AGI of $360,000 -- paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 than in 2017

[Anonymous]

Surprisingly, even though we live in a high-tax area (Bethesda, Maryland), and even though we had the same adjusted gross income (AGI) in 2018 as in 2017, we paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 due to Tax Reform. We paid $93,000 in taxes in 2017 and $73,000 in taxes in 2018.

Our CPA said that people with higher incomes benefitted much more from Tax Reform. He said that, unfortunately, a family with 2 kids and an HHI of $100,000 might even pay more under Tax Reform.

Some of the benefits for us in 2018 from Tax Reform were --

Reform of the Alternative Minimum Tax. That saved us $10,000.
Reform of the child-tax credit (to increase the income ceilings). That saved us $6000 because we have 3 children (ages 10-15).

So the SALT loss was OK for us because we gained in other areas.

[Anonymous]

Sorry but what is the point of this post? It is widely known that higher incomes saw more of a tax cut.

[Anonymous]

I'm just surprised to be owing so much less, considering all I had read about SALT and the inaccurate withholding tables.

[Anonymous]

Is your tax amount just federal or fed and state combined?

[Anonymous]

It's like you have your own little time zone, OP, and are "reporting" news items that the rest of us became aware of 6 months ago. It's cute.

Hey, you should go place a bet on that feline guy to win the Masters!

[Anonymous]

We are 1%ers (at the very lowest end of that threshhold) and saw a 5% decrease in effective rate. But that isn't good for the country.

[Anonymous]

More rich people not paying fair share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's like you have your own little time zone, OP, and are "reporting" news items that the rest of us became aware of 6 months ago. It's cute.

Hey, you should go place a bet on that feline guy to win the Masters!

It’s relevant to me as we are similar & I plan to do our taxes today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's like you have your own little time zone, OP, and are "reporting" news items that the rest of us became aware of 6 months ago. It's cute.

Hey, you should go place a bet on that feline guy to win the Masters!

It’s relevant to me as we are similar & I plan to do our taxes today.

It's not at all "relevant." OP's taxes have exactly zero to do with yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Surprisingly, even though we live in a high-tax area (Bethesda, Maryland), and even though we had the same adjusted gross income (AGI) in 2018 as in 2017, we paid $20,000 less in taxes in 2018 due to Tax Reform. We paid $93,000 in taxes in 2017 and $73,000 in taxes in 2018.

Our CPA said that people with higher incomes benefitted much more from Tax Reform. He said that, unfortunately, a family with 2 kids and an HHI of $100,000 might even pay more under Tax Reform.

Some of the benefits for us in 2018 from Tax Reform were --

Reform of the Alternative Minimum Tax. That saved us $10,000.
Reform of the child-tax credit (to increase the income ceilings). That saved us $6000 because we have 3 children (ages 10-15).

So the SALT loss was OK for us because we gained in other areas.

Same here! It was great.

[Anonymous]

That’s weird because we make double what you do but it was a wash for us. AMT went away but loss of SALT was a killer.

We live in NY which I think is comparable to MD for taxes.

[Anonymous]

For those of us who earn less and ended up paying more this year, I think it’s useful to hear the reality of what the tax changes did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but what is the point of this post? It is widely known that higher incomes saw more of a tax cut.

It’s good to get a point of reference from various income brackets even if their situation isn’t exactly yours. While it was known that higher incomes saw more of a tax cut, this is a real example of it affecting a family.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the helpful analysis, OP! Based on your post, I went over our returns. My situation and results were similar. I used turbotax.

[Anonymous]

Wow, I felt ok about only having to pay a few hundred more on our same 170k income but now I am disgruntled as hell! Comparison truly is the thief of joy.