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In this lively episode of the Teaching Tax Flow podcast, hosts John and Chris delve into the outcomes of the recent election, marking a notable shift with Donald Trump poised to return to the presidency. This episode serves as a third installment in their White House walkthrough series, carrying listeners through an engaging discussion on the implications of Trump's presidency concerning tax legislation, economic strategies, and potential changes to financial policies. With a blend of humor and insight, the hosts navigate through what these political shifts might mean for different stakeholders, from everyday American taxpayers to large business entities.
The conversation is particularly centered around the intricate proposals suggested by Trump, such as the extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and specific deductions. Chris unpacks some complex economic concepts, including bonus depreciation and the SALT tax deduction, underlining how these could affect both businesses and individual taxpayers. The episode also highlights the essential process of how tax proposals become law, providing listeners with a comprehensive understanding of legislative procedures in the tax domain. This episode is a valuable listen for anyone looking to stay informed on fiscal policies and the political shifts shaping them.
Key Takeaways:
- Election Outcomes: Donald Trump is set to return as president, prompting potential changes in tax policies and economic strategies.
- Tax Policy Changes: Discussions include extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and 100% bonus depreciation, with implications for business taxation.
- Legislative Process: The episode outlines the route from proposal to law, vital for understanding how tax policies are decided and implemented.
- Taxation Nuances: Focus on deductions, including SALT and tax exemptions on various forms of income such as Social Security.
- Practical Insights: The podcast offers strategic tax planning insights, particularly beneficial for U.S. citizens in higher tax liability states.
Notable Quotes:
- "So ultimately, the theme would be whatever we have right now would continue moving forward in general. And I've said many, many times that taxes right now are on sale." - Chris Picciurro
- "We're just pontificating right now, but that's what this episode's about. Like, gosh, okay, we finally know where the heck we're at with this election and let's dive in and look at what's getting proposed." - Chris Picciurro
- "Social Security started becoming taxable. And now for many, many people, up to 80, 85% of the Social Security benefits are taxable." - Chris Picciurro
- "Bonus depreciation is the backbone of cost segregation studies for our real estate investors." - Chris Picciurro
- "Ultimately [with SALT deductions], if you're paying a tax somewhere else, you should probably get a deduction for it. I mean, that seems fair." - Chris Picciurro
Resources:
- (00:05) - Election Results, Tax Plans, and Political Humor
- (06:48) - Proposed Tax Changes and Their Potential Implications
- (13:31) - Community Engagement and Tax Law Discussions on Facebook
- (15:43) - Proposed Tax Exemption on Social Security Benefits
- (19:04) - Tax Policy Changes and Their Impact on Business and Individuals
- (26:18) - The Complex Process of Tax Legislation in the US
- (34:22) - Connecting Communities with Expert Tax and Investment Advice
Creators & Guests
What is Teaching Tax Flow: The Podcast?
Welcome to “Teaching Tax Flow: The Podcast”, the show that’s all about demystifying taxes and helping you keep more of your hard-earned income in your pocket.
Hosted by tax experts from the Teaching Tax Flow team, this unfiltered (but clean) podcast is designed to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need to confidently navigate the world of taxes. We’ll cover everything from understanding tax laws and regulations to maximizing deductions and credits.
In each episode, we’ll break down a specific tax-related topic in a clear and accessible way, providing practical tips and strategies you can use to optimize your tax situation. We’ll also answer listener questions, share the mic with amazing guests, and share real-world examples to help illustrate key concepts.
Whether you’re a freelancer, small business owner, real estate investor, or just looking to understand your taxes better, this podcast is for you. So tune in, take notes, and start building your confidence in taxes today.
Produced and hosted by Teaching Tax Flow.
www.TeachingTaxFlow.com
Welcome back to the podcast everybody. Episode 109 today, we're doing some election results reviews. I guess we can call this we can even call it the 3rd part of our White House walk throughs that we really wanted to. But before we dive into it, as always, let's take a brief moment and thank our episode sponsor.
