Does Congressman Nunes still stand by his vote to raise taxes on hardworking middle-class Californians?
According to a recent report by the LA Times, middle-class California families are facing massive tax bills this year thanks to Congressman Devin Nunes’ vote for the disastrous Republican tax scam. The GOP tax bill was a massive giveaway to the wealthy and big corporations that is raising taxes on the middle-class while increasing healthcare premiums – even as it adds $2 trillion to the federal debt and ushers in an era of trillion-dollar deficits.
Bill Forsythe, a 57-year-old hospital radiologic technologist in San Jose, plugged his and his wife’s financial information into TurboTax this month and, like many Americans filing early this year, was shocked at the bottom line.
After a sweeping Republican law went into effect with promises of lower taxes for just about everyone, the couple owed about $9,000 in federal and state taxes. Last year, they got a $6,000 tax refund on roughly the same income.
“I’m very frustrated and exasperated and angry that this government seems to have changed things for the worse considerably,” Forsythe said.
The couple’s case is far from unusual.
“Middle-class families across California are finding themselves in a pinch this year thanks to Congressman Nunes’ tax scam,” said DCCC Spokesperson Brooke Goren. “After more than a decade in Washington, Nunes is squarely in the pocket of his powerful special interest backers and out of touch with hardworking Californians. The question now is will he apologize to the working families he voted to raise taxes on?”
LA Times: Shrinking tax refunds are a growing problem for GOP tax law
By Jim Puzzanghera
Bill Forsythe, a 57-year-old hospital radiologic technologist in San Jose, plugged his and his wife’s financial information into TurboTax this month and, like many Americans filing early this year, was shocked at the bottom line.
After a sweeping Republican law went into effect with promises of lower taxes for just about everyone, the couple owed about $9,000 in federal and state taxes. Last year, they got a $6,000 tax refund on roughly the same income.
“I’m very frustrated and exasperated and angry that this government seems to have changed things for the worse considerably,” Forsythe said.
The couple’s case is far from unusual.
The average tax refund so far has shrunk to $2,640 from $3,169 at the same point last year, according to Internal Revenue Service data through Feb. 15 that were released late Friday. That’s a 16.7% drop.
The total number of returns that qualified for refunds was down 26.5% compared with last year and the amount of money refunded was off by 38.8%, the data showed.
…A Treasury simulation in the report estimated 32 million taxpayers would owe money on their returns this year, about 4.6 million more than if the law had not been changed.
…The Republican law cut individual tax rates across the board through 2025 while permanently slashing the corporate rate to 21% from 35%. People are discovering smaller refunds at the same time some large corporations are reporting record profits and huge declines in their tax bills.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Thursday that U.S. bank profits were up 44% last year to a record $237 billion — about $29 billion of which came from the lower corporate tax rate.
…Republicans already were on the defensive about the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
…Forsythe said he had been skeptical that the Republican tax law would help him and his wife. But the results were worse than he feared.
“We thought we were either going to break even or owe a grand or something like that, but $9,000? When you’re not expecting it?” he said. “This came out of left field.”
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