New tax plan anything but great

I am a volunteer income tax assistant working with RSVP of Centre County helping to complete free income tax forms for many local residents. Consequently, I have followed the development of the new tax law with great interest. After Congress agreed on a final bill, I decided to gather all the information I could about the bill and calculate my own taxes under the new law and compare them with what I paid under the existing law. I used my 2016 taxes for the comparison. I am married, my wife and I are both over 65, we have an adult child who we claim as a dependent, and we itemize deductions. Under the new tax law, our itemized deductions would be less than the standard deduction so I used the new standard deduction. We are considered middle class under every criteria used to determine middle class. After calculating our taxes using the new tax rates, I found our “greatest middle class tax cut ever” to be — surprise — a $491 increase! I know that there are many middle class taxpayers who will in fact, see a tax cut under the new law, but there are also many like myself who will see an increase. So when our elected officials claim that this is a great deal for the middle class, know that there are some of us for whom it is anything but great. Sad. Very sad.

This story was originally published December 26, 2017 at 10:21 PM with the headline "New tax plan anything but great."