Ad Read:Hi. Chris Picciurro here, founder of Teaching Tax Flow, cohost of the Teaching Tax Flow podcast, and pickleball enthusiast. Yes. If you listen to the podcast, you know almost every episode we talk about pickleball, the most popular and growing sport in America. We have tons of opportunities for paddles and and pickleballs, but we don't have a lot of great gear on the market.
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John Tripolsky:Hey, everybody. Welcome back. As you know, we had a big event that took place this week. That's right. We're recording this the week of the election.
John Tripolsky:So, obviously, before you hear this or see this, it's gonna be a couple days old just given the nature of the content. We wanted to go ahead and put that out there. Some things might change. You never know. So why I say a big event on Tuesday regardless who you voted for, the important part is you got up off the couch, and you actually went out there.
John Tripolsky:So if you didn't, shame on you. We'll deal with you in a different episode. But today, let's go ahead and talk about what we might be in store for. You know, we obviously did 2 episodes leading up to this, one looking at Harris and one looking at Trump. So, obviously, this one now, given the election has taken place, we have some results.
John Tripolsky:Some of them is still in a little bit limbo. But as far as for the presidential elect or the president-elect, we should say, looks like we have Trump coming back into office. So, Chris Bucchero, welcome back to the show, sir. How are you today?
Chris Picciurro:I am doing wonderfully, John. I'm gonna miss all those random text messages and and and phone calls from the pollsters.
John Tripolsky:That's right. My mailbox is extremely happy right now. Let's put it that way. I don't have all the stuff.
Chris Picciurro:It looked like the the Sparty Cooper canine ticket did not win the White House. Dog. They gave it a good run. Right? They they took a bite out of it.
Chris Picciurro:I know. It's so many
John Tripolsky:dog jokes. And if you guys don't know what we're talking about, Chris made a great joke a few episodes ago about our dogs that, that would be running. So you know what would be funny, Chris? And this is not, you know, this is not a dig at any any politician or person, but I've never received so much consistent junk mail, political mail in my entire life. If anybody was needed, like, wallpaper, right, they could have literally plastered an entire house with as much stuff as we got this year, sir.
John Tripolsky:Interesting.
Chris Picciurro:For me, because I didn't get a lot of mail. I live in Tennessee. You live in Michigan. I most of the phone calls and text messages I received were people in Michigan because I still have a Michigan phone number. And it really goes to show that Michigan was one of those battleground states where Tennessee was clearly, neither of the the candidates put too many presidential candidates put too many resources into Tennessee, just because, typically, Trump typically gets a 65 to 7 you know, the Republican party gets such a high percentage of votes in Tennessee, and then you could also flip it around in a state like California that is gonna be exactly the opposite.
Chris Picciurro:I'm I would doubt that that, the the disbursement of funds for both presidential candidates, probably didn't mirror the amount of constituents in that state versus the amount of money put into it. So since you're my point is, John, since you're in a battleground state, or swing state or whatever you wanna call it, you probably had an influx of mail, phone calls, text messages more than than I did. Because even when I got a text message, it was it was through the wrong person's name. It was like a guy named Daniel a lot of times. I don't know what the heck is going on.
John Tripolsky:They got a hold of a a a fake number you probably had back in your twenties or something, and they have a look at the new Sam.
Chris Picciurro:So I still remember my old number, and it's been over 20 years. But I do talk I do talk. About the election results, and our first reaction to it and what I think we should do tax planning wise. So today, we're gonna walk through the results. We're gonna talk about what, president now president-elect or former president Trump, both, I guess, you would say, what his proposals were.
Chris Picciurro:We're also gonna dive into some specific issues, that are important to the teaching textile community, then we're gonna talk about something as far as, yes, these candidates can propose something, but what does it take to actually become a law? And then we're gonna talk about the one current piece of legislation that is still hanging on by a thread and Absolutely. Answer some of the questions that we have here.
