If this tax bill passes, Californians need to reverse the SALT deduction and pass a Proposition that allows residents to deduct their federal taxes from their tax returns before paying state tax. This has to be a Proposition because there's no way politicians will ever cut back spending without being forced.
While Republicans accuse Democrats of being pro income redistribution socialists, Republicans enact it.
Every election the city of Berkeley passes at least 5 new taxes on property which raises the rent for homeowners AND renters. I feel like I am the only one who votes no on all of them. One thing that the NYT article also doesn’t mention is that the people of Berkeley vote to tax themselves every election to have better schools, even though schools like Berkeley high are the lowest performing schools in the state. I also voted against this tax. Unfortunately, all of these taxes pass every year overwhelmingly, only for the same people that voted for them to complain about why it is so expensive to live there.
The two biggest things on my mind having lived in Berkeley for so long are the broken streets and disgusting homeless problem which the city does nothing about. I didn’t even bother voting for a mayor; none of them with their bleeding heart philosophy will do anything to address these issues.
Good thing I live in Italy now.
Careful what you wish for, GOP. The last thing you want invading your dark Red backwaters is an influx of angry economic California expats bringing their California sensibilities, educations and entrepreneurship to the places you think are safe havens for you. You won't kill the Golden State's leadership. You'll drive it into your own backyards.
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Sheer vindictiveness.
2
Time for a Cal-exit?
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yes it is absolutely time for Cal-exit
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not revenge, retribution.
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Jerry, I like you and all that but comparing the current GOP leadership to the likes of Lanksy, Gambino, Luciano, Costello, Genovese is simply wrong. Those guys (the mafia) got nothing on the institutionalized mayhem perpetrated by the McConnell, Grassley, Thune and the other misanthropes that pass for leaders. But you are on to something. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act defines gangsters as committing multiple felonies to further a criminal enterprise. Fraud in all its forms, color of authority, extortion, bribery, these are felonies. Maybe some enterprising AG will bring the GOP up on RICO charges.
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Isn't it remarkable that in California's view, the Federal government determines whether someone wants to live in California or not? Can there be a clearer statement of how much Federal tax policy subsidizes the state and helps them retain their residents?
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California and other "Blue" states are donor states - a lot less in Federal dollars comes back to the state than goes out. We like to live here because the air and water are clean and racists are kept to the fringe
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The latest data shows California is only very marginally a "donor" state. That's what having a third of the population on Medicaid/Medi-Cal will do for you, combined with a very large proportion on welfare and food stamps.
The dollars out vs dollars back in exercise is completely meaningless. All it shows is that wealthier states pay more to the Feds than poor states, that poor states get more from the states than wealthy ones, that states with an older population get more that ones with a younger population, and ones with more defense industry get more than ones that don't.
The math exercise to compute it is meaningless. California is well on its way to becoming a recipient state. All it will take is some more entitlement collectors and the balance will have been permanently altered.
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THINK outside the current borders.
Think outside the current polities and politics. (that's POLITIES, and "politics")
Think for yourself.
Read and analyze. Consider your future, and the future of coming generations.
yescalifornia.org/
yescalifornia.org/blue-book/
Are we Californians really headed in the right direction, hitched to the red-white-and-blue train?
Think the Republican congress is colorblind? Think again!
The backlash will not come from red states, whose voters seem to vote more on social issues. In a addition these states usually are no tax or low tax. The backlash will come from states like CA, NY, MA, and NJ. Many high tax states have republican representatives. Expect them to be sent home in the coming years as the tax bill becomes apparent. Say Sayonara! Adios! Au revoir! Good bye to these republicans!
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Sorry Californian's, this is a self made problem. It's not the Republicans that created such high local and property taxes that they require a Federal subsidy (in the form of a tax credit) to be able to afford them.
Also, enjoy your new gas tax increases of the next year or so. I hope you look forward to $4.00 per gallon gas.
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Isn't more a question of double taxation than subsidy? The Republicans big argument against the estate tax is double taxation -- even though astute people know that it is a myth that all assets in an estate have already been taxed once. Why doesn't that argument apply here. Hypocrisy is the only reason I can see. Let me add how foolish it is to mess with the world's sixth largest economy. Doesn't seem very prudent of the business party, does it?
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Sorry Ocjacker, California has low property taxes compared to many other states because of Prop. 13. The high property *values* are what contribute most to high property taxes. And the property values are high in much of California because of the plentiful high-paying jobs, clean environment, and its diverse, hardworking and creative residents. The only problem here is our orange dictator and the corrupt Republicans who rammed this tax bill through to reward donors and punish the rest.
