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In this episode of the Teaching Tax Flow podcast, hosts John and Chris delve into the politically charged waters of taxation as part of their White House Walkthroughs series, covering proposed tax changes by current candidates. The focus for this episode is Vice President Kamala Harris's tax proposals, analyzed strictly from a factual perspective using reliable resources like the Tax Foundation.
Chris Picciurro outlines the potential impacts on both corporate and individual taxation, navigating listeners through the intricate possibilities of future tax policies.
Chris Picciurro outlines the potential impacts on both corporate and individual taxation, navigating listeners through the intricate possibilities of future tax policies.
This episode examines Harris's initiatives regarding key areas such as business taxes, capital gains, and tax credits. The hosts explain the implications of increasing the corporate tax rate to 28% and taxing long-term capital gains at a higher rate for high-income earners. They highlight proposed changes to the net investment income tax and the introduction of new credits and deductions for tips, families, and housing. As the conversation progresses, Chris outlines the potential broader economic impacts of these proposals, equipping listeners with an informed understanding of what these political discussions might mean for their tax strategies.
Key Takeaways:
- Vice President Kamala Harris proposes increasing the corporate tax rate to 28%, significantly impacting C corporations.
- Changes to capital gains and dividends tax rates could see increases for high-income earners, introducing a higher tax burden on incomes over $1 million.
- Expanding tax credits, such as the child tax credit and earned income credit, aims to provide financial relief across various taxpayer demographics.
- Estate and wealth taxes remain a critical focus area, with potential adjustments given the expiration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
- Economic implications of these proposed changes could result in a shift in gross domestic product and employment levels according to tax analysis.
Resources:
- Tax Foundation (taxfoundation.org)
Listeners are encouraged to explore the complete episode to grasp the nuances of these tax policy discussions and anticipate how they might tailor their own tax strategies effectively. Stay tuned for the subsequent episode, which will cover the proposals by the other major candidate, providing a full spectrum view of potential future taxation landscapes.
- (00:04) - White House Walkthroughs: Analyzing Kamala Harris's Tax Proposals
- (04:53) - Proposed Tax Increases on Corporations and High-Income Capital Gains
- (08:50) - Proposed Tax Changes and Their Impact on Income and Deductions
- (15:34) - Proposed Tax Credit Expansions for Families and Homebuyers
- (22:31) - Tax Planning Amid Potential Legislative Changes and Economic Impacts
- (32:32) - Upcoming Podcast on Trump's Proposals and Tax Changes
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 Teaching Tax Flow podcast, everybody. Today, episode 105, we are kicking off part 1 of 2 of what we're calling our White House walk throughs. So as you can imagine, this has to do with the upcoming presidential election 2024. And this episode specifically, we are gonna look at candidate Kamala Harris. But before we do that, let's take a brief moment and thank our episode sponsor.
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John Tripolsky:You probably read of the title, read in the description. We're gonna dive into politics a little bit. So kind of a uncharted territory, but here's the good news. We're not gonna give you any opinions. It's all about facts.
John Tripolsky:And this one and the next one, we're actually gonna call it our White House walk throughs. So we're kinda pulling that from the archives, and we're gonna talk about our candidates that we have right now. So we have Harrison Trump. On this episode specifically, Chris and I are gonna go through some of the information that we have, factual information that's out there on both candidates, but we're gonna look at Harris to get us started. So, Chris, Picciurro, welcome back, sir.
John Tripolsky:You ready for this one?
Chris Picciurro:Yes, John. I'm just gonna come out with it. Oh. Oh. Sparty.
Chris Picciurro:Oh, she getting spicy. I'm gonna reveal right before we start, John, who I'm my vote for this this election. Okay. You might be surprised. Sparty's surprised here.
Chris Picciurro:I hope Cooper's ready. If my vote goes through, we'll have our first female president in the United States history. I'm gonna write in Sparty and Cooper. Yeah. Alright.
Chris Picciurro:Candidates. Right? We're taking it. The canine party.
John Tripolsky:You know what? They I I like it. I like it. And then, you know, going back episodes too, we were talking about our our 10 90 nines and, you know, the joke of well, not the joke. Some people asking, well, can I, you know, write off expenses for my dog?
John Tripolsky:So maybe if that happens, the 1099 canine or the k whatever it was, might actually come into play. So, hey. You know what? They got my vote too. I'm I'm behind it.
John Tripolsky:Love to do that. Pains, though. But, anyways, so let let's dive into this a little bit. So, I mean, the these topics I mean, there's no there's no hiding behind it. Right?