John Tripolsky:And this will be a good one too to run over. And and, again, I I kinda like to throw myself under the bus in some regard. You know, I hate I hate to do it sometimes, but sometimes I have to. Where it's it took me a while even after becoming,
Chris Picciurro:you know, the age where
John Tripolsky:I could vote to realize that things are just boom. You know, day 1, this is what I'm gonna do. Everything's gonna change. There's there's a lot of call it checks and balances, whatever we whatever we wanna call it. Just there's a process to everything, and and there's a reason why it's there.
John Tripolsky:It's great. Right? Like, if our dogs became president, everything would be, there'd be dog food all over the place and chew toys everywhere. We wouldn't want that.
Chris Picciurro:So John, if if the dogs became president, there'd be a lot of chew toys and food in the cabinet. Alright. Let's move on. So what what what, you know, president-elect Trump proposed ultimately bigger picture was the was the making the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which was passed in his prior administration, permanent. And those are the rules that we're living in now.
Chris Picciurro:So, ultimately, the theme would be whatever we have right now would continue moving forward in general. And I've said many, many times that taxes right now are on sale. They are I've been practicing for 25 years, in in as far as a CPA, and these are the lowest all around marginal tax rates, that I've I've experienced. So that now there are some tweaks that he proposed specifically that we're gonna address, but, ultimately, the the permanence of the tax cuts and jobs act. The other major thing he wanted to do is to put a significant tariff on all US imports from China, specifically.
Chris Picciurro:We're talking up to a 60% tariff. The estate estate tax, would still or the estate tax exemption would still be significant. We're talking almost $13,000,000. There are some things that there'd be some some taxes or some so let me take a step back, John. Ultimately, as a US resident, US tax resident, we're taxed on our worldwide income.
Chris Picciurro:However, both candidates actually tossed around the idea of not taxing certain segments of income. One of the principles of teaching tax flow is the not the pillars, but one of the principles is that different income is taxed at different rates. Not all income is taxed the same. Right? We say that all the time.
Chris Picciurro:And both some of the things both candidates were thinking about really, was interesting. Now will these things get passed? We're gonna talk about that in a few minutes. But some of the things that the, that Donald Trump was proposing was exempting social security benefits from taxation, exempting tip income from taxation, exempting overtime pay from taxation. It's funny, John.
Chris Picciurro:I was talking to a colleague of mine yesterday for for a few minutes. 1 of the other he's a tax professional, and, does so he's a national a national speaker and all this stuff, and we're thinking, you know and I actually mentioned you, John, thinking about that tip and, you know, tip income is tax free. What happens if the plumber comes over? He gives he or she gives you an invoice for $5 and asks for a, you know, $95 tip. You know, what's gonna happen there?
Chris Picciurro:And then think about w two wages. The w two now is kinda complicated. It's gotten more complicated. But what happens if you how, you know, the employer's gonna have to differentiate if overtime pay is excluded from tax. What pays overtime?
Chris Picciurro:Is it excluded from federal tax? Is it excluded from Social Security and Medicare tax? How complicated how much more complicated is it gonna be from a bank standpoint when they're underwriting someone on their income, but not all their income is taxed on their w two, it will further complicate things. So there's just so many interesting, interesting things that that are that he's proposing. It really
John Tripolsky:and something we didn't dive into on either of the episodes before is I mean, it is related to this, but almost looking back and not like, hey, looking back to episode x that we've done, just from a, say we look back a couple decades ago even. Say we look back 20 years ago. Right? Just the technological advances in the way people invoice, get paid, the way tax, all this stuff. Right?
John Tripolsky:It almost really does complicate a lot of it because there's a lot easier ways to get around it. But then then also other things are easier. Right? Like, you talk about, you know, invoicing, somebody asking, you know, oh, well, here's this. Like, say, for example, you give the you you gave the example of a plumber.
John Tripolsky:He comes over. It's a $1,000. Alright. Cool. It's a $10 invoice, but give me a $999 tip where Mhmm.
John Tripolsky:If this and this is just personal opinion. If this was the case and something like that did go through, say, 30 years ago, you would probably have a significant amount of service based businesses go into cash and not reporting at all. Like, I could I mean, who knows that might happen anyways.