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Your view lacks in-depth thinking. For one if the people in a state make more income, they pay more federal tax. MS has low salaries, CA has high salaries. Why the hate? Sounds to me Red states are not doing so good, so they are taking it out on those state with booming economies, high paying jobs, and good property values. Mississippians should get some by not voting in people who wish to keep them poor.
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Many older employees in Silicon Valley already feel "trapped" in their current homes. The GOP plan will make this situation worse. Looking at the MLS report for my area in San Mateo County, there are 29 homes currently for sale, and in the peak months of summer it may go up to barely 100.
That's not enough "mobility" to allow for inter-generational change of opportunity. Whatever impact loss of SALT and mortgage deductions have on the price of homes, you have to find a house to buy, and if no one is selling....
1
I'm suspicious why they would want to end tax credits for clean, green, electric vehicles. They keep America's air cleaner and preserve oil for our children's children. I just think they want to help oil executives get richer. but I'm very cynical.
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It strikes me that we taxpayers in California are paying the price for not voting Republican. But this will have dire consequences for them. I will NEVER vote for any Republican for the rest of my life. Or maybe we will just take our blue taxes and secede from the union and leave the red states to stew in their own policies.
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You were never going to vote Republican anyway, so your "threat" is the equivalent of my threatening to boycott Starbucks. Nothing against Starbucks, but I've only been there two times in my life, so they are unlikely to miss my business.
On those secession plans, Fifty percent of the landmass in California belongs to the federal government. That's why the federal taxpayer pays for most of the firefighting in California. If you want to take the federal land, you will have to pay Americans for it. Don't forget, you will also have to pick up your share of the national debt.
Social security spousal benefits are not paid for residents of foreign countries, and you can kiss goodbye your Medicare benefits because they are not payable in foreign countries. Maybe you can negotiate away some of your share of the national debt in exchange for the fact that your residents are forfeiting their Medicare.
1
It is too bad that you could not have just summarized that CA and NY economies are carrying the high numbers that DJT loves to brag about. There is certainly no tech boom in AL and MS. If you want to get rid of the states that carry the US economy, keep sabotaging. Republicans are counting on these great numbers by 2020. I am not sure where you think those great GDP numbers will be coming from, MS and MO? We are gonna love sending republicans home in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
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Maybe California should consider not subsidizing sanctuary cities.
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Trump Republicans are about revenge and the wealth creating states voted Democratic, especially California.
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It is beyond comprehension than any Republican representing a district in California voted for this travesty. I intend to shout it from every house top in our vibrant state that I can: if you vote for this tax scam again, you better start looking for a new state to live in, because your political days in California will be over, forever. WE WILL NOT FORGET WHAT YOU HAVE DONE AND WE WILL NOT LET YOU FORGET WHAT YOU'VE DONE.
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Oh please, you did it to yourselves. Democrats are to blame for the high taxes in CA.
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Many of the areas in California that are represented by Republicans are lower earning and have lower priced houses than the northern and southern coasts. Therefore, the constituents of these representatives are unlikely to be affected by the tax law SALT changes.
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Republicans have figured out how to weaponized the tax code. Think of it simply as economic terrorism. Gerrymandering wasn't meeting their electoral goals, so they had to figure out another way to wage all out war against their Liberal Democratic enemies.
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Democrats weaponized the IRS under Obama after their loss of the House to TEA Party voters horrified by the amount of largesse Democrats had granted to big medicine at the expense of the middle class.
The alternative minimum tax, a Democrat invention in the 1960's to tax the rich by eliminating deductions and phasing out exemptions is now hurting blue states much more than red states. It was never true that the very rich were predominantly Republican; that was yet another false Democrat narrative.
The Clean Power Plan weaponized the EPA by imposing 85% of its costs on the 56% of the state populations who voted for Trump, leaving only 15% to be absorbed by the states that voted for Hillary, which contain 44% of the population. The law violated the Clean Air Act and doesn't even reduce greenhouse gases, it proposed objective. Fortunately, it was suspended by the federal court system, so Obama's unilateral attempt to punish his enemies was foiled.
At least when Republicans change policies, both the legislative and executive branches are working in concert. Under Obama, the dictator-in-chief acted alone: no need for the legislature to be involved in a democratic process. Autocracy rules.
