Posted on 11/13/2018 1:51:18 PM PST by Mariner
Republicans are losing their hold on upper-middle-class suburbs, and the tax reform bill may be to blame.
Although a number of races are still too close to call, Democrats have taken 30 seats so far — more than the 23 GOP districts they needed to seize control of the House of Representatives. In swing districts across the country, new Democratic challengers vowed to defy the Trump administration while Republican incumbents touted the benefits of tax reform and a booming economy.
But the GOP’s tax reform bill may have disenfranchised fiscal conservatives in higher-income areas, since the Trump tax cuts capped the amount of deductions that Americans can claim on state and local taxes — abbreviated as SALT — to $10,000. For homeowners facing high property taxes, itemizing their taxes offered more deductions than the standard provision of $12,000.
Voters in those districts may have had this in mind when they hit the polls in the midterms. Among the top 25 congressional districts ranked by uptake of SALT deductions, nine are controlled by Republicans in the current Congress.
Six of them flipped blue in the November 6 elections, and one – California’s 45th district – is too close to call.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
It is if you want them to vote for you.
There is a difference between the rightness/wrongness of capping SALT with the actual political effect of flipping red districts blue.
Capping SALT probably hurt Republicans in high tax blue states; that’s the breaks and part of the price of Trump’s tax reform.
Anyone who is upset about the new SALT limit needs to quit whining and start putting pressure on their local officials to reduce taxes and spending. If that happens, it would be a great outcome from this very wise provision of the new tax code.
Yep, I get that. However, I think the SALT cap was the right thing to do in the long run, and it should eventually redirect pressure back towards local officials once people start to figure it out. Like everything else these days, though, people figuring it out will depend largely upon the ability of the Right to penetrate the propaganda of the Left and its media arm.
If suburban females like illegals and section 8 housing, we lost that demographic. Maybe it’s time to concentrate on disenfranchised white males?
“Why should the rest of us be forced to subsidize people with big, expensive homes who choose to live in high-tax Democrat areas?”
You are not subsidizing them.
They subsidize you and your state.
I know in the case of NJ and CA, they pay far more in Federal taxes than they receive in Federal expenditures.
What is your state? I’ll tell you where it fits in that continuum.
Raising ANYONE’S taxes is always a bad idea.
Utter nonsense and blather
There are small homes in marginal neighborhoods a few miles from me. The homes are worth maybe 325k and they pay 15k annual property taxes. Bad school districts, too
Much higher taxes where i live. A 1600 sq
Ft house is not big. SALT hurt a lot of people and the whole place went democratic in the election last week. Great schools but everyone is selling when the last kid graduated from high school.
The tax form looked a lot smaller with many of the lines on the bottom half of the front of the 1040 moved to a separate schudule.
Many wealthy suburbanites are required to pay the AMT tax, which means that you don't get to take a property tax deduction.
So I don't think Trump's tax cut was that much of a factor.
Then dont complain when the east andvwest coasters move to your state and change the dynamics. They are only moving to escape high taxes not cause they love your state
Housing prices are out of control in some places. See Dr. Frauds crummy house worth 2 to 3 million.
In the 1950s, the maximum income tax rate was 90%.
Amt hurt the middle class too. You still got to deduct but the deduction was reduced
Husband is a tax accountant.
It’s the upper middle class in suburbia, those between $120k and $170k with $20k+ in deductions that got hurt.
I know that if my income and deductions remain static, I’ll pay an additional $3,000+ this year.
The wealthy and those below $120k did fine with a few exceptions.
Not just “SALT” that is a problem...my elderly mother is likely to take a tax hit from the elimination of personal exemptions...she has massive medical expenses (hubby in a nursing home & LTC insurance covering less than 1/2 the monthly bill) so the doubling of the standard deduction doesn’t help her. Haven’t done a “preliminary” tax return for her yet (no TurboTax yet, etc.) so have yet to confirm.
I am to the right of Atilla the Hun, but have always thought that the deduction on home interest and property tax was unjust. The poor typically rent and get nothing from it. The wealthy have expensive, appreciating homes and benefit immensely. This deduction contributes relentlessly to inequality.
“Maybe it’s time to concentrate on disenfranchised white males?”
White males - straight white males - are the new N word.
Soon to be the new Jew (as in Germany, circa 1936).
I've seen that reported all over the place here in New Jersey and posted here on FR, but I don't think it's as clear-cut as you might think.
I suspect most of the published reports on this issue overlook a huge factor that nobody seems to mention: Social Security and Medicare. In many cases, a state shows a huge "deficit of taxes/revenues" with the Federal government simply because of the migration of people during their lives. In New Jersey, for example, taxpayers work here and earn a lot of money. Not only are they paying in higher income tax brackets (which explains part of the imbalance), but they (and their employers) are paying FICA and Medicare taxes as well that are paid into the Federal treasury.
But New Jersey is one of the worst places to live as a retiree, so many of these same people will move somewhere else when they retire -- taking their Social Security and Medicare benefits with them.
The bottom line is: the Social Security and Medicare benefits go wherever the retiree goes, so this imbalance should be stripped out of the equation when calculating taxes paid vs. Federal spending at the state level.
I agree with you. The mortgage interest deduction is nothing more than a subsidy for real estate brokers and the mortgage banking industry.
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