Damn good first year, especially given the non-stop media assault:

Something is happening in the final days of 2017. People are noticing that Donald Trump has gotten a lot done in his tumultuous first year in the White House.

Assume that tax reform passes and is signed into law. If in, say, 2014, a Republican, of either the conservative or moderate variety, predicted that in 2017 a newly-elected GOP president and Congress would —

1. Cut corporate and individual taxes.
2. Repeal the Obamacare individual mandate.
3. Appoint a highly-respected conservative to the Supreme Court.
4. Appoint a one-year record number of judges to the circuit courts.
5. Get rid of reams of unnecessary regulations.
6. Destroy ISIS.
7. Approve pipeline projects and new oil drilling.                                                                                                                                                                                                                   --then a lot of Republicans would probably have cheered. Loudly.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/byron-york-amid-firestorms-trump-has-year-of-solid-policy-accomplishments-can-he-keep-going/article/2643791#!

The dems and media are going bat shit crazy about this.  

Wonderful tax bill passed; thank you! 

The winning rolls on ...

I was initially pretty skeptical of this, but overall I think the tax bill accomplishes a lot.  The cut in corporate rates being the main thing.  I think I end-up with about 1% lower taxes thanks to changes in AMT (I hope I'm reading that right).

I was worried what they were doing with child care credit, and SALT, along with elimination of the personal exemptions.  But I think the final bill addressed all that.

The ony real complaint if you lived in a high-tax state is the cap on SALT, and 25% reduction in mortgage interest (but unless you live in CA or NY, you probably don't have a $1M mortgage).  And the truth is those taxes ARE a subsidy to high tax states, although that's generally offset by those states receiving lower per capita transfer payments from the fed.

Will be interesting to see when the Dems are back in control and looking to raise taxes if they restore some of those deductions and exemptions.  I bet not....except their E & W coast constituents won't be happy.

posted by Spock

The dems and media are going bat shit crazy about this.  

It's absolutely hilarious to watch. I think I saw that Pelosi called it "brazen theft." From who, exactly, I'm not sure.

It's scary that the Dem leaders think your money belongs to the government and not the people. "Stealing money away from the government" ummm it isn't their money to begin with.  Also like how people acting like it's the end of the world. A lot of chicken littles running around after Net Neutrality and now this tax plan. Anyone else see Rosie O'Donnell go off the hinges on twitter?

AT&T Inc., the phone carrier locked in a battle with the U.S. government over its Time Warner Inc. acquisition, lauded President Donald Trump and Congress for their tax-cut bill and said 200,000 U.S. workers will get a special $1,000 bonus to celebrate.

posted by iclfan2

It's scary that the Dem leaders think your money belongs to the government and not the people. "Stealing money away from the government" ummm it isn't their money to begin with.  Also like how people acting like it's the end of the world. A lot of chicken littles running around after Net Neutrality and now this tax plan. Anyone else see Rosie O'Donnell go off the hinges on twitter?

I saw she was basically trying to buy off two Senators. LOL.

Also, laugh out loud at other dumbass senators saying people are losing insurance, when it is people volunatrily not wanting insurane. No one is losing it. I can't believe we vote in these fucks on both sides to run the country.

I don't mind the lower taxes. I've been reserved about the tax cuts. I'm disappointed it is not too much of a reform. Half the stuff Trump talked about, didn't happen. I'm not a fan ofthe SALT reductions, as I live in MD, but Gov. Hogan is pretty set on keeping taxes low, espeically going into an election year. 

The fact the Senate version didn't cut the Grad School deductions as well as increased the medical deductions is nice. 

That said, with the cutting of taxes for higher incomes and the corporate rate, I look forward to an ever increasing stock market, more wage growth, and lower unemployment. I look forward to seeing if in fact we see more companies bringing back jobs now. 

This is what the R's and Trump wanted, so it is now fully their economy. Let's see how it plays out. 

