The numbers and situation skipro33 describes are typical for someone in an assisted living or nursing home.
I guess that I'm a bit perplexed. Three elderly women that I have handled finances for that have Medicare, Part D and Medigap pay next to nothing for medical expenses.... virtually everthing they incur is covered by Medicare or Medigap. So how can 100% of his income go to medical expenses?
If a single person had $6,000 in tax you'd have to have ~$60k of income and perhaps more since part of SS isn't taxed... that is a lot to go for medical expenses.
There must be more to this story.
Apparently some of the current features (bugs?) stem from having to "to make the budget math work" as Kitces said. They're trying to avoid the filibuster, so that puts a ceiling on certain numbers.Good points. It would be nice if as this moves forward they align the 0%/15% capitaal gains tax rates with the proposed tax brackets in the interest of "simplification".
Good points. It would be nice if as this moves forward they align the 0%/15% capitaal gains tax rates with the proposed tax brackets in the interest of "simplification".
Yes, dropping the lowest ordinary income bracket to 12% and keeping cap gains tax at 15% has that effect. No big deal IMO. Would you rather pay 15% on the lowest tax bracket?For MFJ, the 12% bracket goes up to $90k, but the 0% rate for LTCG and QDiv just goes up to about $72k, and then goes to 15% above that. A commenter on the Kitces blog points out that in the $72k--$90k range, it seems that LTCG get taxed at 15% while STCG get taxed at 12% !!
I find it counterintuitive that STCG would be taxed at a lower rate than LTCG. It's not a feature one would expect, so it looks like an unintended glitch. It's interesting.Yes, dropping the lowest ordinary income bracket to 12% and keeping cap gains tax at 15% has that effect. No big deal IMO. Would you rather pay 15% on the lowest tax bracket?
Its simply the effect of the lowest ordinary income tax bracket being lowered to 12% versus 15%.I find it counterintuitive that STCG would be taxed at a lower rate than LTCG. It's not a feature one would expect, so it looks like an unintended glitch. It's interesting.
DAFs are not for everyone. But they can be very helpful, and I think will really help with the "stacking" of contributions that some of us may do if the standard deduction goes up. Heck, even with current law, stacking can be useful.
You can stack a few years contributions into one tax year and then dole them out to charities over a few years.
I can say as a treasurer of a 501(c)(3) charity, I appreciated loyal steady contributors who didn't throw bursts of contributions at us. Frankly, the board could get silly if we got big contributions. I'd rather see them come slow and steady. I could handle bursts, but the board -- like much of America -- seemed to want to spend it as soon as it came in. This made for bad management. I was only one vote.
Also, we were pretty small (under 50k), and didn't have a stock account. Although we *could* handle a stock contribution, it was a PITA. Checks from DAFs were a breeze.
Got it... that makes sense now. As I understand in that situation once the person's financial resources are gone then Medicaid will take over so in the situation described it will just accelerate that happening depending on what resoues are available.
House Republicans on Friday quietly made changes to their far-reaching tax overhaul: Now its tax cuts would be less generous for many Americans.
A day after the GOP unveiled its plan promising middle-class relief, the House's top tax-writer, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, released a revised version of the bill that would impose a new, lower-inflation "chained CPI" adjustment for tax brackets immediately instead of in 2023. That means more income would be taxed at higher rates over time — and less generous tax cuts for individuals and families.
The change, posted on the website of the Ways and Means Committee, reduces the value of the tax cuts for ordinary Americans by $89 billion over 10 years compared with the legislation released with fanfare Thursday.
As wages rise, middle-class taxpayers would have more of their income taxed at the 25 percent rate instead of at 12 percent, for instance.
^^ I don't see any problem with using "chained CPI". Maybe it's a better measurement. People should focus on what's fair, rather than what's better for themselves or whoever they're in the business of advocating for.
I agree. It also seems counterintuive that qualified dividends would get taxed at a higher rate than interest.I find it counterintuitive that STCG would be taxed at a lower rate than LTCG. It's not a feature one would expect, so it looks like an unintended glitch. It's interesting.
I just read in The Hill that the Senate is going to release its own bill next week instead of waiting for the House bill to arrive. There will be plenty to talk about on this subject.
Tax bill raises red flags for Senate GOP | TheHill
Possibly another bill to tear apart...wait until a bill appears... let's keep the pig away.
Possibly another bill to tear apart. But wait until a bill appears. It is good to understand how changes will effect us. But let's keep the pig away.