Back to Normal

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Clarissa

February 24, 2018

So I finally asked an actual accountant and she says our taxes will be lower next year thanks to the new tax bill. The refund will be $5,000 instead of almost $2,000 with everything else remaining identical.

“But this is just a few insignificant crumbs we get thrown while the big corporations are the ones that make out like bandits!” the accountant immediately reminds.

And I’m like, “Hey, you are the one who voted for Trump, what are you complaining about now?”

And she’s like, “All of the money this country makes goes to foreign aid to help complete strangers who hate us!”

And I’m like, “Finally, you are back to your normal self.”

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8 responses to “Back to Normal”

Crystallizing Chaos

February 24, 2018

Again, I’m not sure where that impression is coming from. In reality I see middle class tax burden go down while most businesses paying more taxes. This could be temporary and I’m not sure of long term implications. But the voters aren’t going to care about that.

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1. Clarissa
  
  February 24, 2018
  
  I don’t trust her political judgment (and that’s putting it very mildly) but she’s a kick-ass accountant with almost 40 years of experience.
  
  I’m personally completely ignorant about accounting, so it’s useless to ask me.
  
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  1. Dreidel
    
    February 24, 2018
    
    Well, I almost fired my usually-excellent accountant several years ago when I turned 70, and he had the nerve to suggest that since I’m an old man I should take half of my loot out of the aggressive, high-yield stocks where they’ve been for the last 40 years and put the money in safe (but very low-yield) bond funds. What a stupid, cowardly suggestion!
    
    But he’s a young man who has a lot to learn, so I let him off with a warning.
    
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    1. Shakti
      
      February 25, 2018
      
      I turned 70, and he had the nerve to suggest that since I’m an old man I should take half of my loot out of the aggressive, high-yield stocks where they’ve been for the last 40 years and put the money in safe (but very low-yield) bond funds
      
      That’s very standard advice because the conventional wisdom is the older you are the less time you have to make your money back if you have losses or there’s a huge stock market drop. Also as a retiree, you’re not making extra money by wages, you live on a “fixed” income.
      
      Of course if your strategy isn’t broken, there’s no need to fix it.
      
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2. xykademiqz
  
  February 24, 2018
  
  DH did some preliminary tax calculations and it looks like we will be getting far less refund this year than previous years. We both chose to have maximal paycheck deductions at work — as if we were single, no dependents — so we always get a refund. While our return has been slowly reduced as we paid off more on the house, this year it seems like the drop will be precipitous owing to several changes in the tax bill. I am not happy.
  
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  1. Clarissa
    
    February 24, 2018
    
    The tax bill doesn’t have any effect yet. It will start having effect next year.
    
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    1. Dreidel
      
      February 24, 2018
      
      The new tax bill has no effect on anyone’s 2017 taxes, which are coming due on April 15, 2018. But starting on New Year’s Day last month, it began affecting people’s monthly paychecks (and government pension payments like mine) by altering the amount of money required to be withheld as payroll tax.
      
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      1. Clarissa
        
        February 24, 2018
        
        True. It feels like I finally got a raise because the paycheck is finally getting bigger. If this goes on, people might start liking the new administration.
        
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