So was it incompetence on the part of the IRS that led to underwithholding it was it purposeful so that people’s take home went up? We readjusted because we read that the tax tables were inaccurate but I still wonder why they were so off.

Can Republicans/conservatives at least admit that the withholding tables were manipulated for political purposes? And that doing so is sh#tty public policy?

There is zero reason why anyone should need to adjust their withholding at the mid point of a year, aside from adding a dependent to the family

yeah, I'm getting a little tired of the "adjust your withholding, why are you giving the govt a free loan" argument. My DH and I claim single zero, so we have the most possible taken out. It shouldn't be that big a deal for the govt to create a withholding table that accurately reflects the tax liability of our incomes. I'm not playing the tax refund game, and I have plenty of savings, but I don't think I should have to do my taxes a year in advance because Trump wanted Republicans to do well in the midterms.

But then again, Trump runs the country in terms of "his people" and his blue state enemies. I shouldn't have expected anything else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm personally suprised by the people who say they are owing even with 0 withholdings. Did you all change to 0 half-way through the year? Are you sure you were actually at 0?

it's the withholding tables that were the problem that payroll based deduction off of. clearly you do not understand how taxes work. Additionally if you have 2 earners and they is a vast discrepancy in earnings, then the tax tables for withholding will be different, but at filing will cause you to owe.

The ignorance on this board sometimes makes me want to smash my head on my computer and then weep for our nation.

Welll that's kind of my point - why would the withholding tables be so far off? Previously they were biased in favor of overwithholding. My understanding that the current tweak was aimed to get them closer to 0 liability -- not people owing $1000s, like they are stating here. I'm wondering how the IRS got it so wrong, since I doubt their intent was that people would owe $1000s with 0 exemptions.

Why? BEcause the IRS got political pressure to put off with holding tables putting more money in people's pockets. Don't ask me how I know this, I just do (wink, wink)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Other than the posts which clearly show their effective rate year over year the rest of this thread is noise. Sounds like an awful lot of withholding problems where you actually took your 'raise' and thought nothing of it.

+++

And the amount of financial ignorance on display is astounding

Actually it sounds like plenty of posters in the $150 - 200k AGI band are now paying more in taxes- their total tax bill and their effective tax rate have gone up. This is a pretty common family income level in this area if you have a nurse and a school teacher or two professionals ( for eg a CPA and a mid level federal worker).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not a trump voter but I have little sympathy for what is essenatially a top 10% problem.

The 150k to 250k crowd which are over represented on these boards are screaming the lowdest. Take the larger view of this- in the grand scheme of things you pay fairly low tax. Almost everyone in that income range has tax rates in the teens. You are part of the elite class. Step up and pay.

No way. The actual Elite Class got a massive tax break. $150-250K may be “elite“ in Peoria, but it’s upper middle class in any high cost of living locality. Hey out of your bubble.

I’m the PP and I am in this earning bracket. Yes our tax system can be more progressive.

But see the forest for the trees here. You pay some of the lowest taxes in any tax bracket among advanced western economies.

Anonymous wrote:Other than the posts which clearly show their effective rate year over year the rest of this thread is noise. Sounds like an awful lot of withholding problems where you actually took your 'raise' and thought nothing of it.

+++

And the amount of financial ignorance on display is astounding

We are in the $180-$220 k range. This year our income is down 20k, our taxes went up 4.5k without itemizing, only 3.7 k with itemizing. Guess which one we did?

Other than the posts which clearly show their effective rate year over year the rest of this thread is noise. Sounds like an awful lot of withholding problems where you actually took your 'raise' and thought nothing of it.

We are getting less of a refund than ever before. Middle class.

Anonymous wrote:I’m not a trump voter but I have little sympathy for what is essenatially a top 10% problem.

The 150k to 250k crowd which are over represented on these boards are screaming the lowdest. Take the larger view of this- in the grand scheme of things you pay fairly low tax. Almost everyone in that income range has tax rates in the teens. You are part of the elite class. Step up and pay.

No way. The actual Elite Class got a massive tax break. $150-250K may be “elite“ in Peoria, but it’s upper middle class in any high cost of living locality. Hey out of your bubble.

I’m not a trump voter but I have little sympathy for what is essenatially a top 10% problem.

The 150k to 250k crowd which are over represented on these boards are screaming the lowdest. Take the larger view of this- in the grand scheme of things you pay fairly low tax. Almost everyone in that income range has tax rates in the teens. You are part of the elite class. Step up and pay.

Anonymous wrote:Wow, people less less taxes but complaining because the "refund" isn't as big, or they owe. You didn't pay attention to this when your take home was more every check and now you are shocked? Do you want to blame Trump instead of your own financial mis-management?

I hope you understand, it's entirely up to you and within your control as to how much of your paycheck you want to loan to the IRS at no interest in order to cover your tax bill. If this really took you by surprise, then you are kinda dumb.

Most reasonable people expect their paycheck to go up when a political party widely touts their “tax cut” legislation.

Republicans manipulated the withholding tables for political purposes. That’s garbage policy. No one likes to cut a big check at tax season, as it screws up household financial planning.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A vote for republicans is a vote for taking money out of the pockets of the middle class and giving it to millionaires/billionaires

I voted for them and my tax bill went down. But if you're too dumb to understand how withholding works, I'm not surprised you voted Dem.

I understand how withholding works. Just read all of the comments in this thread and others about people who are getting screwed by SALT.

Congrats on being a multi millionaire? or renting an apartment in Florida?

either way your example doesn't change the fact that this screwed over tons of people in this region so millionaires and corporations could keep more for themselves

Anonymous wrote:A vote for republicans is a vote for taking money out of the pockets of the middle class and giving it to millionaires/billionaires

I voted for them and my tax bill went down. But if you're too dumb to understand how withholding works, I'm not surprised you voted Dem.