Yup. So much easier to assume it can’t be done (discredit experts, it is the current trend), and march off with your spoils. And hope low information voters don’t notice. It is the playbook of the current administration, that is for sure.
The minimum wage in California will not reach $15 until 2022, although there are incremental increases each year along the way, so the Wells Fargo announcement is not entirely an empty gesture.
I totally agree with this. Just because I expect my family to get some benefit from this doesn’t mean I don’t oppose much of it, and don’t care about people who could lose health care coverage.
I admittedly don’t know everything in this new tax bill. Is there something in it that says that millions will lose their health insurance. My understanding is they repealed the mandate. If people choose not to buy insurance that becomes a choice, not having health insurance taken away from them.
Basic summary of all changes - good overview.
@bhs1978 : Here’s an overly simplistic answer. Without the mandate, healthy people have less incentive to buy insurance. Without the healthy folks in the pool, the premiums for the remaining one go up – making insurance unaffordable. That is not a “choice” in my view.
Here in NYS, our accountant called today and told us to prefile our 2018 NYS taxes.
FYI, Wells Fargo announced in January that they were raising their minimum wage to between $13.50 and $17. Not that it’s not going to help those going from 13.50 to 15.00, but this was already a thing they were doing.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/05/investing/wells-fargo-raises-minimum-pay/index.html
The complaint that most of the benefits go to high income earners makes no sense. They pay most of the taxes. How else are you going to implement a tax cut?
Class warfare comes from income redistribution, which is exactly what we have now. The tax bill doesn’t change that, there are still 7 brackets and the taxation is still progressive. Progressive income taxation is an idea that originates in the Communist Manifesto, just like government health care, transportation, and schools. To get rid of progressive taxation and implement a flat tax (where everyone pays the same rate) would rid us of class warfare, and provide a much greater incentive to earn. The tax code is a labyrinth of social engineering and preferences which have nothing to do with supporting the legitimate functions of government. Everyone is picking the pocket of their neighbor, who is in turn picking their pocket. Simple works a lot better.
The repeal of the individual mandate will shortly result in the collapse of Obamacare. Good riddance. Let each state implement its own health plan if it wants. Better that the high tax states of California, NY, NJ etc. spend their tax money there than padding union pensions. People in those states ought to be hopping mad about getting screwed by the politicians and government unions. Police chiefs in NJ retire with $250K pensions after 2 years on the job.
The vast majority of Americans who own a 401K , 403B, or IRA will benefit with the rise in the stock market, so the idea that all the benefits flow to billionaires is also just not true. Most Americans utilize the standard deduction which will help those who no longer have big mortgages and/or live in low tax states.
This is wealth redistribution. The low & middle will see a tax increase at some point in the next few years… while the rich and corporations get to continue to have tax cuts.
I have to laugh at the saying, “the government doesn’t own my money”. Of course the government doesn’t own your money. But the government does PRINT your money. So you want to raise chickens and pay for medical care with eggs? Go right ahead.
You cut Social Security and FISA taxes, of course and expand the EITC. Why do we have to keep hearing this lame talking point?
@dcolosi the $300M Boeing is “investing in its employees” will come in the way of facility improvements, charitable donations, and training". It will NOT be in the form of raises or bonuses - nothing directly into rank and file employees’ pockets. All of these are determined by affordability. If it grows rates too high, headcount reductions will follow to make it cheaper to run the business.
In any case, a one-time bonus of $1000, as someother companies announced, does little for long-term income inequality.
Ultimately, this plan will grow income inequality. The CEOs of the US will continue to be fat, dumb, and happy.
I suppose I shouldn’t correct this misconception, but I will anyway.
All the popular parts of Obamacare are still here.
Subsidies for people who make between 100% and 400% of the poverty line-- check. And since this large group of people won’t be affected by rising premiums, and will benefit from the President not paying the CSRs, they will still keep buying insurance. Quite a few parents here get subsidies.
Expanded Medicaid-- check. And there are a couple of states looking at expanding Medicaid right now. Some people here are parents of kids on Medicaid.
Protection for people with pre-existing conditions-- check. Plenty of people here have pre-existing conditions and are glad they can get coverage.
Requirements that insurance not be phony-- check. As long as you have Medicaid or buy ACA-compliant insurance, it has to cover normal treatments that people need from time to time. Plus, if insurers spend less than 80% of premiums on health care, they have to refund the difference.
Moreover, states that want to shore up their insurance markets will establish their own mandates.
The ACA is still here and more popular than ever.
Well, there’s Bitcoin…
There is also Monopoly money…
Or foreign currency…a viable option.
So much misinformation and misguided information here. Until you work out the numbers, you just don’t know what you will save/pay.
PS, the corporate rate decrease is actually being paid by other increases (some pretty extreme) in corporate tax provisions/loss of deductions. Not by individuals. We are just paying for the richest individuals! Lol!
The typical balances in 401k accounts are far lower than what most people need to join the capitalist class (who can live off of just capital investment income, as opposed to needing Social Security and Medicare in addition) in retirement.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/010616/whats-average-401k-balance-age.asp says that the median balance for those 60+ is $172,000. Perhaps a few thousand dollars of additional investment gain crumbs will fall into such accounts, but that will not free most such people from being dependent on their labor income (or Social Security and Medicare after leaving the labor force).
The event (passing the bill) has happened. Whatever response the stock market was going to have, it has had. Looks like the tax cut was already priced into the stock market.
Article suggests that every US worker will have to file a new W-4 form - which needs to be created. The existing W-4 calculates withholding based on your number of exemptions - but exemptions have been eliminated. Sounds rather chaotic.