Chris Picciurro:But No. It's yeah. I mean, it's it's
John Tripolsky:So interesting to see. It's it's and even just the tips. Right? Like, it's and I've never worked in in hospitality, and I probably should have. It probably would have given me a little bit more character, but those people are incredible.
John Tripolsky:But, yeah, that that should be interesting. And and I know on the Tax Foundation's website too, last time I looked at it, it from the the episode that we did on both candidates and Trump specifically, I feel like they've added a couple things to their list that weren't on there when we spoke last time too. So maybe we can go through a couple of those items.
Chris Picciurro:Yeah. Absolutely. And and the other thing before we dive into the the specific items that are of most interest, is that his proposal was to take the corporate tax rate. Right now, it's, like, for c corporations is at 21% down to 20%. However, if you make your products in the United States, that rate would be 15%.
Chris Picciurro:So think tax for you know, if we're thinking tax planning wise and you're a small business owner. If the corporate tax rate's 15%, we might see more c corporations. Even though those they could be subject to double taxation, we might see more c corporations, than, you know, than than, sole proprietors or single member LLCs or maybe even s corps. And what happens, you know, to further complicate things, John further complicate things, what's gonna happen with overtime if overtime pays excluded from tax? Let's say and I'm all serious.
Chris Picciurro:Let's say you're self employed. Let's go back to the plumber. Right? You're a self employed plumber. Plumber, you elect to be a c corp.
Chris Picciurro:You pay yourself a salary based on whatever no you should be paying for someone with your experience, and you happen to work overtime in a week. The c corp's gonna pay you and get a your corporation will get a deduction for it. However, you're not gonna pay tax on it as the employee. So I wonder if there's gonna be special rules for owners of the company in the overtime pay. Similar to There's a lot
John Tripolsky:of Honestly, that didn't even cross my mind when we were talking about before. That is an excellent point.
Chris Picciurro:Yeah. So the with with s corporations, there's special rules for owners of s corps that own more than 2% of the stocks. The point is we're all we're just pontificating right now, but that's what this episode's about. Like, gosh. Okay.
Chris Picciurro:Then we finally know where the heck we're at with this election. Mhmm. And let's dive in and look at what's getting proposed. And there's one huge there's one huge item that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated that that, that now president-elect Trump said that he would he would, bring back, which I think would be a pause big positive for many, many states. So let's just jump.
Chris Picciurro:So that's the 30,000 foot view for what president Trump proposed. We have an entire episode just on his proposals. Yeah. But but as you know, we have a, we have an amazing group that the team's actual community supports. Right?
John Tripolsky:Absolutely. And and and specifically to that, that's the defeating taxes. So it's a private Facebook group. I know we posed the question. I believe you had actually posted down there just the other day.
John Tripolsky:And, again, if you were so excited about this episode and you didn't listen to the beginning of it, this is obviously recorded a few days before you get this live. So things might change a little bit. But, we definitely thank those group members for putting out there some of the ideas, what they wanted to know most about in this. And, again, things change. There's a process to everything.
John Tripolsky:We might be doing a election recap in 6 months and or 12 months and seeing where some things are at and, you know, what things change. So let's dive into a couple of those, Chris, if you don't mind, actually, if you have those on your end, where we might be able to pull into a few of those questions. Right. Go ahead.
Chris Picciurro:Yeah. This might seem like a shameless plug for the our private Facebook group, but we do ask questions. A lot of our top show ideas come from and our content in teaching tax law comes from that group. We have almost 2,000 people in this group. We might have more than 2,000 by the time you listen to this.
Chris Picciurro:So we asked the group, okay. We have the election results. We're gonna record this podcast. What are the specific items that you are most interested in? And you know what?
Chris Picciurro:The there were 3 main responses, and none of them surprised me. I think I think our community is spot on. If you're listening to this, just go to and and you're thinking, defeating taxes, how am I gonna find that? It's easy. Defeatingtaxes.com.
Chris Picciurro:Just go there, and you can sign up. You can join the the group. If you and we do have a lot of people. We do allow people to post in the group anonymously. We know that sometimes you might be talking about it might not just be asking for a friend.