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This is not a tax bill that will make America great. It's a tax bill to line the pockets of corporations and the rich, stealing from the poor and the middle class, a substantial number of whom will see their taxes rise. It is VERY consequential.
The senate bill was half baked and rushed through. Senators, you voted on a bill that had hand scrawled notes in the margins. Even our young school aged kids know that doesn't count. Shame shame shame. What has happened to our beautiful country?
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less then 2% of all mortgages nationwide are effected by the mortgage deduction plan, all in wealthy zipcodes. the electric car deduction effects, you guessed it, wealthy car buyers. the Democrats have a big problem: now that they are the party of the wealthy coastal states, the people they have demonized since the 1930's, the rich, are themselves. spoiled, pampered, under taxed and whining like mad over the plan to strip them of all their little perks.
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California has 14 GOP US House Representatives and Republican residents will suffer under the tax bill in the same proportion as all the other residents of the Golden State. The DNCC and Democratic supporting Super PACS should be hitting the airways and the web with ads along with billboards, yard signs and print ads attacking the Republicans for having stabbed their own party members in the back. I can assure you that having their taxes go UP is NOT what your typical Orange County or San Diego County resident signed up for.
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The tax law will go into effect for 2018. By the time Congressional elections take place in November, all Republicans, members of the educated party, will be well aware that the impact on their personal income taxes is minor and more likely to be positive than negative. The only people who are seeing increases are households with income from $250,000 to $600,000. Successful Republicans don't mind paying their fair share.
Why would Democrats find it necessary to spend their scant political campaign funds advertising false claims? They have the establishment media promoting lies for them.
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California and other "Blue" states are donor states - a lot less in Federal dollars comes back to the state than goes out. When people here can't deduct their state taxes or property taxes, say goodbye to congress people with an (R) behind their name.
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This is the plan of Trump and the entire GOP. It’s to crush California and New York. Democratic states.
There’s racism built into all their goals too. Diversity is there enemy. From Puerto Rico which he didn’t know were US citizens and treated as poor foreign county which would have been just as insane. The unprecedented fires in California now will require federal aid. I need to ask where the wealthy Democrats are behind the scenes on all of this?
I mean the ultra wealthy as well as the party. He’s destroying the nation and is clearly a madman. Out of control on every decision.
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You got so caught up in hyperbole that your English syntax is blown.
The overwhelming majority of Puerto Ricans are Caucasians, so even if did anything that had a negative effect on Puerto Ricans [which he didn't] there would not be racism involved unless your contention is that he is racist against white people, as Obama is.
The federal government has been paying the majority of the costs of fighting fires in California for decades, despite the fact that much of the problems are the result of poor land use regulation by California state and local governments. Taxpayers are not going to let California residents burn for lack of firefighting resources so it's hard to comprehend what you point was.
Progressives contend that the government should be funded by raising taxes on the wealthy. This must be a dream come true for them. Only people with incomes from $250,000 to $600,000 are getting a tax increase.
What a diabolical plot for GOP personal wealth. Trumps crazy.
These tax bills provide GOP & Trump-Pence with the punitive damage they all have long sought against anybody who questions them (mostly well educated persons).
Abuse of power is a polite way of describing the purpose of these provisions. Treason by way of them all callously disregarding their oaths to uphold the Constitution is more to the point. (All doubting this last statement, take time to read, at least, the preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America.)
1
The majority of voters with college degrees voted for Trump. The majority of voters who lack a high school diploma voted for Hillary.
Democrats have been harping for the last year because their base, people who have a high school diploma as their highest level of academic achievement, who have always provided a safe majority to Democrats, were repulsed by the odious Hillary who accused them of being deplorable. As a result, the typical 60/40 Democrat/Republican split shifted to a 30/70 split. The working class had no interest in another four years of failed Obama economic policy.
You are being silly. There is nothing unconstitutional about the Congress passing bills and having the President sign them into law. Even if you, personally, don't like the laws.
Nope, the opposite. 52% of voters with a college degree chose Clinton.
If you only watch or read conservative media, I can see why you had this wrong - a majority of white college educated voters did vote for Trump.
Non-whites are equal citizens, so only the 52% means anything.
This is fiscal war on California. Please, let's not surrender. Our federal taxes flow out and go to red states that hypocritically crow about individual responsibility while taking from others. We make our own policies and pay for our own policies. That's responsible. But, the D.C. Republicans can't let that go. They can't let a successful Democratic state go unpunished for revealing the fallacies of their positions.
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A thousand times this. Red states wouldn't rail on about "states' rights" so hard if those same rights let California and New York keep their own money.
