4 ms·

The SALT deduction only helped people who itemize, so it was primarily high earners who benefited. Furthermore, a deduction on property taxes helps people with

The SALT deduction only helped people who itemize, so it was primarily high earners who benefited. Furthermore, a deduction on property taxes helps people with high property taxes, so the biggest benefit goes to people with high property values in wealthy communities. So the SALT deduction made funding public schools and maintaining schools less burdensome...in wealthy areas, but did nothing for the poorest communities. Of course the GOP supported it because it helped their constituents at the expense of blue states, but on the other hand...why do you think Democrats were so opposed to removing a deduction that benefited the haves over the have-nots?

r00fus 8y ago
Do you consider anyone owning a house in a large-ish city to be "high earners"? All so Trump could give away the tax dollars to extremely-high income earners. A real transfer of wealth from the middle-class to the ultra-rich.
- telotortium 8y ago
  Yes, I do. Unfortunately, only the (high) upper middle class and upper class can afford to purchase a house today in those cities. They should still be considered high-income for the purposes of taxation. It's not the federal government's fault California is so unaffordable.
jandrese 8y ago
I thought that most people with a mortgage itemized last year, because that mortgage interest deduction is huge until you're close to paying off your house. This isn't just high earners, it's the middle class. The GOP tax bill squeezed the middle class to give that huge absolute percentage reduction to people at the very top. From a macroeconomic standpoint this is madness. We're taking money away from the people who really drive the economy and giving it to the ones who are already struggling to find a place to stash all of the money that 30 years of supply side economics have burdened them with. A middle class family would have bought goods and services, a billionaire is looking for any investment opportunity that hasn't been completely diluted by the enormous amount of capital floating around and is going to have to stick it in some "financial instrument" that we're only going to learn about when it causes the next financial catastrophe.
- gok 8y ago
  > I thought that most people with a mortgage itemized last year Not sure if you're referring to 2018 or 2017, but most mortgage holders won't itemize for 2018.
  - jandrese 8y ago
    For 2017. And yes, that $10k cap is below the standard deduction for most people so it won't make sense to itemize. The problem of course is that even the new (temporarily raised) standard deduction is still less than the itemized deductions from previous years, meaning people who own a home or have dependants or give to charity got reamed in the butthole this year. The tax code is now optimized for selfish assholes, exactly as Ryan wanted.
    - gok 8y ago
      Huh? The $10K cap applies only to state and local taxes. Mortgage interest, dependent exemptions and charity giving is unaffected by the cap.
      - jandrese 8y ago
        It totally hit me this year. I was maxed out before the mortgage interest deduction was even finished and the charitable contributions mattered exactly diddly squat. Ended up taking the standard deduction instead because it was higher.
        gok 8y ago
        Are...you sure you did your taxes right? Just because you maxed out your SALT deduction doesn't mean you don't also qualify for other itemized deductions. Unless you're affected by AMT or something?
        jandrese 8y ago
        That's what TurboTax told me. SALT wasn't huge for me, and I'm nowhere near the AMT. I put in the mortgage interest deduction after the dependents and it popped up a window saying that I've hit the $10k limit on deductions and any further deductions won't be counted. True to its word all further deductions (mostly charitable contributions) made no difference.

r00fus 8y ago

Do you consider anyone owning a house in a large-ish city to be "high earners"? All so Trump could give away the tax dollars to extremely-high income earners. A real transfer of wealth from the middle-class to the ultra-rich.

telotortium 8y ago
Yes, I do. Unfortunately, only the (high) upper middle class and upper class can afford to purchase a house today in those cities. They should still be considered high-income for the purposes of taxation. It's not the federal government's fault California is so unaffordable.

jandrese 8y ago

I thought that most people with a mortgage itemized last year, because that mortgage interest deduction is huge until you're close to paying off your house. This isn't just high earners, it's the middle class. The GOP tax bill squeezed the middle class to give that huge absolute percentage reduction to people at the very top. From a macroeconomic standpoint this is madness. We're taking money away from the people who really drive the economy and giving it to the ones who are already struggling to find a place to stash all of the money that 30 years of supply side economics have burdened them with. A middle class family would have bought goods and services, a billionaire is looking for any investment opportunity that hasn't been completely diluted by the enormous amount of capital floating around and is going to have to stick it in some "financial instrument" that we're only going to learn about when it causes the next financial catastrophe.

gok 8y ago
> I thought that most people with a mortgage itemized last year Not sure if you're referring to 2018 or 2017, but most mortgage holders won't itemize for 2018.
- jandrese 8y ago
  For 2017. And yes, that $10k cap is below the standard deduction for most people so it won't make sense to itemize. The problem of course is that even the new (temporarily raised) standard deduction is still less than the itemized deductions from previous years, meaning people who own a home or have dependants or give to charity got reamed in the butthole this year. The tax code is now optimized for selfish assholes, exactly as Ryan wanted.
  - gok 8y ago
    Huh? The $10K cap applies only to state and local taxes. Mortgage interest, dependent exemptions and charity giving is unaffected by the cap.
    - jandrese 8y ago
      It totally hit me this year. I was maxed out before the mortgage interest deduction was even finished and the charitable contributions mattered exactly diddly squat. Ended up taking the standard deduction instead because it was higher.
      - gok 8y ago
        Are...you sure you did your taxes right? Just because you maxed out your SALT deduction doesn't mean you don't also qualify for other itemized deductions. Unless you're affected by AMT or something?
        jandrese 8y ago
        That's what TurboTax told me. SALT wasn't huge for me, and I'm nowhere near the AMT. I put in the mortgage interest deduction after the dependents and it popped up a window saying that I've hit the $10k limit on deductions and any further deductions won't be counted. True to its word all further deductions (mostly charitable contributions) made no difference.