Chris Picciurro:It might be a legitimate tax question, but there is so much great information in that group. Anyway, back to the group. So what they're asking about were 3 things. The first one's going to be taxation of Social Security benefits and disability income. Right now as it is, Social Security is is can be taxed and it might not be taxed.
Chris Picciurro:Right? Let's think about the Social Security. When you are an employee, you put 6.2% of your check your check into the Social Security fund. Your employer matches 6.2%. Okay?
Chris Picciurro:That 6.2% you put in as the employee is after tax. You didn't get a deduction for it. You're putting after tax dollars into the fund. If you put in money to a 401 k, you would actually get a deduction for that. Right?
Chris Picciurro:Mhmm. The employer gets a deduction for their match, and then you also have 1.45 in Medicare. When you're self employed, you actually have to fund both sides of it. And you own so you're putting, you know, 12.4% into the Social Security fund, and you only get to deduct half of it. So, ultimately, the employee, their entire contribution is not is is after tax.
Chris Picciurro:Here's kind of the bummer. When you start drawing Social Security benefits, they started off not being taxable at all. Well, as life happens, tax laws change, Social Security started becoming taxable. And now for a a many, many people, up to 8085% of the Social Security benefits are taxable, and that's all based on your on your income. But I would say for the majority of retirees, 85% no.
Chris Picciurro:I shouldn't say the majority, but a good portion of their retirees, 85% of their Social Security benefits are taxable. For some, 50% are taxable, and the threshold for, for having to pay tax on your Social Security is very is very small. You know? In other words so if Social Security is your only income, then it's not taxable. But for the I would say a good percent of people that are on Social Security disability, it's taxable up to 85, percent.
Chris Picciurro:So president-elect Trump said, look. I'm suggesting just getting rid of all federal income tax on Social Security benefits. To me, that seems fair. Why does it seem fair? Because we didn't get a deduction when we put the money in to this to the system in the first place.
Chris Picciurro:Like a 4 zero one k, we get the deduction. So I get it. It's taxable when you take the money out. So, ultimately, he's proposing that the that Social Security Social Security is really an involuntary Roth IRA. You know, you put the money in and whatever you get out is tax free.
Chris Picciurro:However, unlike a Roth, it's not self directed or you don't you can't control any of the of what it's invested in. So that's that's one of the things that's that's proposed, and I think that would help a lot of people out, that because, you know, like our parents' age, John, you know, they have a maybe they have a small pension, maybe they have other income, but they're paying tax on 85% of that Social Security, income. So Right. Right. That's now we'll see we'll see what happens.
Chris Picciurro:Vice president Harris, I took what from my research, I didn't see anything on that specific issue. Any it doesn't mean they she wouldn't or the or the Democratic Party wouldn't support it, but I didn't see anything on that. So there's a we're gonna there's a reason I'm addressing, maybe what she what she was running on and what the Democratic party kind of supported. We're gonna talk about, you know, towards the end of the episode. Number 2, bonus depreciation.
Chris Picciurro:You hear bonus appreciation all the time. What bonus depreciation is is this, when you buy a fixed asset that is, under a 20 year asset. So you're talking machinery, equipment, even, commercial commercial improvements, landscaping, computers, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And you pretty much most things that you buy that are not either real estate or not goodwill or depreciated over 3, 5, 7, or 15 year asset classes. With bonus depreciation, it allows you to take a good portion of that cat that outlay or that purchase in year 1.
Chris Picciurro:So, John, let's say you were you bought a server for $10,000. With typically, you'd write that off, I think, over, let's say, 5 years. With bonus depreciation, you would get to deduct a a big percentage of it immediately in year 1. Right under the tax cuts and jobs act, bonus depreciation got taken to a 100%, which is a huge deduction for, for small business owners or medium sized business owners. And that that bonus depreciation was at a 100% through 2022, but part of the compromise under the tax cuts and jobs act was it got reduced to 80% in 23, 60% here in 2024, 20% in 25, and then, rather 40% in 25, 20% 26, and then it goes bye bye.
