Our highly motivated Senators are going to “give” us a new tax bill. What does that mean to you as an individual? If you are a young couple with a number of children you will pay little or no taxes to the Federal Government because the deductions for those kids have doubled.. If you are on welfare (sorry, that is not politically correct) if you are exercising your RIGHT to ADFC (Aid to dependent families and children) you already pay no taxes, and in some cases receive a “refund” from the government for paying no taxes. (Yeah, that’s true – go figure that one out.)
If you are really rich you will pay more taxes, but you can afford them so that is no hardship. If you have a business your taxes are going to be lower as they should be – America has the highest taxes on business in the world. Although, in reality, businesses don’t actually pay the taxes, you do, because the cost of the tax is added to the price you pay for the product. It’s called, “the cost of doing business.” And you lose.
What group does that leave? Well, I hate to tell you, but it’s us, the elderly. Consider that most old people survive on Social Security and probably a small pension for your years of labor. Social Security doesn’t provide for a cost of living increase and also deducts some of your SSI for “Medicare.” Pensions are money and money is subject to inflation. For instance, in my case, I have been retired for 20 years. In that period inflation has continued its climb. So my pension from 1995 is now worth only HALF of what it was 20 years ago.
Congress, in its wisdom, has removed Medical Deductions from their new tax bill. Medical costs are the primary expense for elderly folks. We have to go to lots of doctors. We have to take lots of medicines so we have lots of prescriptions. We need lots of glasses and we need hearing aids at a cost of 5 to7 thousand dollars a pop and they have to be replaced as technology progresses. In fact, Medical Deductions are the ONLY large deductions that most old people have. Well, thanks to Congress, you’re not going to have them anymore, buddy-boy.
So who winds up paying more taxes? You got it. Those us us who have the lowest income, and the greatest expenses will likely see our taxes go up. We don’t have huge business deductions. We don’t have lots of dependent children. All we have is some Social Security and a pittance from our former employers.
What Congress doesn’t understand is this: That young couple with three or four children who will get the greatest benefit from “tax reform” DON’T BOTHER TO VOTE. If there is one thing that old people are good at, it is voting. Remember your representative and senators when the next elections come around. They will learn that it doesn’t pay to screw old people. We may not remember our grandchildren’s names, but we sure as hell will remember what we had to pay in income taxes.
