General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I'm a CPA with a small tax practice [View all]janx
(24,128 posts)Last edited Sat Feb 9, 2019, 10:02 PM - Edit history (1)
the difference between my taxes in 2017 vs. 2018 was a little less--a little over $1000 saved, but this was because my biweekly paychecks contained something like $20 more, and I didn't even notice it. Peanuts.
The thing that bothered me though was that I could not itemize my standard deductions (SALT, mortgage interest) because there were new caps on those. Richer people, who were paying a heck of a lot of mortgage interest due to bigger loans, did get that opportunity. The same thing held, it seems, for state and local taxes (including property tax).
People who make more than I do but who are by no means rich, especially married couples, were probably used to a bigger refund. Did they notice that they had some extra money in their paychecks? Maybe not.
With me, it was a wash. I had an extra $40 a month in my pocket during 2018 and wound up with a hundred or two less in my return.
I am not good with numbers, but my humble income and fairly simple tax situation now illustrate what happened fairly well.