Still have to cut spending by a significant amount, but a solid first step.  I like the corporate tax rate.  For all the so called socialists and bernie supporters in this country, they should be happy with the corporate tax rate.  They are always citing Sweden (despite the fact they are competitive with the US in terms of the economic freedom index) and now the US is right in line with Sweden when it comes to corporate tax rates. 

posted by justincredible

I saw she was basically trying to buy off two Senators. LOL.

I would LOL even more if Trump sent Sessions to prosecute her.  

posted by like_that

Still have to cut spending by a significant amount, but a solid first step.  I like the corporate tax rate.  For all the so called socialists and bernie supporters in this country, they should be happy with the corporate tax rate.  They are always citing Sweden (despite the fact they are competitive with the US in terms of the economic freedom index) and now the US is right in line with Sweden when it comes to corporate tax rates. 

Definitely have to address spending.  I still cannot figure out how we increased spending by nearly $1 trillion for TARP back during the financial crisis as a one-time measure in '09-'10 ..........and yet if you look at annual outlays thereafter, it basically never went away.  WTF!!  Where in hell did the 'extra' $8 trillion go? 

posted by ptown_trojans_1

I don't mind the lower taxes. I've been reserved about the tax cuts. I'm disappointed it is not too much of a reform. Half the stuff Trump talked about, didn't happen. I'm not a fan ofthe SALT reductions, as I live in MD, but Gov. Hogan is pretty set on keeping taxes low, espeically going into an election year. 

I'm a fan of the SALT reductions. If you're going to live in a high tax area you should pay for it. If you're unhappy with your local taxes you should put pressure on your local politicians instead of relying on the fedgov to subsidize it.

posted by justincredible

I'm a fan of the SALT reductions. If you're going to live in a high tax area you should pay for it. If you're unhappy with your local taxes you should put pressure on your local politicians instead of relying on the fedgov to subsidize it.

BINGO.   And obviously you meant ,,,,,,,,,  instead of relying on federal taxpayers in red states to subsidize it"

My employer did the same thing as AT&T with the $1,000 bonuses.  Pretty sweet. 

posted by QuakerOats

BINGO.   And obviously you meant ,,,,,,,,,  instead of relying on federal taxpayers in red states to subsidize it"

I meant what I said.

posted by SportsAndLady

My employer did the same thing as AT&T with the $1,000 bonuses.  Pretty sweet. 

Another handout to the rich, amirite?

posted by justincredible

Another handout to the rich, amirite?

Ohhhh yeah. 

posted by SportsAndLady

My employer did the same thing as AT&T with the $1,000 bonuses.  Pretty sweet. 

Congrats.  Buy some Nutanix   ........ NTNX

posted by justincredible

I meant what I said.

ouch

posted by justincredible

I'm a fan of the SALT reductions. If you're going to live in a high tax area you should pay for it. If you're unhappy with your local taxes you should put pressure on your local politicians instead of relying on the fedgov to subsidize it.

Fair point. Sure, that's fine. Again, MD isn't that bad now. Way better than it used to be. 

posted by SportsAndLady

My employer did the same thing as AT&T with the $1,000 bonuses.  Pretty sweet. 

That is great. I do hope more companies do that. 

I forget the number, but currently only @ 40% of people itemize, and after the new tax law I think that gets cut in half.

Outside of CA and NY, most people affected by SALT are already relatively high earners, and probably going to benefit from the changes to AMT (where SALT deductions don't apply).  Would have been nice to see the cap higher, at least equal to the standard deduction....which otherwise is going to leave most people only getting benefit of their mortgage interest and fairly nominal charitable contributions (I'd assume high earners with medical expenses over 10% AGI to deduct are pretty uncommon).

Comment I caught the other day was about the potential down the road to go after 401k money!!!!  I can't imagine that ever happening, but it's a scary thought....distributions are taxed at ordinary income, anyway, and I don't see how they'd confiscate any principal that would otherwise have been after-tax savings if never socked away into a 401k.

My other thought is the debate over a $500k cap on mortgages has probably opened the door for that to be passed at some point (I remember several years ago $400k was being floated around).  Just get rid of itemized all together and add 3 lines to AGI adjustments for mortgage interest, charity, and medical expenses...and then get rid of AMT.