Chris Picciurro:So that server right now, John, if you bought it today and you put it in the service, you don't you do get to deduct 60% of it, not a 100% of it. And bonus depreciation is the backbone of cost segregation studies for our real estate investors. So we are in November of 2024, we are at the end of the 6 almost end of the year of 60% bonus depreciation. We're staring 40% next year. And that's why having a 100% bonus depreciation is, something that business owners really support.
John Tripolsky:Just a giant shot of, depreciation adrenaline right in the arm.
Chris Picciurro:Right? Correct. Correct. So, so what now president-elect Trump was aiming to extend the 100% bonus depreciation, which is set to phase out. And and if they extended the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act or made it permanent, that could be a part of that.
Chris Picciurro:It also is mentioned as part of another pending piece of legislation. So if we restored the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, what we think would happen is that bonus depreciation would go back to a 100%. So that was asked in the Defeating Texas private Facebook group, which is also the backbone of, of of cost segregation studies. The And, firstly, if I
John Tripolsky:can add to that really quick before we jump on to the next one too, if anybody sees it anywhere, because sometimes it it is kind of a long name. If you see that TCJA, that's what that actually stands for, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Chris Picciurro:So because sometimes Thank you.
John Tripolsky:Given the long name of it, sometimes you see the, see the acronym.
Chris Picciurro:Sometimes we rumble through. I'd I'm guilty of that. The 3rd major issue is SALT tax reduction. This is not this is not stuff you put on your pizza. State and local income tax.
Chris Picciurro:So there are several states that have a state tax. So right now, when you if you itemize your federal tax deductions, you can only deduct up to $10,000 of your state and local income tax. So, John, let's say you're let's say you live in Michigan. You own a property and your property taxes are $8,000. That's not ridiculous.
Chris Picciurro:I don't think. Let's say you're a household, you know, that makes, you know, a $150,000 a year. The state income tax is $6,000 or I'm sorry. The state income tax is 4%. I'm just I think it's 4 a quarter, but let's just say 4%.
Chris Picciurro:4% of a $150,000 is about $6,000. And then let's say that you have let's say you have some land up north and you have a $1,000 worth of, you know, property taxes. So my point is, let's say you're paying $15,000 worth of state and local income taxes, or you might live in the city of Detroit and pay a tax there. Even though you paid $15,000 of state and local income tax, you can only deduct $10,000 of it under the tax cuts and jobs act. So when now president-elect Trump said, I wanna bring back the make permanent tax cuts and jobs act, TCJA, he did him and his people did say, asterisk, we're gonna uncap SALT.
Chris Picciurro:Meaning, if you were in Michigan, you would then be able to deduct all $15,000 of tax. Now put your put your the hat on of someone in New York or California where the same fact pattern would result probably in about 20 to $23,000 of state tax, and they're only deducting 10,000. So proposed repeal of the $10,000 cap would benefit a lot of those higher tax income tax states, and and it could you know, so and and and thus, more people would itemize their deductions. I'm gonna take a
John Tripolsky:I'm gonna have to take a clip from you saying that because that's basically a recruitment campaign. I'm sure you're directing at me to move to Tennessee.
Chris Picciurro:Uh-huh. We would love to have you down here. But we get you know, we you you know you love it down here.
John Tripolsky:I do. That's why I come and visit you. And, actually, there we did an episode a while back on basically residency planning. I know we we talked and then a little bit. So it's and, yeah, that that's a new one.
John Tripolsky:I I know, Chris, I honestly, I didn't even know of, you know, again, SALT, state and local income tax. So, like, you see the see the acronym. That's something I don't think a lot of people even realize. I mean, they realize it exists. Right?
John Tripolsky:But I don't think they really consider that as, like, oh, well, I can control that. Sure you can. You have a real estate agent that would absolutely love to love to help you out with that. But as you mentioned too, I think a lot of things you know, over the course of I I could be totally wrong. Right?
John Tripolsky:It seems like you really get, like, a 4 month, like, a 4 month push where a lot of momentum's in, and then you kinda get a little bit of a window, and then things really start getting set into place. Like, it's almost we won't call it the honeymoon stage, but it's like, alright. You kinda come in. Yep. This is our plan.
