Trump promises 'major middle-income tax cut' with GOP majority

[Smokin Joe]

Those people need to take the matter up with the appropriate taxing authorities, the counties & the local people they vote into office, and not count on the federal government to bail them out.

Bailout????

These are tax deductions which were present through virtually every administration I can recall.

You didn't pay taxes on the money you had to spend to make the money.
You didn't pay taxes on the money you already paid in taxes.

[Smokin Joe]

Have you talked to anyone about this?

Seems like you should be able to get a job with a company (say, one owned by you with only one employee) which reimburses for expenses.  If nothing else, even if the company couldn't write off the expense, at least you could(should?) avoid payroll tax on that part like an S-corp.

Not my field, but I'll bet there's an angle if you pay a few bucks to find it.

Works fine, if I'm willing and able to dump the money into having offices nearly 1000 miles away to sell the work.

That's the catch-22. Besides, who wants to live in Denver?

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

Works fine, if I'm willing and able to dump the money into having offices nearly 1000 miles away to sell the work.

That's the catch-22. Besides, who wants to live in Denver?

Your business doesn't need an office, just a mailing address.  And I have no idea why you'd put it in Denver.

The point is to separate the money you have coming in.  Instead of taking it all as personal income and then deducting (or not, these days) expenses, take it in as revenue to a business which covers travel expenses and then pays you a salary.

[skeeter]

Bailout????

These are tax deductions which were present through virtually every administration I can recall.

You didn't pay taxes on the money you had to spend to make the money.
You didn't pay taxes on the money you already paid in taxes.

Not having read the entire thread I assume we're talking about the federal property tax deduction. This deduction has enabled local governments to levy confiscatory taxes on their residents, counting on the rest of the country to ease the load on the taxpayer. I favor putting the pressure where it belongs.

Being from CA I definitely have suffered because of the recent changes to the federal rules. But I don't blame anyone but the Maoists running my county.

[Smokin Joe]

Your business doesn't need an office, just a mailing address.  And I have no idea why you'd put it in Denver.

The point is to separate the money you have coming in.  Instead of taking it all as personal income and then deducting (or not, these days) expenses, take it in as revenue to a business which covers travel expenses and then pays you a salary.

Denver is the Rocky Mountain head office town for most oil companies not in Texas, and the regional office for many which are.
As for separating the money, I have been there, and done that.

This is a business based largely on contacts, and that circle shrinks when you are in the field for the same people for a long time.  When the drilling program was downsized, the people I had been working with/for for 20 years dropped my company. (The bottom line was that the very large company, which bought out the mid sized company, which bought out the smaller independent company I had been working for, does not like dealing with small companies.)
 
Market dynamics have changed from nearly 20 years ago, and many of the people I had dealt with have retired, leaving few contacts still in the industry. Word of mouth and personal referrals are big. That leaves me dependent on sales done by someone who has a larger group to work with and the resources to do so, which means I work as an employee, because they aren't hiring on a contract basis.
So, either I go where the head offices are and cultivate new relationships, or I'm stuck where I am now. If I had another ten or twenty years in the work force, that might fly, but at my age, not likely.

[Smokin Joe]

Not having read the entire thread I assume we're talking about the federal property tax deduction. This deduction has enabled local governments to levy confiscatory taxes on their residents, counting on the rest of the country to ease the load on the taxpayer. I favor putting the pressure where it belongs.

Being from CA I definitely have suffered because of the recent changes to the federal rules. But I don't blame anyone but the Maoists running my county.

In the meantime, it leaves the homeowner paying taxes on taxes. I have found local governments incredibly resistant to the concept of reining in spending and reducing taxes, especially in a boom town area on the slow decline.
Infrastructure and services overspending still have to be paid off, with a smaller tax base and fewer taxable sales.

[Hoodat]

Wish he would promise a 'major government spending' cut.  And he doesn't even need a GOP majority to do it.

[Chosen Daughter]

Wish he would promise a 'major government spending' cut.  And he doesn't even need a GOP majority to do it.

All he really needs to do is use the power of the pen and not sign those spending bills.  But he gives in to Nancy every time.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

I'm certain you've all been waiting patiently for my opinion, so I won't leave you hanging any longer.

Trump, of course, can't pass gas through the Congress, but if I was in his shoes I would be proposing tax-cuts too.  Tax-cuts excite his base and lots of non-ideological voters.  Even rats who opposed the last taxcuts didn't send their rebate back, and this is one of the few Trump accomplishments in the last 3 years.  Trump can say he did it before and he'll do it again plausibly. 

