STUMP » Articles » Taxing Tuesday: Mapping Tax Cuts and Laughing at Seattle » 19 June 2018, 14:53

Where Stu & MP spout off about everything.

Taxing Tuesday: Mapping Tax Cuts and Laughing at Seattle  

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19 June 2018, 14:53

Well, here’s a cool new tool from the Tax Foundation, but I’m a little skeptical:

They’re doing it by Congressional District, using a kind of “average” taxpayer. Thing is… some taxpayers are a bit thin on the ground in particular districts.

To arrive at our figures, we used county level data provided by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS dataset includes aggregate taxpayer statistics stratified by county and income level. For each stratum, we created six sample taxpayers based on their filing status and their election to itemize deductions. For example, both an itemizing and non-itemizing single, married, and head of household taxpayer were created for each county and income level. The sample taxpayers’ change in tax liability since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) went into effect were then weighted by their respective shares in each stratum.

So I decided to check out the results for New York state, and… actually, it looks pretty convincing to me. Let me explain why.

I chose the $100K – $200K AGI group (which I’m in), and checked out the results:

Notice that the upstate portions of the map are quite a bit more blue (i.e., get more %age cut) than the area where I live – Westchester – which has super-high property taxes. My property tax alone throws me over the SALT cap.

I live in District 18, where supposedly we get a 1.2% cut; farther south in Westchester, District 17 gets a 1.1% cut. Parts of Long Island get only a 0.9% cut.

So this is where I was saying – for many of us, it’s just a wash.

But upstate, in the way north of District 21, they see a 2.3% decrease. They don’t get hit as much by the SALT tax.

If we look at the U.S. as a whole:

The lighter the color, the less the cut.

Mind you, they all get cuts. Just some less so than others.

And just for fun, let’s check out Connecticut, and the $200K+ range.

Guess where all the hedge fund guys are.

Uh huh. Where they “only” get a 2% cut. But you see why places like CT and NY are so desperate.

SEATTLE HEAD TAX HOKEY POKEY

After the very short-lived attempt of Seattle to tax Amazon by employee count, only to rescind it a month later… others thing “Sure, it didn’t work in Seatlle, but it will go over here!”

After Seattle Ditches Its Amazon Tax, Silicon Valley City Mulls a Google Tax

As Seattle repeals a literal tax on jobs, a similarly bad idea is taking hold further south.

Passed by a unanimous vote of the city council in May, the city’s so-called Amazon tax, which imposed a $275 annual fee for every worker employed by a company grossing over $20 million a year, was on the books for barely a month before city elders nixed it, hoping to avoid a bruising voter initiative campaign that sought its repeal.

The move provoked howls of betrayal from some of the tax’s most ardent supporters. Councilmember Kshama Sawant called the repeal a “shameless capitulation.” One impassioned activist told the city council in a public hearing that “when it’s our turn, we won’t make excuses for the terror.” Accusations like bootlicker were thrown around with liberal abandon.

Yet while the Amazon tax might be dead for now in the Emerald City, a Google tax is gaining steam in Mountain View, California.

BWA HA HA HA HAHA,

Read the whole thing.

Tax Foundation coverage: Seattle City Council Votes Overwhelmingly to Repeal New Business Head Tax

Mountain View and Cupertino, the California homes of Alphabet (Google) and Apple respectively, are considering business head taxes along the lines of what was adopted in Seattle. Meanwhile, Seattle has reconsidered, in dramatic fashion.

Citing widespread opposition to the new tax and the need for greater consensus, seven of the nine members of City Council voted today to repeal the new tax before it goes into effect. It took a while, but Seattle officials have figured out that taxing job creation is uniquely counterproductive.

The city expected opposition for large corporations but seemed unprepared for the policy’s rejection by the general public. Today’s repeal took place under the shadow of a looming ballot referendum and polling showing the new tax’s considerable unpopularity. Organizers were preparing to submit a petition for a ballot initiative with more than twice the required number of signatures when news broke that City Council was ready to reverse itself. (Once the petition was certified, the new law would have been suspended pending the outcome of the ballot question.)

Seattle residents understood that penalizing employment was bad for their community, and their elected officials seem to have gotten the message.

I don’t think “seem” is appropriate here.

I don’t think any of these politicians learned a damn thing other than “you keep this in place, you are getting booted out in the next election.”

I actually have no issue with that sort of political action, but it does require voters paying attention.

Other remarks on the idiotic tax:

Well, we’ll see about that.

TAX LINKS AND TWEETS

Other remarks/items on taxes, or tax-adjacent stuff:






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