John Tripolsky:People are gonna be like, oh my gosh. These guys are going down a rabbit hole. This is gonna be a disaster. But, again, we're not gonna give any opinions. This is this is all facts.
John Tripolsky:This is all information that's been put out there by these candidates specifically, vetted information on both sides of the fence, and we're gonna talk about it a little bit. So to kinda lay the groundwork for this, Chris, I know we we talked a little bit obviously about doing this and how we were gonna structure these. So we're gonna run through a lot of the same we'll call them focus areas, right, proposed by each candidate. But we're gonna do, as I mentioned, this show on Harris, next one on Trump. Again, no no specific order.
John Tripolsky:We're just going down the list. What we you know, we'll just say is d in the alphabet comes with 4 r. So we'll go, you know, Democrat for Republican. There we go. We're following the alphabetical order of party.
John Tripolsky:It would
Chris Picciurro:be proper to go, you know, incumbent first even though, vice president Harris is not the president at this point. And she ladies first, John. Kinda like a pickleball. You know, we had to throw it out there when I'm playing with a female. I always like to give them the opportunity to serve the
John Tripolsky:ball first. Oh, I like it? Okay. So let let's dive into this specifically looking at no. Why don't we just look at business tax?
John Tripolsky:And, again, these topics are as they relate to taxes, we're not gonna go off in the left field and talk about all this other stuff that's out there. You could do that on your own time for anybody that's watching or listening. But let's use that as the as the kickoff. So, Chris, I'll I'll kinda let you drive the ship here for a little bit, and let's talk about what Harris has put out there regarding any business tax proposals.
Chris Picciurro:Right. So for before we get started, we wanna talk through a awesome resource called Tax Foundation. It is a bipartisan this is just an independent nonprofit that puts all this information together. They do an analysis on tax plans, and they're a great resource for this. So we're gonna talk through what we know now.
Chris Picciurro:Obviously, things could change, and what somebody runs on doesn't necessarily mean that's what's gonna get passed. But we wanna walk through the tax part of of this election as you said. And, yeah, with vice president Harris, let's start with just business taxes in general. Due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the corporate tax rate, that's for c corporations, was dropped to 21%, and that was a significant drop, according to the tax foundation. So everything we talk about is according to the tax foundation, taxfoundation.org, if you wanna check up on what we've been what we've been researching.
Chris Picciurro:She has indicated that she's gonna increase the corporate tax rate to 28%. So that's a 7% increase. 7 so about a a 33% increase for c corporations. Now one of the disadvantages of a c corporation is that they're they are going to be subject to double taxation in general. So the corporation pays a tax on its net profit, and then it pays dividends to the shareholders.
Chris Picciurro:Well, those dividends are not deductible by the corporation. That means there's a double tax. So, ultimately, you know, most I mean, all larger publicly traded companies are c corps. A lot of small businesses are c corps as well. So but what she has what she has indicated is that that that, that 21% tax rate for c corporations due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, she's proposing that it goes up to 28%.
Chris Picciurro:So it's a that's a pretty significant increase. Absolutely. I don't
John Tripolsky:know why. Thank you too for describing that too about c corps, how that falls into, you know, what's considered as double taxation too. Because I think it's really important to you know, obviously, people understand that part of it. But yes. Thank you.
Chris Picciurro:Oh, my pleasure. So yeah. So that we'll see how that shakes down. And, you know, the corporate tax rates has have been up to 35% before. You know, there there's different estimated changes to the GDP based on different corporate tax rates are are part of tax foundation.
Chris Picciurro:But, anyway so increasing corporate tax rate to 28% is one of the proposals at this point. And then we look start looking at capital gains and dividends tax. Now we know under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that long term capital gains and qualified dividends so what a qualified dividend is is it's a that's a dividend you receive from a mutual fund stock or a security that you've owned for at least 1 year. Those dividends and those long term capital gains, long term capital gains, anything that you any capital asset that you own for 1 year or longer, those right now are taxed in general at 15% for the vast majority of people. Although that, for some people, it's they're taxed at 0%.
Chris Picciurro:And for the very small high income earners, very high income earners, it's taxed at 20%. But the, vice president Harris is proposing that to increase the top rate on long term capital gains to 28%, up from 20 for taxable income above $1,000,000. So if you have income over $1,000,000 instead of either a 15 or 20% rate, you'd pay tax at a 28% rate for long term capital gains. Now, again, we're talking about a the the vast majority of taxpayers are not over a $1,000,000 of income. However, that would be a significant change as well.
