Yes. Getting rid of net neutrality is part of the RNC's platform.

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But it's so unpopular! As is/was the tax bill! Why do these things that everyone hates keep happening? Is our government really so weak that it only answers to the wealthy and corrupt?

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Systematic voter suppression, propaganda campaigns, and a culture of political apathy.

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The corruption is in the driver's seat and ripping away the checks and balances

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My Worldbuilding:
http://bloodinkworlds.tumblr.com/

Pretty much; Republicans don't care that the tax bill will kill their base off (many poor people will die) so long as their donors are pleased. And their mindless fawners will continue to lie about it

Trickle Down is what led to the crisis of 08 and still the conservatives don't realize that they turn everything they touch to shit

Honestly I think the Republicans have been going down the shitter ever since they elected Saint Ronnie (easily one of the worst presidents ever) and Newt Gingrich

Here, this helps explain how bad people get into power:


[edit] Back to economics.

"The United Nations monitor on poverty and human rights has issued a devastating report on the condition of America, accusing Donald Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress of attempting to turn the country into the 'world champion of extreme inequality'."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...mp-republicans
From the report:

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As the tax bill approaches, this guy decides to try to assuage fears by showing how it will help a totally average family:

So I had some CPE recently about the new tax legislation. For those who are unaware, I am a CPA, and while I mostly work in audit, I also do more than my fair share of tax returns.

Are you ready for some hardcore TAX SIMPLIFICATION!?

Trump announced that he wanted to reduce the rates for pass-through entities. Now, for the uninitiated, pass-though entities are partnerships, LLCs, and S-corporations which do not themselves pay tax, but rather, distribute K-1s to their partners. Depending on their profit and loss interests, the partners owe a portion of the entity's taxes on their own 1040. So, for example, if I own 10% of Xyz, LLC, then I am liable for 10% of Xyz, LLC's income.

Now, the tax code itself is actually pretty logical, but this is the most logical part of it if you ask me. Personally, I think all entity-level taxation should be handled this way, but Trump and the GOP disagreed and thought that there should exist a preferential rate so as to incentivize small business formation.

Every CPA in the country, myself included, was salivating at the prospect of a preferential rate, but we didn't get that. Instead, there is a deduction for pass-through income, and here's how it works.

You can get a deduction of 20% of qualified domestic business income from a sole proprietorship, partnership (includes LLCs, which are taxed as partnerships), or S-Corporation. This deduction decreases your taxable income, but not your AGI (which is important because AGI determines a LOT of income thresholds, and is also important for state taxation).

Qualified business income specifically excludes dividends, interest, capital gains, commodities gains, foreign currency gains, payment or reasonable compensation from an S-corporation, and guaranteed payments from a partnership.

The deduction is limited by the greater of:
- 50% of W-2 wages paid by the qualifying business.
- 25% of W-2 wages paid by the qualifying business plus 2.5% of the unadjusted basis (i.e. before depreciation) of all qualified property.

Now, the limitation does not apply unless your taxable income is less than 157k (315k if joint). From this point, there is a $50K phase-in period (100k if joint), but it is still there.

Aha! But what if you have a loss!? Well, that loss gets carried forward! Much like an NOL, so we have yet another thing to carry forward now.

Aren't you glad that they simplified the tax code?

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So, what does that mean for those of us who aren't businessowners?

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My Worldbuilding:
http://bloodinkworlds.tumblr.com/

If you don't have a sole proprietorship or an interest in a pass-through entity, none of that discussion means anything to you. That said, if you ever decide to start a business, it will be relevant.

Edit: But if you were interested in what tax reform overall means for you. I'll assume that you're a W-2 employee and that you don't itemize your deductions.

First off, on itemization, only about 25% of the country itemizes their deductions. Tax reform is expected to bring that figure down to 10%. That's because the standard deduction is increasing. For a single taxpayer, you're seeing an increase from $6,500 to $12,000. Married-filing-jointly taxpayers will see an increase from $13,000 to $24,000. The Head of Household standard deduction increases from $9,550 to $18,000.

In exchange, however, you are losing the personal exemption. It's worth $4,150 per individual on your return. But the increase in the standard deduction means that you still see a net increase in your deductions assuming there are no children involved (Single taxpayers are ahead $1,350, MFJ are up $2,700).

That brings us to children, because you of course lose the personal exemptions for them as well. This is where the expanded child tax credit comes in. Under current law, it is a $1,000 refundable credit. Under the tax reform, the tax credit doubles, but only $1,400 of it is refundable.

A tax credit, of course, is more valuable than a deduction, and for that math in action, you can compute the value of a credit by dividing it by your tax rate. The $1,000 increase in the credit is more valuable than the lost exemption through the 24% rate (which ends at $315K for Married taxpayers, $157,500 for Single/Head of Household). It becomes more valuable the further down the income ladder you are. (Example: if your marginal rate is 10%, that credit could be worth as much as a $10,000 deduction)

As a reminder though, only $1,400 of the credit is refundable, so lower income taxpayers with children will need to adjust their withholdings so that the entirety of the nonrefundable portion can pay off their tax liability. It's in their best interest to do so though, because that means they will see more money from each paycheck, rather than getting the benefit in a large refund check at the beginning of the next year.

There is also a $500 nonrefundable credit for non-child dependents. (Example: your Grandmother lives in your house for the year and does not provide more than half of her own support). In that case, it is only more valuable than the lost exemption through the 12% marginal rate, which ends at $77,400 for married filing jointly, $38,700 for single, $51,800 for Head of Household. Again though, because the credit is nonrefundable, taxpayers hoping to take advantage of this new credit may need to adjust down their withholdings.

As a quick reminder when you go to compare that with what you make on your W-2, the limits I put above are on your taxable income, not your gross income. You need to add back the standard deduction to figure out where that lies.

Rates have also decreased across the board, and the proposal to reduce the number of brackets didn't make it into the final law.

So, on the whole, for individuals who do not itemize, it's hard to imagine a situation that doesn't end in a tax cut, and depending on what credits you are able to claim, that tax cut could be pretty substantial.

That brings us to the question "but what about 2025 when all those provisions are scheduled to expire?"

This was brought up by the law's critics as a reason for lower income taxpayers not to get too excited, but this is a common thing in tax law. "Temporary" provisions, like the American Opportunity Credit, were originally supposed to have expired years ago, but in end-of-year tax extender bills, Congress reliably extends them and in many cases, makes them permanent.

Why does congress do this? This video explains it:


But will a future congress really allow those tax cuts to expire? Probably not. The expiration date is an accounting gimmick (see also: a lie) to make the bill look more budget friendly.

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The tourism industry continues to tank... $4.6B and 40,000 jobs down so far.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/tra...ng-4-6-n840326

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Looks like the market may be correcting... To the tune of the Dow dropping 666 points today.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/mar...-years-n844176

[edit] We're also looking at an 84% jump in government borrowing this year up to $1T.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.360453d73af8

[edit2] Aaand the Dow dropped 1,175 in two days.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/05/inve...nes/index.html

[edit3] The trade gap has widened to pre-Obama levels.
https://apnews.com/365e9e69cf034a1bb...&utm_medium=AP

[edit4] The president has already added $1trillion to the debt.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...tm_medium=push

[edit5] Our third-largest trading partner just signed a trade deal with the largest economic bloc in the world. They did not include us.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/u...er=rss&emc=rss

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In an attempt to slow our descent into the imminent recession, the federal reserve is cutting interest rates.
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/18/76168...lowing-economy

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