TAXES - A Question for those who have completed: Last year Trump promised tax cuts for many middle income Americans as part of his tax reform program. However, I've seen many articles...

ricardo7 Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile

Last year Trump promised tax cuts for many middle income
Americans as part of his tax reform program. However, I've
seen many articles that have stated that the tax cuts are not
panning out and people are paying more taxes than before.

By now, many people on this forum have completed their tax
returns. What has been your experience. Did you indeed receive
a tax reduction or not.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

I haven’t started mine.... but the whining from the “where’s my tax cut” crowd is laughable. The vast majority of these folks enjoyed reduced withholding all year. Hey, boys and girls, you got your perk.

Jim Plogger Loc: East Tennessee

I did indeed receive a nice tax reduction.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

Why not just do YOURS and see what you find for YOUR situation? Everybody is different...income amount and sources...withholding amounts...credits....deductions....ad infinitum.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

ricardo7 wrote:

Last year Trump promised tax cuts for many middle income
Americans as part of his tax reform program. However, I've
seen many articles that have stated that the tax cuts are not
panning out and people are paying more taxes than before.

By now, many people on this forum have completed their tax
returns. What has been your experience. Did you indeed receive
a tax reduction or not.

I did. (receive a tax reduction) My personal deduction was much greater than my itemized deductions so I don't have to itemize now. To itemize I'd have to have a lot of stuff to write off and all I have is my mortgage interest and a few other things that don't amount to a heck of a lot.

ricardo7 Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile

nadelewitz wrote:

Why not just do YOURS and see what you find for YOUR situation? Everybody is different...income amount and sources...withholding amounts...credits....deductions....ad infinitum.

I have done mine and I was able to take advantage of the new pass-through 20% tax deductions so, contrary to what I've read elsewhere, I did quite well.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

There was less withheld all year so even though your refund may have been smaller you kept more of your money during the year. Simple. (In most cases.)

Sidwalkastronomy Loc: New Jersey Shore

Instead of larger refund people got few bucks all year due to new tax tables and not at the refund time

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

grayfox's reply is sufficient. I was bringing home more each week than prior to the tax cut. The only reason I had to pay was I started receiving my social security as well.
--Bob

ricardo7 wrote:

Last year Trump promised tax cuts for many middle income
Americans as part of his tax reform program. However, I've
seen many articles that have stated that the tax cuts are not
panning out and people are paying more taxes than before.

By now, many people on this forum have completed their tax
returns. What has been your experience. Did you indeed receive
a tax reduction or not.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

People are paying less federal income taxes, tax rates in the individual states are all different.

In the past l*****ts would demand higher state taxes knowing they could deduct them on the federal tax forms ... meaning they could offload their state tax burden onto citizens of more fiscally responsible states.

The new federal tax law sets a reasonable maximum of state taxes which can be deducted, leaving the supporters of higher state taxes to sleep in the bed that they made.

Jim Plogger Loc: East Tennessee

LWW wrote:

People are paying less federal income taxes, tax rates in the individual states are all different.

In the past l*****ts would demand higher state taxes knowing they could deduct them on the federal tax forms ... meaning they could offload their state tax burden onto citizens of more fiscally responsible states.

The new federal tax law sets a reasonable maximum of state taxes which can be deducted, leaving the supporters of higher state taxes to sleep in the bed that they made.

pendennis

I'm retired, receive a pension, and Social Security.

As soon as the tax rate tables changed, my monthly pension deposit increased.

I always efile ASAP. This year, my Federal Tax refund was slightly lower. My state refund stayed about the same.

There were also changes to standard deductions, so people's "expected" refunds will change, or even go away. However, my absolute tax rate went down.

aflundi Loc: Albuquerque, NM

ricardo7 wrote:

... Did you indeed receive a tax reduction or not.

I made 2.1% more than last year and paid 23.4% less in Fed taxes, so count me as a reduction.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Last years taxes were an outlier due to unusual capital gains so I can't really compare them. Also, my accountant hasn't sent me the final numbers yet.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

ricardo7 wrote:

Last year Trump promised tax cuts for many middle income
Americans as part of his tax reform program. However, I've
seen many articles that have stated that the tax cuts are not
panning out and people are paying more taxes than before.

By now, many people on this forum have completed their tax
returns. What has been your experience. Did you indeed receive
a tax reduction or not.

The vast majority will end up paying less in federal taxes. If you have to pay state income tax, consider moving.

The whining is coming from people whose refunds may be smaller. But if your income is predictable and you play your cards right, you should aim to get your refund as close to $0 as possible. Why give the government an interest free loan.

I already got my refund - about $7 more than last year - but my total taxes were significantly less despite the fact that my income and expenses are not very easy to predict.