That’s why the House is going to just accept the Senate version, IMO.
Assuming this passes, what changes do people plan to make in their financial planning? For example I am considering that we reduce contributions to 403B plans based on the expectation that future mandatory distributions will be taxed at a higher rate that we will pay on the extra income over the remainder of our working years.
Is the treatment of deferred tuition as income for grad students still on the table? I wonder if universities can implement changes to offset the effect on students. What a mess.
I’m worried that if this bill passes, Congress will say, Oh noes, we have a huge deficit, we have to change the Medicare and Social Security age to 70.
It does not help if the increased deficits eventually degrade the government’s credit rating to below investment grade levels, which is likely to be detrimental to both the plutocrat class and everyone else. And even worse if the government defaults.
Of course, taxes are not the only point of competition in international business. Labor costs are a big factor. American labor is not very price competitive for lower skill work that is exposed to international competition. However, the attacks on postsecondary education in the tax proposals will make it harder for American people to upgrade their skills to move into higher skill work where there is competitive advantage.
Both those programs need major changes regardless of what is done or not with the current tax bill. They are unsustainable in their current form. But I doubt there will be any changes to either until the external “market” forces them. That will be when people decide to stop buying treasury debt for low single digit yields, and it looks like that’s not going to happen very soon.
Mitch McConnell’s net worth is roughly $26 million. No wonder he is smiling. https://www.opensecrets.org/personal-finances/net-worth?cid=N00003389
edited to add: I can respect that Dems and Repubs can have different theories of taxes, common good, etc. What I can’t stand about this legislation is the rush and lack of deliberation. Last time we had major changes to taxes, the process took months and everyone was able to know what was in it and have the pros and cons discussed. This current process looks so sloppy and like they have something to hide.
I had the exact same reaction, unless its to cover the vacation homes of others? (deductibility props up the value somewhat?)
Or, just catering to wealthy seacoast’ers?
Okay @busdriver11 – you can still itemize. But you have lost the exemptions, right?
@ucbalumnus I think they already said that if these massive GDP projections do not materialize then they will be looking to make domestic cuts to Medicaid and SS.
Apparently there is almost no one in Maine who is single, or head of household that itemizes more than 12K? Or a married couple that files jointly and itemizes over 24K? Nobody with mortgages, property taxes, charitable contributions and job expenses that add up? Must be an extraordinarily cheap place to live. Maybe the few people that called Collins to complain were very assertive.
Many people who will itemize had already lost the exemptions anyways. And I’m not saying it’s going to be a better deal than before for everyone who chooses to itemize, just that the 10K property deduction may help those who do, in comparison to not having that.
Actuarially, they gonna have to do that (or some similar reduction in benefits) anyway.
https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/soc_sec/hsocialsec.htm
There is another way to fix this - decrease the average life expectancy.
Been doing my part on that…overeating, under exercising, and generally doing stupid stuff. 
Or allow more immigration. Or tax upper earners and corporations more, instead of giving them big wet kisses.
Health care costs need to be dealt with, but they have to be dealt with for all ages, not just 65+.
Medicare and Social Security can be sustainable by increasing the number of young workers.
But that’s for another thread.
@momsquad, it is actually a tuition waiver that would be taxed. That is in the House bill, was not in the Senate bill. It has to be hammered out between them in the reconciliation process, then both chambers have to pass the revised bill. So it is alive, but not agreed to by both chambers.
I have a young family friend (well, young to me, he is about 40 now) who has 5 kids. I’m guessing he and his wife are going to get whacked by this. And he voted for the party that is doing it to them. I don’t think he has figured out the impact of this yet. He only seems to get much input from news sources that wouldn’t tell him and his church, which probably loves the aspect of the bill that allows non-profits like churches to endorse candidates.
Regarding Collins, I have to wonder if she wasn’t trying to use what little leverage she had to get the few concessions she is claiming. They really aren’t that beneficial, IMO. If she had been a no, that would have made it a 50-50 vote and Pence would have broken the tie. She wouldn’t have gotten anything, but that’s just my theory.
Regarding reform of SS & Medicare, they are in huge need of an overhaul, but that overhaul needs to be done with far more thoughtfulness than what has been given to this partially hand-written tax bill. The amount applied as the yearly max out for SS needs to be raised to help keep the system sustainable and the retirement age needs to be adjusted as well for those below a certain age (45 or 50, IMO). People who are near retirement shouldn’t have to face any radical revision to the retirement age.
One of the really crummy things about this tax bill, IMO, is that it is being rammed through at the 11th hour of the year and people are not going to be prepared to react to the realities and do things such as previously have been mentioned in this thread - prepay January mortgage, prepay first 2018 installment property taxes, frontload planned 2018 charitable gifts while still taking itemized deductions in 2017, etc.
Can you imagine how bonkers this is going to be for IRS & Treasury in terms of needing to implement new withholding tables, updating publications, etc.? Also, textbook publishers for accounting titles are going to be pulling their hair out. I know that’s not a primary consideration, but just another example of negative fallout. A well thought out package that was passed by late summer with implementation several months down the road instead of several days would have calmed some of the negative response because there would be a realistic timeline for the mechanics of making the thing work. Of course, it’s still a crummy bill meant to help the rich whenever they pass it.
WOW! Really? the ratio was 37 workers to 1 retiree? Holy cow!
I don’t think people understand how expensive it is to society as a whole when people live beyond working age.
The “attack” was to divert funds to vocational schools, I read. If that is so, I got nothing to say. We do need vocational schools. Skills gap doesn’t get filled by higher ed as efficiently.