People in California pay higher taxes than residents of red states. Those are state and local taxes which reduce their federal income taxes. A fair allocation of taxation and benefits to states would demonstrate that the blue states are net takers, not donors.
If your state were being managed responsibly, how do you explain the fact that your pension plans are unfunded and cities are going bankrupt? Federal policy?
You can have your own opinion, but not your own facts. This is from a NY Times article analyzing this very issue: "It’s true that the deduction is an indirect federal subsidy to state and local governments, and allows jurisdictions that impose high taxes to “export a portion of their tax burden to the rest of the nation,” according to the Tax Policy Center. But deductible state and local tax is just one type of federal assistance, and states that benefit the most from the provision actually rely less on Washington over all." So, you are not correct. We are not takers.
Pensions are underfunded everywhere. California has made some reforms and will make more. As to bankruptcies: Stockton was one of the cities hit hardest by the foreclosure debacle. There were whole new subdivisions that were virtually empty. Bush policies contributed mightily to that. Orange County was a Republican county when it went bankrupt in 1994. It is very steadily moving blue. So, your arguments are either misleading or simply wrong.
Good luck moving tech jobs to middle America. First, the racism demonstrated in the past year by Trump supporters, the moral delinquency of Moore supporters and the ban on Muslim immigrants will discourage many techs who are of Asian background from moving there. Second, the attitude that the educated are arrogant elites has foreclosed many educational investments and resulted in a population in rural America that is actively resistant to higher education. So I'm not seeing a lot of willing labor for new tech developments in middle America, no matter how little they're willing to work for.
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The majority of voters with a college education voted for Trump. The majority of voters who lack a high school diploma voted for Hillary.
Republicans are better educated than Democrats. What they are amused by are the academic elites residing in ivory towers who know huge amounts about tiny areas of knowledge but who think they should be calling the shots for the people who are too stupid to know what is in their best interests. Gruber was correct. Democrats will support any policy no matter how stupid if it is properly marketed to them. Tell uneducated Democrat voters that the educated elite are watching out for them, and they vote Democrat.
I do not understand how anybody but the corporations and the 1% get a tax cut. Your joint return is 60,000 gross and you take the standard deduction, you have 5 dependents 12,000 plus 20,00 for 5 dependents that's 32,000, the new bill gives you only 24,000. How is that a tax cut for any American, never mine how anyone using SALT is getting a tax cut.
You get an extra $1,000 tax credit for each of the children and a new $500 credit for each of the adults. The 12% band extends way up into the income levels so the calculated tax is lower. $60,000 less $24,000 is $36,000. $36,000 times 12% is $4,320. Subtract child credit of $6,000 and you have a zero tax bill. Some will get money back they never paid in, depending upon how much of the child credit is "refundable."
A household of five with an income of $60,000 is getting a tax cut. A household with income of $250,000 with high deductions is getting a small tax increase. Millionaires are getting tax increases
Passing this tax bill would be good for California in the long run. Spending in California is out of control, much of it buying votes and this will provide powerful incentives to bring spending in line with other states which currently make up the difference Californians deduct from their federal taxes. A perfect solution to starve these spenders of the $mothers milk of politics.
2
Posting from Belgium, but I'm a CA resident. Everyone over here (France, Netherlands, Sweden) is working towards elimination of gas/diesel cars. Meanwhile, US Republicans are going in the other direction.
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When the Democrats regain power, they can reverse this tax reform and raise taxes on bibles, ammunition, and pickup trucks, as well as create a national land tax that applies only to single family home sites over 8000 square feet.
If tax policy is going to become a means to hurt the other side, the Democrats need to go all in when its their turn.
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As a lifelong Democrat, no thank you. Undoing the damage and putting in place mechanisms to stabilize the government so the pendulum doesn't swing so violently is a preferable strategy. Case in point: Senate Democrats downgrading certain procedures from requiring 60 votes to a simple majority. Yeah, Republicans were being shockingly and irresponsibly selfish at the time, but what went around came around, and quickly, too. We're currently testing the limit of the Constitution to keep the government functioning and we should be patching up the holes we find, not opening new ones.
2
The Democrats shut down the government in order to force the expiration of the Bush tax cuts on the rich. They got their way, and households with incomes over $150,000 got tax increases. Per Schumer, $150,000 is the threshold for rich.
Under this plan, households with incomes from $250,000 to $600,000 will get tax increases and it's a tax on the middle class.