Chris Picciurro:So that's something to that's something that's what what's getting proposed at this point. And, you know, I I don't really know. And it's tough because sometimes you really don't know what you know, the for tax one, come up $1,000,000 or more. Does that include the capital gain? Is that outside of the capital gain?
Chris Picciurro:But, anyway so increase in long term capital gain rates. And then there's something pesky. This has been around for a long time. Something called knit. Sounds like a bug, doesn't it?
John Tripolsky:It does. Yeah. It's like knit nat. Don't like them.
Chris Picciurro:Yeah. NIT is stands for net investment income tax. And, ultimately, what that is is that it's it's an additional 3.8% tax for people in with incomes married filing joint, in general, more than $250,000. With the net taxes, it's a supplemental Medicare surtax. So, you know, when you're you have you have so so it's just an additional tax for for higher income earners.
Chris Picciurro:That's what NIIIT is, n I I t. Right now, married filing, joint and you start paying net at $250,000 or more, single and head of household, 200, married separately, 1.25. There are several different types of income that's subject to net. So if you're in that, and you probably don't even you may have not even hurt you may be paying this and not even heard of it. If you're unsure if you've been paying it and you wanna look on your tax return, look on form 8960.
Chris Picciurro:That's where the net investment income tax is, is calculated. So that's a 3.8% tax. Now for some of you listening, I'm sure you heard our leveraged charitable giving, podcast episode. So let's say you have a high w two. You realize that once you get to a certain w two, certain level of w two wages, first, your Social Security tax withholding stops if you're over the threat that that threshold.
Chris Picciurro:But, secondly, the net investment income tax withholding is automatically taken out. So you might not even feel, quote, unquote, that you're paying this, but you are. And and, again, it's a surtax. Well, what, vice president Harris has proposed is that that 3.8% tax goes up to 5% on any income over $400,000. So if you are over $400,000 of income on top of your federal income tax, the net net investment income tax would go from 3.8 to 5%.
Chris Picciurro:So an additional 1.1a quarter percent approximately. And that's what I think that everyone should be listening to both candidates here when, you know, when you dive into this, or even on the local level, state level. Obviously, we can't get in every state, but I've seen many states and federal any, candidates say, we are not increasing your federal income tax or your state income tax. That might be true, but there might be other little phase outs in credits that you're losing and these additional taxes that you're paying that you don't feel that you're getting hit with. So you've got it.
Chris Picciurro:That's why, John, one of the we we talk about it all the time in teaching tax flows. Your marginal tax rate is more important than your tax bracket. So if you're over that $400,000, you're you're already paying some type of net. You're pro and that would under her proposal, that would go up.
John Tripolsky:Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. That's one that you mentioned too. You know, a lot of people probably don't even realize that that's on there.
John Tripolsky:But it gives you gives you a little takeaway of this from this, if anything, go see. Go see, what that looks like for you.
Chris Picciurro:That is true. That's true. So that so that kinda gives you an idea on on the capital gains and and qualified dividends. So that's got on the business tax. Now I just mentioned credits, deductions, and exemptions.
Chris Picciurro:These are kind of those those hidden taxes, almost like a, you know, John like like, let's say you go out to. Here's a great example. This is this is my best analogy. You go on a Ticketmaster, one of these ticket exchanges, and you buy a ticket for x amount of dollars, but the cost is almost double because of service charges and, quote, unquote, convenience fees and all that baloney. Right?
Chris Picciurro:So when we talk about, like, tax credits, deductions, and exam exemptions, think about service charges, you know, and those type of things that take, hey. I'm paying a $100 for this ticket. Why is it a $156 when I go to cash out? Rental cars are another example of that. So what she's proposing on credits, deductions, and exemptions.
Chris Picciurro:First thing is is that she wants to exempt tip income from taxation. So as of right now, you know that all any income you receive is, subject to federal tax, and you should be reporting it. Now we know that a lot of nowadays, though, John, I think most tips are done electronically. I mean, when we were growing up, pretty much all the tips were in cash, and the the the, you know, the government had a tough, tough way to track those. But, but, yeah, she's proposing that, tip tip income is exempt from taxation.
Chris Picciurro:And, you know, I don't I mean, that that's not a for people in that situation, most of those though most taxpayers that rely heavily on tip income most, aren't in the highest marginal tax rates. So that could help them, and and it would help. I mean, I guess it would help.