[libertybele]

I'm certain you've all been waiting patiently for my opinion, so I won't leave you hanging any longer.

Trump, of course, can't pass gas through the Congress, but if I was in his shoes I would be proposing tax-cuts too.  Tax-cuts excite his base and lots of non-ideological voters.  Even rats who opposed the last taxcuts didn't send their rebate back, and this is one of the few Trump accomplishments in the last 3 years.  Trump can say he did it before and he'll do it again plausibly.

Oh thank goodness!  The night is saved.   

[Formerly Once-Ler]

Oh thank goodness!  The night is saved.   

As Homelander would say "Don't thank me, YOU are the real heroes."
*Homelander is a Superman inspired hero from the Amazon Prime series "The Boys."

[Neverdul]

The tax cuts were not tax cuts for so many who incur expenses as employees or as an integral part of their jobs, which often are not reimbursed by the employer. For instance, virtually every delivery vehicle carrying food to customers is privately owned by the employee, and the expense of operating and maintaining that vehicle comes back on the employee. Often, any delivery fee which those employees get is taxed as income, but those selfsame employees cannot deduct either the standard mileage deduction or actual expenses for something that they would not be employed if they did not provide that means of transportation.
Another example is for people who work on temporary job sites geographically removed from home. (As a geologist, I may have to travel 1200 miles (one way) to a drill site, stay there for a few weeks, and incur expenses doing both as part of my employ). I can't do the job if I am not there. But I can't take the Form 2106 deductions for mileage or per diem any more, either.

This is where the removal of those Form 2106 deductions indicates the tone deafness of those who removed them, calling that 'simplification'. Yeah, it is simpler, the government has its hands deeper in your pockets than ever, taxing money you shell out for expenses which cannot be avoided and which are integral to producing income.

BOHICA.

FWIW, from March of 2018 to January 2019, I drove as a delivery driver for Panera Bread. I got paid mileage but not the full IRS mileage amount, only about ½ of the allowable IRS mileage reimbursement rate - .32 instead of .58 per mile. It used to be that the difference was deductible as an unreimbursed employee expense but not after the “tax cut”.  So instead of getting a refund of several hundred dollars, I owed the IRS $189. No, not a huge sum, but a lot considering I was paid at $1 over minimum wage and working just under 30 hours a week so not covered by group medical insurance for several months in 2018 so I also got screwed on the ACA penalty which wasn’t eliminated for the 2018 tax year.

[Mesaclone]

As Homelander would say "Don't thank me, YOU are the real heroes."
*Homelander is a Superman inspired hero from the Amazon Prime series "The Boys."

THAT is a great show...and we absolutely need more Homelander quotes here.

@Once-Ler

[Smokin Joe]

As Homelander would say "Don't thank me, YOU are the real heroes."
*Homelander is a Superman inspired hero from the Amazon Prime series "The Boys."

...and a real turd. He's the evil alter-ego of Superman.

[Mesaclone]

...and a real turd. He's the evil alter-ego of Superman.

 I'm the Homelander. And I can do whatever the f*ck I want

[Smokin Joe]

FWIW, from March of 2018 to January 2019, I drove as a delivery driver for Panera Bread. I got paid mileage but not the full IRS mileage amount, only about ½ of the allowable IRS mileage reimbursement rate - .32 instead of .58 per mile. It used to be that the difference was deductible as an unreimbursed employee expense but not after the “tax cut”.  So instead of getting a refund of several hundred dollars, I owed the IRS $189. No, not a huge sum, but a lot considering I was paid at $1 over minimum wage and working just under 30 hours a week so not covered by group medical insurance for several months in 2018 so I also got screwed on the ACA penalty which wasn’t eliminated for the 2018 tax year.

When I'm not doing geology on exploration wells, I deliver food. It keeps me busy and pays most of the bills so I can keep what I made on the wells in the bank, rather than live off it in between jobs, especially since the jobs are pretty thin since the price of oil has dropped.
I'll put on between 60 and  100 miles a night, sometimes more, working 5-6 nights a week. None of those miles, nor the miles to Colorado, Utah, and Nevada from North Dakota were deductible, nor the  per diem expenses for the months spent (in aggregate) on drilling locations far from home.
In short, we got screwed by having to pay taxes on our expenses.