19k tax bill, which gives $30-19 = $11k after tax. There might be a deduction for the tuition fee cost that we're missing, but that sounds like where the number came from.
  - gnicholas 9y ago
    The point is that there are no accurate tax calculators for the new tax bill. The calculator you referenced is for current law. There are of course many difference to account for, but the single largest effect (other than the treatment of imputed tuition payment) is that the standard deduction doubles from $6k to 12k. This will make a big impact, and it's why we can't just rely on tax calculators for the old law when estimating our new taxes. Please reconsider your downvotes — I'm not making arguments in bad faith here. I am truly trying to understand where these numbers came from. If she did use one of these tax calculators, then she made a silly/simple mistake, which frankly the WaPo should have double-checked.

gnicholas 9y ago

Yeah, but where does the $11k calculation come from? Did she run it through tax software from 2016, which doesn't include the larger standard deduction? This change would dramatically reduce the taxes owed by many people who do not itemize. The author admits she isn't a tax lawyer, so I'm curious to know how she arrived at such a detailed figure. Did she use a "how would the GOP tax bill affect your taxes" calculator from some website? She didn't just pull the number out of thin air, and its odd she doesn't say where it came from.

mattkrause 9y ago
I just sketched it out above and 11k seems about right.
theptip 9y ago
If I lob $70k into the first income tax calculator that Google gives (https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-tax-calculator#ueiFyiZr57 https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-tax-calculator#ueiFy...) I get a $19k tax bill, which gives $30-19 = $11k after tax. There might be a deduction for the tuition fee cost that we're missing, but that sounds like where the number came from.
- gnicholas 9y ago
  The point is that there are no accurate tax calculators for the new tax bill. The calculator you referenced is for current law. There are of course many difference to account for, but the single largest effect (other than the treatment of imputed tuition payment) is that the standard deduction doubles from $6k to 12k. This will make a big impact, and it's why we can't just rely on tax calculators for the old law when estimating our new taxes. Please reconsider your downvotes — I'm not making arguments in bad faith here. I am truly trying to understand where these numbers came from. If she did use one of these tax calculators, then she made a silly/simple mistake, which frankly the WaPo should have double-checked.