John Tripolsky:With this too, I I literally just thought of this, which is kind of related, but kind of not, but also not really funny as, and I don't know, the other candidates' proposal on this at all, but it's almost like now where I I believe QuickBooks online and a couple other invoicing softwares, for professional services, etcetera. Now you can add an option in there for tip. If something like that were to change, it would be interesting how many people, you know, instead of sending an invoice for $5,000, may send an invoice for a $100 and ask for a $95100 tip. So Correct. Correct.
John Tripolsky:I'm sure it poses all kinds of of challenges. But to your point, right, the majority of them, it's it's a different situation.
Chris Picciurro:Right. There's a ton of these proposals that, I would imagine if just and I hate to even pontificate because these these two these episodes are about what's being proposed. But I would imagine that if tip income was exempt from taxation, there would be some type of threshold to it. So Right. So the other so we got to credits, deductions, and exemptions.
Chris Picciurro:She is she does want to expand the child tax credit to $6,000 for children under 1 year old, 36100 for children 2 to 5, and then 3,000 for older children. So that would be an expansion of the, the child tax credit. And it's interesting it's an interesting model because, ultimately, the credit decreases as the kids get older. Right? And and and you've, you know, you've got a young child.
Chris Picciurro:We know that that first 8 year, can be expensive. And, again, so expanding the child tax credit, but not only expanding it, but she's, she's thinking what she's proposing is it it's higher, early on. Now that being said, remember that child tax credits can easily, phase out. Right? So the child tax credit can can phase out based on income, which we'll kinda chat about that in a couple minutes.
Chris Picciurro:But and
John Tripolsky:may and maybe the thought behind that is right at if you have a 1 year old at home, raising that to 6,000 would help you stock the minibar, especially if you're
Chris Picciurro:a first time parent. That's true, John. But guess what could happen then? You might have another child soon. But, anyway Very true.
Chris Picciurro:Very true.
John Tripolsky:So, yeah, then it just starts all over again. But, yeah, no. I, I see it. And this is something that I don't has never really been done. Right?
John Tripolsky:Like, they've never really had a a scale like this.
Chris Picciurro:Well, it did yeah. I mean, it was $2,000 per child, but under the American Rescue Plan Act of in 2021, which we know is a result of the pandemic, there there is a little bit of a higher there was a temporary temporarily a higher credit for younger kids, and and and there is some there is a phase of yep. I think it's 16 and younger. Gotcha. And there's also phase outs based on income.
Chris Picciurro:So that's another thing to consider. So this that would be the maximum child tax credit. So, the other, another proposal is she wants to expand the earned income credit for people that or for taxpayers that do not have children. So what the earned income credit is is it's a credit, focused for lower income earning taxpayers. And, depending on your income and how many dependents you have, you can or you can you can get a credit from the IRS.
Chris Picciurro:So what that means is that, so why is this in play? Earned income credit came up it's my understanding came I know it came about a long time ago, but it was a way to encourage lower income households to actually work instead of not work and maybe take advantage of some, some some welfare, welfare programs. And and so that the the IRS said or the congress said, look. We wanna reward you from working. So if you go work and make $20,000 a year and you have one child, we're gonna give you an extra $3 in your pocket, a a refundable credit.
Chris Picciurro:So as of right now, if you do not have any children and you're and you're single, your your earned income credit maximum would be $632, and that would assuming that you have about $18,600 worth of income. So there's a whole earned income credit table based on having 0 dependents, 1, 2, or 3. The maximum earned income credit for someone with 3 or more qualifying children is $78100. And for a married couple, they can make up to about 66,000 66,000 is the, I think that's the maximum amount you can make to get their earned income credit. So it works like a bell curve where it go you know, it starts off little and then you hit that maximum and then and then goes down.
Chris Picciurro:Now there has been a lot a lot of of fraud in the earned income credit world and a lot of crackdown and enforcement by the IRS. Because quite frankly, there might be someone that there might be someone that has is in that range that qualifies for an earned income credit and someone might not. And then and then it comes down, are are you claiming the proper children? I mean, there's been a lot of bad bad stuff happening with that. But for the people that this earned income credit that is intended for, it is very, very helpful, to them.
Chris Picciurro:So she wants to expand their income credit for people that don't claim, children. So what that what that's gonna be, we don't know, but it it is something that, that is is out there. So another credit is the premium premium tax credit. This is is really tricky and very confusing. But what the premium tax credit is is that's when that has to do with the back when we go back to Obamacare and and buying health insurance in the what everyone calls the marketplace.
