Commentary
Republicans, Not Biden, Are About to Raise Your Taxes
In an Op-Ed today in the New York Times, Nobel Prize and Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz (yeah, I know another left-wing liberal elite) argues,
“The Trump administration has a dirty little secret: It’s not just planning to increase taxes on most Americans. The increase has already been signed, sealed and delivered, buried in the pages of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.”
Stiglitz goes on to say,
“President Trump and his congressional allies hoodwinked us. The law they passed initially lowered taxes for most Americans, but it built in automatic, stepped tax increases every two years that begin in 2021 and that by 2027 would affect nearly everyone but people at the top of the economic hierarchy. All taxpayer income groups with incomes of $75,000 and under — that’s about 65 percent of taxpayers — will face a higher tax rate in 2027 than in 2019.”
“At the same time, Trump has given his peers, people with annual incomes in excess of $1 million dollars, or the top 0.3 percent in the country, a huge gift: The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the average tax rate in 2019 for this group to be 2.3 percentage points lower than before the tax cut, saving the average taxpayer in this group over $64,000 — more than the average American family makes in a year.”
He ends his piece with this,
“The problem now is that unless the Democrats win a majority in the House and the Senate and clinch the presidency, these Republican tax increases, already legislated, are likely to go into effect. The increases, unfairly aimed at the vast majority of Americans who are disproportionately suffering in the pandemic, will cause even more hardship.
“They must be stopped.”
Now, let’s be clear, the folks who regularly read Around the Block either already knew this or, at the very least, suspected it. But, as the headline indicates, you’re not the target of this column or Stiglitz’s Op-Ed. The audience for this should be the Trump voter. So, in the spirit of public service, I urge you to pass this post on to any Trump supporters or voters you know. (The link and PDF of the Stiglitz column are included below). Although many have already voted and others will just dismiss this as “fake news,” at the very least it may open their eyes to the lying, duplicitous, cynic they’re supporting; a man who’s not in it for his adoring MAGA-hatted crowds, but for his cronies, his benefactors and himself!
Oh yeah, one last thing: If you do pass this on, I take no responsibility for the slings and arrows that will be aimed your way, the dissolution of any friendships, or the breaking of any family bonds.
Around the Block 
I saw this and the source article in the NYTimes. I am curious as exactly how my taxes will be going up next year, but I have not found anything to indicate why – the tax brackets and standard deductions are both going up, I do not see any other deductions being taken away.
Can you please tell me what is causing my taxes to go up ?
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Hi Lawrence. I’m not an accountant nor a Nobel Prize winning economist, but I think the answer might be here, in Stiglitz’s column:
“The law they passed initially lowered taxes for most Americans, but it built in automatic, stepped tax increases every two years that begin in 2021 and that by 2027 would affect nearly everyone but people at the top of the economic hierarchy. All taxpayer income groups with incomes of $75,000 and under — that’s about 65 percent of taxpayers — will face a higher tax rate in 2027 than in 2019.”
So, based on this, the reason you’re not seeing anything now is that the higher rates begin in 2021…as Stiglitz indicated…cynically after the election.
I will, however, monitor the Comments section of Stiglitz’s column. If I see any other items that assist in answering your question, I’ll place them here in the comments section.
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The only tax increases I was able to find are that several of the tax changes are being phased out (for example the child tax credits were doubled, but will revert back). I am not an expert here, I have only googled and read several articles.
Based on what I read, the “tax increases” the professor is talking about could very well be because the tax changes reduced taxes, and these changes are being phased out. For example, I will have less child tax credits to work with than I have now because of the tax changes. However, this implies a completely different narrative than the source article indicates.
He could have simply said what the changes will actually be instead of making people do all this research. Why did he spend all this time writing an article without content ?
Even if my research and conclusions are incorrect (which they could very well be), the article is pointless.
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Not fair!!!!!———I was hoping to snooze until the 4th, Oh well——can go back to what I was doing Z-Z-Z !!!
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Why aren’t the Democrats talking about this?
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Thanks Ted, I posted it on my page and I will be prepared for the blow back. My calls today and yesterday to African/Americans is S. Carolina were very encouraging. Many did answer their phone and told me they had either voted already(most of them) or they were going to vote tomorrow or Tuesday. Although we announce ourselves as bipartisan callers one woman even said that she voted Democratic the entire ticket and she was giddy as was I. Still i’m keeping my fingers crossed!!!!
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Your calls sound encouraging. You deserve a medal for all the hard work. Let’s hope it pays off and we can have a Biden victory. And thanks for posting my column. The few voters who haven’t voted, need to vote with their eyes wide open! And those who have, sorry to say, should see how they’ve been duped!
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