Next time the Democrats are in control, your federal land tax is going to catch 90% of the households in Westchester County, NY. That's going to catch the middle class in the $250,000 to $600,000 range.
[You are trying to figure out haw to tax red America, and are jealous of the fact that people in flyover country live in homes that are on lots that are 80 by 100. You are not going to get away with that, because there are too many rich Democrats who are unwilling to pay taxes. The current Republican plan is a tax on the rich, and there is outrage.]
I hate to even think about the next big earthquake on the Hayward Fault which runs through the heart of the East Bay - Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward, El Cerrito, Richmond and other cities. A big quake on the Hayward is projected to result in wide-spread damage and fire storms similar to the recent fires in Santa Rosa. Oh, and there is a 90% chance of a 7.0 or larger quake in the next 30 years.
Much of the housing stock in these communities mimic the Berkeley street highlighted in this story. Single family homes, some with small cottages in the backyard, interspersed with small apartment buildings. It is sobering to imagine the future of our individual communities after a quake and fire storm. The silver lining may be rebuilt cities with more dense and hopefully affordable housing. Of course, that assumes anybody wants to move back or rebuild after such a disaster.
One of the biggest missing pieces to housing affordability in the Bay Area is our underdeveloped public transportation infrastructure. I moved here from NYC. While real estate prices in Manhattan are just as insane as they are here, there are neighborhoods that are dramatically more affordable within a 30 minute (and pretty darn convenient) subway ride from Manhattan, making a job, a museum, or a night out in Manhattan available to hundreds of thousands of people without having to pay Manhattan rents. Within 60 minutes you've got millions of people who can work and play in Manhattan without having to be Manhattan Millionaires. The facilitator is a solid subway infrastructure. They Bay Area is going to keep growing, and our transportation infrastructure needs to keep up.
6
The mathematical problem underlying this issue is: (1) Nobody wants higher density, (2) nobody wants urban sprawl, and (3) nobody wants to take global overpopulation seriously. There is no solution to this problem. It is like trying to solve the equation x = x + 1.
1
From another perspective, people in less advantaged areas of the country with much lower home values are subsidizing huge tax deductions for people buying multi-million dollar homes.
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Not really. Californians spend a much higher percentage of their income on housing than do people in most other parts of the country. Some by choice, but most by necessity. Why should a plumber in Los Angeles county - with the same purchasing power as a plumber in Omaha - lose out on a tax deduction just because housing prices in LA County are 3-4x higher than are home prices in Omaha?
3
Because the residents of California have for a long time consistently put in place and supported policies that have discouraged the development of new housing while at the same time encouraging significant increases in the population of the state. We Californians want to live in a fantasy world where the demand for everything goes up, the supply of everything from water to housing stays the same, and nobody gets hurt.
Eliminate the state tax deduction?
I realize the impact proposed elimination of the state tax deduction falls disproportionally on taxpayers in high income, high tax states.
Of course, this means the benefit all these years has been disproportionate as well.
Do we really think it fair for lower income, lower tax states to subsidize their wealthier brethren?
1
i live in CA and own multiple properties so initially I thought the tax plan was bad. but learning about it more, if everyone knew for certain what is going to happen, there would not even be a debate. not all economists agree and economists have been wrong. i do see that my tax breaks will go down in certain areas like state taxes write offs but it may be offset in other areas. I will just have to wait and let my accountant figure put what is best for me. but i don’t see this as a doomsday scenario.
If you own rental properties, your taxes on those will be deductible as business expenses.
Not only should payment of State income taxes be deductible, it should be the only deduction. It should be immediate, before the standard deduction and hence available to all. Republicans say that the Estate tax is double taxation despite thae fact that most of what is taxed is unrealized and hence untaxed capital gains. Why isn't the current tax bill double taxation?
Conversely, the home interest deduction is unfair to renters. It should be phased out gradually, to avoid disruption of markets but it should be eventually eliminated, as it is a distortion that favors the middle and upper classes over the poor.
1
The standard deduction is intended to cover what the average low income household would deduct if they were itemizing. Food, housing, taxes, charity, transportation, etc.
State and local taxes cover schools, parks, libraries, roads, sewer systems, water supply, police, firefighters and other items of local interest. [Except in California, where they expect the federal taxpayers to cover their fire protection.]
Federal taxes cover the national defense, payments on the national debt, the federal law enforcement and legal system. Asserting that losing the deductibility of state and local taxes for federal tax purposes is silly If you feel like it's double taxation, have your state make federal taxes deductible for state taxes.
