My family has itemized for several years, since we passed around $80k household income. (Well, plus one year when we were still below $50k, but that was because of a year with really, really insane medical costs.) And through that entire time, we’ve lived in low-SALT states, so it isn’t even that that was driving it.
Non-rich≠doesn’t care about deductions.
(Not to mention that the $250 deduction K–12 teachers got didn’t require itemizing, so I don’t get why @Iglooo et al. brought itemizing into the conversation around it, anyway.)
“Has someone mentioned yet that this bill would cause immediate cuts in Medicare, because of the sequester? And by immediate, I mean January 2018”
It was mentioned in this thread way back. I’m surprised that’s it’s been barely mentioned - especially since a lot of us on this thread will in the next few years be eligible or already on it.
This bill is death by 1000 cuts for pretty much every single one of us.
Student loan interest was also one you could deduct even if you used standard deduction.
I believe the year I bought my house, Mr R & I itemized instead of took the standard deduction. It was better for us- though I can’t remember why. I assure you, we were nowhere near well-to-do
I believe the Medicare cuts are to providers. That, however, could mean that it pushes providers to opt out of accepting Medicare I guess so yes it could ultimately affect patients.
I think the point is that many people would not itemize if the standard deduction goes way up (think it was 24K for two people). If you have lower income, unless you have high medical deductions not too many people will itemize more than that. Higher income, sure, losing deductions will probably affect them more. However, if they cut the rates so much, it’s a wash or a bonus for some.
Doesn’t the Senate bill raise the teachers deduction to $500?
If it does…it’s not the carrot that will make ME support this tax plan.
I’d rather see less impact on higher education students. No deduction for college loan interest…taxes on grad school tuition waivers, what else? Come on…we need to encourage our young adults to pursue grad degrees, and many do need loans to complete their studies…especially at the grad and professional school levels. Earning a tuition waiver should not be a cash cow for the federal government.
One of my kids is self employed…with non-reimbursable business deductions he takes each year. And because his health insurance basically covers nothing but a well care visit per year, and is high deductible…he has medical expenses as well.
If these are taken away…he is looking at several thousand dollars in additional taxes.
If this incentivizes people to send their kids to private schools it could save the government(federal, state, local) money. In New York, public schools spend about $20k/pupil, or $260k for K-12.
I would definitely agree with the point that it saves the government money for people to pay for private education.
However, I suspect that most people would send their kids to private schools anyways, regardless of a tax break. And some private schools are very pricey, potentially giving a tax break over the public school cost.
It just looks very bad right now, for a supposedly “middle class tax relief” bill.
