Our most recent election cycle was brutal and challenging. We now know that Donald J. Trump will be the 45th President of the United State of America.
Given that, it makes sense to look at his potential changes to the government. In this article, I am going to focus on taxes.
Here is a glimpse of some of the changes that Trump has proposed during his campaign:
- Trump has promised changes to the Affordable Care Act but how far and how much remains to be seen. This could impact the tax-related subsidies and credits. For high earners, he intends to revoke the 3.8 percent investment surtax and 0.9 percent additional high-earner Medicare tax implemented to support the Affordable Care Act.
- He has promised to simplify the individual U.S. tax code to three tax rates. The top income tax bracket would be 33% at start at taxable income of $225,00 for a married couple. The two brackets below it would fall at 12 and 25 percent, respectively. While this has been pitched as a middle-class tax cut, the biggest benefit will go to millionaires.
- He has proposed almost tripling the standard deduction. Expect the real estate industry to fight this one hard, as it will essentially eliminate the tax benefit of owning a home for the majority of circumstances. It will also make charitable donations less attractive.
- He would remove personal tax exemptions (to help finance the preceding point), which would remove some of the tax benefits of having children. He will, however, implement above the line deduction system for child and dependent care expenses to replace the child care credits and implement an additional credit for lower earners with child care and dependent expenses.
- He has promised to eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) at both the individual and corporate level.
- Trump has promised to lower the corporate tax rate and the tax rate of flow-through business income (think S corporations and partnerships) to 15 percent.
- Trump has promised to repeal the estate tax. If this happens, expect a flurry of transfer of assets between generations while the repeal is in place.
- He has promised substantial credits to encourage private investment in infrastructure projects.
- He would eliminate the carried interest loophole.This loophole allows investment managers to have all of their income taxed at favorable long-term capital gains rates.
- Trump has promised to bring U.S. foreign corporate dollars back from overseas tax havens at a flat 10 percent tax rate.
Anyone worth a grain of salt knows that campaign promises and actual implementation are two different things. That being said, given that we’ll have a Republican president and Republican controlled Congress, the odds are more in Trumps favor. We’ll see how some of the math works on his proposals and what is feasible to implement.
Adam Shay, CPA (N.C. License Number 35961), MBA, is managing partner of Adam Shay CPA, PLLC. He focuses on minimizing taxes and improving the financial results of entrepreneurs, and is actively involved in supporting the Wilmington entrepreneurial and startup community. For more information, visit http://www.wilmingtontaxesandaccounting.com/ or email him at [email protected]. He can also be reached by phone at (910) 256-3456.
