Some Tax Break: 68% of Americans Claim They Paid More or the Same in Taxes

[louis c]

<snip>About two-thirds of Americans, 68 percent, say they paid the same or more in taxes for 2018 than the previous year, while less than a quarter said they paid less, according to a new Hill-HarrisX survey.

The survey results show individuals' perceptions about their taxes for 2018, the first year of President Trump's tax law. The survey was conducted in the days leading up to Monday, the deadline for taxes to be filed in most states.

Fully 36 percent of Americans in the poll said they paid the same amount in federal taxes last year than in 2017, while 32 percent said they paid more. Another 18 percent said they paid less.<snip>


https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/439552-36-percent-say-they-paid-the-same-in-taxes-in-2018-as-they-did

[CountAllVotes]

1. So far five people I know were expecting a refund

Big surprise! NO REFUND.

They have to pay pay pay pay pay.

What a scam this is!

Who received a refund?

The 1% ...

& recommend.

[JayhawkSD]

3. Refund, not tax amount paid. nt

[JayhawkSD]

2. The confusion between refund and amount of tax paid is astonishing.

There are about a dozen threads in DU on this subject, and in every one of them the majority of complaints are about a smaller refund. Those complaints never mention a larger paycheck, smaller withholding, or the amount of tax actually paid.

The Hill article says that "The survey results show individuals' perceptions about their taxes for 2018," probably because it questions them about refunds rather than actual tax paid.

It talks about what people "tended to believe they paid in federal taxes," and that people "said they owed more in 2018," which makes it even more clear that the issue was refunds and not the actual amount of taxes paid.

The question itself is, "Did you pay more or less for federal taxes for 2018 as compared to 2017?" which is sufficiently poorly worded to invite people to compare refunds rather than actual tax amount. Their phrasing in the article makes it clear that they are well aware of that impact of the wording of the question.

[louis c]

6. Here's the rub...

...most people did nothing to change their weekly withholding. So, when the scam tax reform plan was signed by Trump, the IRS instructed employers to withhold less money. The scumbags were touting "we gave everyone a raise" and brought out middle Americans who now had an extra $20 or $30 a week in their paychecks. This was supposed to help the Repukes retain control of the House. It blew up the deficit, but that was an argument for another day. The scam didn't work.

Now, comes refund time, and a person who used to get $1,000 or $1,500 back, gets nothing, because that $20 or $30 a week was the employee's usual refund. The scumbags figured, 'We can bribe these morons with their own money and they won't catch on until after November". Well, the scam didn't work, and now the chickens are coming home to roost.

[JayhawkSD]

10. So what is the problem?

"...who used to get $1,000 or $1,500 back, gets nothing, because that $20 or $30 a week was the employee's usual refund."

Well, yes. $20/week = $1000, and $30/week = $1500. So instead of a lump sum at the end of the year, they got the same amount in weekly installments, but the amount they got was the same. Instead of making reference to "scumbags" who gave people money in weekly installments, how about calling people idiots for thinking they have been ripped off because they got the same amount of money in weekly installments instead of one lump sum payment?

How is "I owe you $1000 so I'm going to pay you $20/week for 52 weeks" a "scam" precisely? Or a "bribe with their own money?"

[louis c]

13. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A TAX BREAK

Wow. What don't you get? Have you been following the news?

The deficit doubled. The Debt has increased and is projected to increase for the next 10 years. This was touted as a middle class tax break.

When it was a $20 a week increase for the average wage earner, the fucking Republicans were rolling out teachers getting a new car and nurses getting new refrigerators with Trump's new raise for them.

Everyone thought they were getting raises from the government. Then, their $1,000 refund evaporated because the raise wasn't a raise at all, but a reduction in withholding with the bill coming due this year. People didn't think they were breaking even and doubling the deficit, they were told they were coming out ahead.

Get it? The middle class DIDN'T GET A RAISE OR A TAX BREAK. They bribed them with their own money. So, the tax break went to wealthy corporations, estate tax elimination, reduction in taxes for the wealthiest Americans, a deficit increase, and we got shit on a stick, and now they want the stick back.

Get it now?

[titaniumsalute]

4. This needs to be 100% a top five platform discussion for the Dems

They were lied to by the right 100% about the tax cut plan.

[Cairycat]

5. I'm sure part of it is that they screwed with withholding

We had a lot less withheld, but had been carefully saving all year to make up for that. We ended up paying more, because we got penalized for not having enough withheld.

I think anybody with any brains could foresee that Trump and the Rs would fuck things up for the non-rich, but the assholes made it so if you didn't guess right, you got screwed even more.

[Baitball Blogger]

7. D'oh! That's a major miscalculation!

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

8. I paid

a LOT more than I did last year...........

[anarch]

9. I paid substantially less this year

but, oh that's right, I made substantially less money.

percentage-wise, it was about the same for income tax; slightly more overall with property tax taken into account.

it certainly wasn't a "tax cut" from my perspective.

but I'm sure the super-rich are happy as hell about it, so it did what it was supposed to do.

[uponit7771]

11. I know people who were in the 10s of thousands and ask them about Red Don and "I don't know"

... comes out of their mouths

[dalton99a]

12. Hang this around the neck of every Republican next year.