John Tripolsky:This is how we do what do we gotta do to make this plan happen? And then it starts rolling out. So, of course, the only reason I think I noticed that is because it's, you know, right around April, May, June, birthday birthday time. So it just seems Yes.
Chris Picciurro:Well, I think we would we would see a lot more people itemizing their deductions. We might see more people, if this happens, you know, having a larger federal tax refund. There's a lot of things that would happen with the state. And and, you know, quite frankly, I think it if you're paying a tax somewhere else, you should probably get a deduction for it. I mean, that's that seems fair.
Chris Picciurro:I'm gonna touch real quick on that. This is great. You know, we've got a bunch of ideas. What how does an idea or proposed something proposed get into tax law? We had an amazing episode with a great guest, from the Michigan Association of CPAs that we talked about.
Chris Picciurro:I think you I think it was called the How taxes are made? How taxes are made. But we you know? So we have a whole episode on that, but let's talk on the federal side. Okay?
Chris Picciurro:First thing is you've got the house, you've got the senate, and you've got and you've got the president. As of right now, obviously, you know, typically, you're gonna have different parties have control of each of the the parts of legislation those legislator. Right? So and then you just a lot of times something just sits in gridlock. Right now, it seems apparent, obviously, that the Republican party, will be taking over as a president the presidency.
Chris Picciurro:It seems like they have taken control of the senate majority. Right now, we are not a 100% sure on the house of representatives. It looks slanted towards the Republican party, but there's a lot more, counting, and there's a frankly, just a lot of more more things to figure out. So we don't know where the house is gonna be. I say that because, obviously, if you you typically wanna have some type of bi bipartisan support for your tax bills, for them to actually get to the point where they're passed.
Chris Picciurro:And let so, like, John, when we talk about that tip income being tax free, both candidates were in favor of that. Social Security being tax free, the Harris camp campaign didn't say any or, you know, based on our research on taxfoundation.com, that nonprofit bipartisan research center for tax tax proposals didn't say anything on it. So let's look at the so typically, a bill has to be introduced in the house. If it's a tax, we're talking tax right now. It goes to their house ways and means committee.
Chris Picciurro:The ways and means committee drafts a bill, kind of figures out, you know, the revenue generated, the cost of it, how it's gonna get funded. They're kind of the underwriter of the bill. Right? Just like if you apply for a mortgage, you have to go through underwriting. Mhmm.
Chris Picciurro:Then once it's revised by the the house of ways and means committee, it has to pass the house with more than a 50% majority. At that point, it goes into the senate. Senate has their own underwriters. They're called the senate finance committee. The senate finance committee could look at the bill, like it, they could change it, they can modify it.
Chris Picciurro:And if they change or modify it, then it can go back to the house. Right? Because then because it's eventually, you gotta pass the senate. The the bill could flip flop around, get rewritten, but ultimately, after it passes, gets back to the senate, then the senate has to pass the bill with a majority. But tax your tax legislation has to have a budget reconciliation process.
Chris Picciurro:So real you know, we it's gotta get underwritten. So this thing, the senate finance committee has to underwrite it. If they're kind of they a lot of times you could have 2 bills, a senate bill and a house bill that are some really similar. In that case, you're gonna have a conference committee if needed of both of those underwriting, what we're gonna call the underwriters. And then, typically, they're gonna come up with a final version that they both, you know, approve, and they both and then the masses that, you know, that's voted on and they're both approved by a majority, and then it goes to the president to sign the bill or potentially veto.
Chris Picciurro:But we don't you know, if it gets that far, typically, we know that the president's probably gonna sign it. Let's say the bill goes gets signed by the president, then the Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service work to interpret the bill, create regulations and guidelines. Maybe they create new tax forms, and all sort of stuff.
John Tripolsky:And it's good to to lay that out too, Chris, almost as you mentioned it and given kind of the recap. Right? So it's house, senate, sometimes that kind of volleys back and forth as needed, and then it moves along to a president sign off and then implementation. So I know some stuff, right, it it almost seems that, you know, it feels like some things are caught in that limbo, just that vicious cycle sometimes for years years, and then it just kinda goes away. But it's good.
