Time to reflect - Healthcare and Taxes

[Baiter]

We could have had single payer healthcare like many other countries do long ago but the medical and pharma establishment which is in itself a type of mafia has too much power and the American people can never seem to unite for what is in their best interest because they are purposefully so divided and divisive with one another.

Similar thing is going on with the IRS vs for-profit tax corporations

The government is about to permanently bar the IRS from creating a free electronic filing system

Thanks to pressure from tax preparation industry, Congress is getting ready to ban the Internal Revenue Service  from ever building a free electronic tax filing system.

As ProPublica reports, the effort is a bipartisan one. The House Ways and Means Committee, led by Massachusetts Democrat, Richard Neal, passed the Taxpayer First Act.

The bill would make changes to the IRS and is sponsored by Georgia Democratic Congressman John Lewis  and Mike Kelly, a Republican from Pennsylvania.

One of its stipulations would make it illegal for the IRS to create its own online system for tax filing. That’s right, members of Congress are prohibiting a branch of the federal government from providing a much-needed service that would make the lives of all of their constituents much easier.

And why is Congress taking the step? Because companies like Intuit,  the company behind TurboTax,  and H&R Block have been lobbying lawmakers for years to take the step.

In other countries, the agencies in charge of taxes have their own programs which make filing taxes more efficient — and free — for citizens. But that would eat into the profits for the tax prep industry, which was estimated to pull in $11 billion in 2018.


https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/09/the-government-is-about-to-permanently-bar-the-irs-from-creating-a-free-electronic-filing-system/

[Mamushka]

Why am I posting in this thread that has had no activity in over 4 months? For some reason Wanna was upset I didn't respond to his questions in this thread and refused to carry on a conversation we were in the middle of until I answered these questions.

1) Is your healthcare better or worse now than it was before Trump?
 
My insurance has actually been pretty stable for the last couple of years. During the Obama Care craziness we literally had meetings from the insurance company explaining the cost increases and how they correlated to the law. They also explained how there were still a lot of unknowns as the law was not fully defined at the time and was lacking a lot of the guidance details.  I never had meetings like that before or after and my insurance never remotely increased at the rate it did during that time period. I don't know if it was the law that caused the spike or if it was the insurance company taking advantage of the situation. My guess is a combo.

2) Is your tax burden better or worse this year (post Trump tax bill) than it was last year (still under Obama plan)

I believe so. We have a couple of rental houses that swing our numbers all over the place (in one year we put on 2 roofs and did a central AC replacement for example). While the income basically stays the same I have massive swings from profits to losses year to year, houses are in a LLC so everything gets mixed together making it difficult (for me at least) to determine the real numbers. I did ask my tax guy if the Trump plan would help me and he said "absolutely" (this is why I think it helped me). But I can't give you a dollar amount or percentage figure.

[WannaTheater]

Why am I posting in this thread that has had no activity in over 4 months? For some reason Wanna was upset I didn't respond to his questions in this thread and refused to carry on a conversation we were in the middle of until I answered these questions.

Not upset at all.  Trump stated his tax plan was going to be better for the middle class.  I am asking if it actually turned out that way.  The same for healthcare.
Real people, real data.  I'm the first to say that Trump's plan helped me... but I only worked for 3 months last year so my data point is not very solid.

Based on your answer to (2), I agree, with the LLC the comparison is a bit more difficult.

[Mamushka]

Not upset at all.  Trump stated his tax plan was going to be better for the middle class.  I am asking if it actually turned out that way.  The same for healthcare.
Real people, real data.  I'm the first to say that Trump's plan helped me... but I only worked for 3 months last year so my data point is not very solid.

Based on your answer to (2), I agree, with the LLC the comparison is a bit more difficult.

(OK, not mad, just refused to answer a question in a back and forth we were engaged in unless I joined a 4 month old thread and gave my answer to a group question  )

Also going on what my tax guy stated. Been using him for 7-8 years and he has always been a pretty straight shooter.

[WannaTheater]

Also going on what my tax guy stated. Been using him for 7-8 years and he has always been a pretty straight shooter.

I only trust data when it comes to financial comparisons.

[Baiter]

2) Is your tax burden better or worse this year (post Trump tax bill) than it was last year (still under Obama plan)

I figured I'd follow up on this since I finally did my 2018 Taxes...

2) My 2018 income was a bit higher than 2017 due to an employment gap, so my 2018 taxes were a bit higher.  The overall percentage dropped about 1%, which is depressing once you realize tax rates are increasing by 0.5-1% in 2019, and will continue climbing at that rate for another 8 years.  Yay for "cuts"