Welcome to tax filing season! Wait until you try that “simple” new “postcard” Form 1040.
It has six new schedules to pick from, to cover the parts that were cut out of the old 1040 so it would fit onto a postcard. And it comes with big complicated instructions and worksheets.
The simple 1040A or 1040EZ forms, that you might be comfortable with, are no longer even available.
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You get a bigger standard deduction, but there’s no deduction for exemptions. Some people will get a tax cut while others will actually pay more. And since the new withholding rules don’t adequately address many situations, the tax cut that you think you see on your paycheck could mean a smaller refund, or you may even owe more taxes.
The expanded (and quite complicated) child tax credit might make up for losing the exemptions for your kids and other dependents, but it might not. And available itemized deductions are much more limited. The forms, worksheets and instructions for dealing with the earned income credit, the kiddie tax, and most kinds of investment income and rental income continue to be very complex.
And for many small businesses, taxes will become much more complicated.
The individual rates are a little lower, but the big rate cut went to corporations. The Republican “tax reform” provides big tax-saving opportunities for corporations, other businesses and wealthy individuals; not so much for ordinary working people.
Tax filing will be less complicated for some people, but overall the tax system has become more complex. For most people, coping with this complicated tax system will continue to be unpleasant, even with the “simple” new 1040.
David J. Roberts
Associate Professor of Accountancy
DePaul University
Nobody knows nobody
Why are all the Chicago mayoral candidates now claiming to be “somebody nobody sent” instead of “somebody somebody sent” — now that we’ve learned that Ald. Danny Solis wore a wire on Ald. Ed Burke?
Walter Brzeski, Dunning
Get friendly with business, Chicago
If Chicago were more friendly toward business, we’d have more jobs. Fewer residents would feel the need to leave the city, and the children of employed parents would do better in school. It’s something to think about as the mayoral election approaches. Socialist-leaning candidates and creatures of public employee unions will make things worse.
Richard Crane, Lincoln Park
GOP base can’t win elections
Wouldn’t it be great if Republicans figured out that you don’t win elections with 38 percent of the vote — no matter how steadfast your political base — and started acting like Americans first?
Leonard Hall, LaGrange
An ode to warmer days
I’m tired of this Vortex called Polar.
I long for more days, strictly solar.
I need a device,
to rid snow, cold and ice…
Like a weather remote controller!
Dennis Lonstine, Sister Bay, Wisconsin