John Tripolsky:I mean, as a as a US citizen, it's nice to see that there's a process involved in this. Otherwise, you know, people like we would come up with great ideas. Right. Right. And they're not great ideas.
John Tripolsky:So
Chris Picciurro:So we have a bill right now. I'm not gonna spend too much time on it here, but, it's been mentioned in our content and the that are
John Tripolsky:you excited? Sparty's ex I can hear your dog in the back because she's very excited about this. She's very excited.
Chris Picciurro:My dog Yeah. And that's wise to hear him. That's not a good look. But we have a bill. It's I'm No.
Chris Picciurro:You're okay. I would
John Tripolsky:say you would hear my dog all the time except, you know, having a a 10 year old blind basset hound who sleeps 23 and a half hours out of the day, he'd he's not very active. And then when we do have to wake him up, yeah, it's it's a situation. So
Chris Picciurro:That's alright. Right. Yeah. So when we have a so we currently have a bill called HR 7024, tax relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024. Nothing might happen from this bill, but it at least gives us a window into where where we're at with as we transition into the new, you know, the new sessions next year.
Chris Picciurro:And this bill was proposed, you know, to by, by Jason Smith, who's a representative republican representative in the state of Missouri, introduced on January 17th 24. And this is the bill that there's a lot of talk about that would have that had some bipartisan support there, but that would have brought the bonus brought bonus depreciation back to a 100%. It would have increased child tax credits. There's just a lot of different stuff in this bill, but the main thing for real estate investors and and entrepreneurs was that increase of, you know, 100% bonus depreciation, but also increase of threshold for 10.90 nines getting issued to independent $1,000. Just a ton of different little things, child tax implications.
John Tripolsky:And we came there. It's about the the Taiwanese resident double taxation.
Chris Picciurro:I think this is the other than there, isn't it? A staple in there. So and it did give taxpayers some flexibility when they're calculating their own income credit. But the bottom line is I'm not gonna talk about this bill anymore because it's it's sitting there doing nothing. It did pass the house at January 31, 2024.
Chris Picciurro:It went to the senate at that time and bounced around and really never, just kinda just kinda is still currently sitting there. Went to the senate in March, and then in August, they kinda kicked the can down the road again, and, we don't know what's gonna happen here. But the point is, you could see that just because it's one thing for someone to say, hey. I wanna make Social Security not taxed. Then a bill has to be created, and it could be a long time.
Chris Picciurro:And we don't know if this will this bill, the HR 7024, will pass the house or pass the house. We don't know if it would pass the senate. We don't know if president Biden would sign it. So it might just do nothing or might become might become something. But that's the only real piece of tax legislation that's pending right now, and, I guess we're gonna see what happens.
Chris Picciurro:But, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, as we mentioned earlier on in this,
John Tripolsky:I mean, Chris, we talk on stuff like this all day long. So it'll be great to see where things, you know, where some actions take place here in the near the near future and a little bit long term. So it's I mean, I I think it goes without saying, we obviously love the support of our community, our teaching tax flow community from all sides, just giving input on what you guys wanna hear, what you wanna talk about. I mean, Chris has it, you know, to give him a a big head here and toot his horn a little bit, his contacts list is a 100 miles long of people across industries, etcetera. So if it's something that we don't have the best answers for, we're not the best resource.
John Tripolsky:We're very, very good at finding the best resource. So do not hesitate to let us know anything you might be interested in us talking about. Or if it's just a simple question, ask us. We'll get you the answer. So it's you have you have the best connection you could possibly think of, and that's just teaching tax flow.
John Tripolsky:You know, we let us do the work. Go get you the answers. That's what we're here for. And as we like to close it out with, we'll see everybody back here next week, roughly same time. I promise completely different topic.
John Tripolsky:We got 2 really, really good ones coming up after this with some amazing guests. So we'll see everybody back here again on the Teaching Tax Flow podcast very soon. Have a great week.
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