How Change in (2017) Tax Law Affected People and Economy
Introduction
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 led to significant tax changes that affected individual taxpayers, businesses and the economy. The new tax legislation was signed into law on 22nd December 2017 by President Donald Trump. Three days earlier (19th December 2017) both the U.S Senate and U.S House of Representatives had passed the bill in a vote of 51- 48 and 227 -203, respectively. Most of the provisions in TCJA are valid from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2025. This paper will compare the prior tax law with the current provisions of TCJA and highlight the impact of tax changes on individual taxpayers, businesses, and the economy in general.
Individual Tax Reforms
TCJA lowered the tax bill of individual taxpayers. Some of the individual tax reforms are explained below.
Income Tax Rate
The TCJA law lowers individual income tax rates and replaces the old tax brackets. In the prior law, the top marginal tax rate was 39.6 percent, but in the TCJA it is 37 percent. The old tax rates of 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, 35% and 39.6% was replaced with new tax rates of 10%, 15%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%. The new tax rates reduced by three points at most. Table A1 and Table B2 display the changes in income tax rates for single and married, joint filers, respectively (See Appendix A and Appendix B).
The TCJA also modifies income tax bracket widths. The TCJA top marginal tax rate of 37 percent will apply to individual taxpayers with a taxable income of $500,000 and above. It is also applicable to married taxpayers filing jointly $600,000 and above. In the prior law, the top tax rate of 39.6 percent applied to individual taxpayers with a taxable income greater than $426,700 and married taxpayers filing jointly $480,050 and above. The tax brackets will also be adjusted annually to reflect changes in inflation rates. In the prior law,...
References
Marsan, D. (2018). The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) and Its Impact on Investors, Their Trusts, Investment Entities, Retirement Plans and Estates -- Part 1 Tax Reform for Individuals. Journal of Taxation of Financial Products, 15(4), 11-52. Retrieved from https://ssrn.com/abstract=3292280
Smith & Howard. (2018, March). 2018 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act Overview. Retrieved from https://www.smith-howard.com/2018-tax-cuts-jobs-act-overview/
Tax Foundation. (2017). Preliminary Details and Analysis of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (241). Retrieved from https://files.taxfoundation.org/20171220113959/TaxFoundation-SR241-TCJA-3.pdf
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