The author makes a valid complaint about the examples these senators used to promote the tax bill but he doesn't further my understanding of the bill. In fact,

The author makes a valid complaint about the examples these senators used to promote the tax bill but he doesn't further my understanding of the bill. In fact, what little he says about it seems wrong: > All changes to deductions, for example, only affect people who itemize their deductions (almost always high earners)—and within that group, only the subset whose deductions topped the new, doubled standard deduction. And this means that if your income is in the bottom half, your tax return won’t showcase many of the ways the law is changing. Let's break it down: > Most people who itemize are high earners. From what I found[1], 1 in 3 tax filers itemize. Most deductions come from mortgage interest and state and local taxes. I pay a mortgage and a hefty NJ state income tax. Am I a high roller? > The amount you pay in taxes will not change unless your itemized deductions top the new standard deduction. That's exactly wrong, right? If your itemized deductions top the new standard deduction then you will still itemize, so your deduction won't change. If you do not itemize (looking at you, non-high rollers) then your deduction will double. If your itemized deductions are lower than the new standard deduction (peasants like me), your deduction will increase to the new standard deduction. Also, I can't tell if he's saying you won't pay less in taxes, or if he's saying "your tax return won’t showcase many of the ways the law is changing". The latter is vague enough to be non-falsifiable. The former is just wrong because the tax rate is changing for every bracket but the lowest one. This is a contrived example, but a single filer making $50k who took the standard deduction last year would have remained in the 3rd tax bracket (25%) without the bill. With the bill, he'll deduct an additional $6k, which drops him into the 2nd tax bracket, which is now 10% (down from 12% a year ago). That's a nice chunk of change for a deadbeat! 1. http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/who-itemizes-deductions http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/who-itemizes-ded...