I welcome the removal of mortgage interest deduction. It should go down to $0. It will put pressure on housing prices, and as a buyer I'd rather buy a cheaper house without the dedication than the same house at a higher price with the deduction.
Higher income single taxpayers are also losing in this bill. The tax rate for income above $200k is much higher now. So, whereas most married couples will get a tax break, higher income single taxpayers will be paying more, especially in California.
The town votes to bring in corporations and offers tax breaks to get more jobs and revenue. This puts pressure on the existing housing supply, roads, and schools. Facing clogged roads and cash-starved schools, the town votes for more housing to ease the traffic and school funding problems. Then, the international real estate speculation overheats the entire situation.
But those corporations, their employees, and the speculators don't pay enough taxes to fund the requisite services, such as pothole repairs, traffic relief, fire and police. Asking the developers or speculators to pay for part of these services or at least, add one parking space for each bedroom, goes nowhere. Instead, the town begins issuing parking permits.
So the town goes to the state for help. The state helps but there's never enough to cover all the costs of education, highways and bridges, fire and police services, because the overheated process is statewide. So, they change freeways into toll roads.
Then the state goes to the federal government. The federal government helps but there's a general sense of “we're providing defense and emergency services, where are your bootstraps?”
The logic is that if it’s crazy making, we stop trying to fix the issue and the corporations and speculative investors continue to get their way. That is, they build profits by shifting the risk and expense to their customers, employees and the taxpaying public.
Regarding the letters on affordable housing in Berkeley: as one letter writer so accurately stated, trying to solve the housing affordability issue has the potential to make a bad traffic situation much, much worse.
I live in Southern California and the traffic here is miserable for a good part of the day every day. While I understand the issue with affordable housing, packing more housing into existing neighborhoods will most likely make traffic conditions so unbearable that any reduction in housing costs would not be worth it.
Living in Southern California has many advantages but dealing with daily traffic nightmares really degrades the quality of life.
2
There is plenty of affordable housing in California. It is just in the Central Valley. It is hot there, but not as much as Las Vegas. California should make an effort to clean up the air and water in the CV (which are horrible in spite of CA patting itself on the back all the time for being so green). It should offer tax incentives to businesses to relocate. And people need to support the high-speed rail that will connect this region to the larger cities.
1
Painful as this will be for me personally, it is a healthy development. Taxes in California are highest or second highest in the country, but historically that sting has been softened by the fact that they are deductible. This has fed total profligacy and a total absence of fiscal discipline in Sacramento. No more. If my overall tax burden goes up a little, but my state government stops acting like they have access to a bottomless pit of money, good.
1
Most perversely, the GOP proposed capping or eliminating of the mortgage interest deduction and property tax only affects home owners.
Those who buy homes as rentals can still deduct both interest and taxes as business expenses, tilting tax incentives away from home ownership toward the rentier class, with their new pass through tax breaks.
But then, the foul GOP tax proposals are laden with disincentives for home ownership, higher education, health care insurance and infrastructure, social goals the GOP used to support.
The Los Angeles region in 2016 passed a massive $121 billion transportation infrastructure package with local taxes that will no longer be tax deductible.
A GOP tax cut bill will be signed by a President who ran on a trillion dollar infrastructure plan which he later said should be funded not by the Federal government but by state and local revenues that now will be taxed twice, a double bait and switch.
The only consolation for California is that most of the remaining Republicans will lose their US House seats for voting for such a bill.
81
In other words, real estate investors like Trump, no problem for them or their markets.
Politics has often been described as a bloodsport, so it is no surprise to me that the Republican tax bill favors Red states and wealthy individuals. Perhaps the changes in Federal tax laws will finally encourage high tax states to rein in their very expensive government employee pension plans. In the meantime, the only tax increase I am sure of for next year is the increase in my Medicare Part B and Part D premium surcharges because of the Doc fix passed by Congress in 2015. My guess is that the bill received at least some Democratic votes.
Stop with the "taxed twice" stuff! Why should taxes paid on a local/state level reduce our federal tax bills? We each have responsibility to pay for our state and local governments/services, and we have a separate responsibility to pay for our federal government. Paying more, or less, for state and local government should have ZERO impact on our responsibility to pay for the federal government.
I agree with your point about rental property being able to use property taxes as an expense to reduce income taxes. If that were to be taken away rents (whether they're on homes, or apartments and high rises) would definitely increase as owners would have to cover the incremental cost. And that would put upward pressure on home prices as rental became more expensive.