Chris Picciurro:Based on your income, that your your your health insurance premiums could be subsidized by the government. And, and let's say that your pre let's say that your health insurance is $600 a month, and you told the Exchange that you're going to or the marketplace that you're gonna make 30 grand, but you really made 20 grand, then you get a premium tax credit. Meaning, you you get the subsidy you should have gotten if you made 20 grand. So, again, that could be a whole episode there. The point is one of the things she's she's proposing is that the expansion of the premium tax credits.
Chris Picciurro:She's also, looking to expand housing tax credits, low income housing tax credits, credits for new homebuyers, and a credit for construction of starter homes. Now I don't know what would be defined as a starter home. That's where it gets kinda, you know, that's where it gets kinda tricky. Although, you know, there was a in some of the articles we were reading that there was up to a $25,000 tax credit for first time home buyers over 4 years. So let's say you haven't purchased.
Chris Picciurro:The theme is this. If you don't if you're not a homeowner right now and you buy in first your first home, you might have owned a home so the first time there's a first time homebuyer's credit back in the 20 tens, 2011 time frame when we're trying to spur the economy, get more homeownership. If you don't own a home, in other words, what with with IRS's first time home buyer, it doesn't mean you've never owned a home. There's always a look back period. So it looks like, no pun intended, that what she's proposing is there's a 4 year look back period.
Chris Picciurro:So if you've been a renter or or not a homeowner, had different living arrangements for at least 4 years, then you could potentially be a first time home homebuyer and potentially get a tax credit, for that. Now there typically is going to be some significant income phase outs. We don't know what that is yet. You know? But that's the that's what she has, she's proposed.
John Tripolsky:I didn't know that about the about the look back. And, you know, Chris, I think we'd be we would be, doing ourself a disservice if we didn't bring California somehow into this mix. Right? So when they talk about starter homes, like anybody that's ever looked up in the the main metro areas, especially in California. Right?
John Tripolsky:A starter home there is like a mini mansion here in the Midwest. So it's, yeah. Well, and that's a great
Chris Picciurro:quote, though, John. And that's where why I'm I will always say there's no such thing as an easy tax return because are they going is the is congress gonna say, okay. Well, we've been tasked to create this law. Are they going to make a cost of living adjustment for what we consider a starter home? Now we're gonna have tons more content once the election is done, and, you know, this is about tax planning and strategy and legally and ethically reducing the tax you pay in your lifetime.
Chris Picciurro:So who knows? Like, I I could just you know? So we're gonna have a lot of content on that, but I'm just thinking if if, if there's an income threshold of $60,000 and I have a client that's that's self employed that is, you know, makes $70 a year, we might we might form a corporation for a couple years, make sure that they stay under the income limit, pay a little bit of a corporate tax just so they can get that housing credit. So they might be subject to a little double taxation. That's where tax planning comes in.
Chris Picciurro:And you know, John, I'm always an advocate of tax planning. I think people at tax planning is not just for high income and high net worth taxpayers. It's for anyone. Right. Absolutely.
Chris Picciurro:So there is a, you know, there there is some sentiment, around clawing back deductions for depreciation and interest on certain rental construction investments. Don't have a ton of information on on the details of that, although, you know, it's that would mean that you could potentially not get as many deductions if you're investing in rental properties. Potentially. I don't then I don't wanna I don't wanna assume anything. It's just a Right.
Chris Picciurro:It's just a it's just a thought. And then increase it so when you have a start up business, you can get an immediate deduct so deduction of up to $5,000. So, John, let's say you decided remember you were crocheting a few episodes ago. Right? Oh, yeah.
Chris Picciurro:You decide to get out of that, and you're going to, you're gonna get back to your roots of hockey, and you're gonna start a a hockey training academy.
John Tripolsky:Oh, that would be that would be interesting. I haven't been out of skates in a while. So I might be better off with no shade.
Chris Picciurro:50 grand or a $100. The first $5,000 is deductible. The remaining $95,000, you have to what's called capitalize and amortize over time. Well, it seems like, vice president Harris is looking to expand that start up deduction from $5,000 to $50,000. We don't have a lot on estate and and wealth tax.
Chris Picciurro:However, if the you know? And the one of the reasons I think that's the case is that if the if vice president Harris wins, she'll be in office when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expires, and all of those higher, estate tax thresholds of $13,000,000 a person would be gone. So they so, yeah, I'm not I I don't have anything on estate tax, but it's something we really need to be aware of and we're gonna focus on once the result results of the last year. Because, ultimately, she doesn't she might not have to propose any type of a state tax exemption decrease if she was to win because it's automatically built into the expiration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Makes sense.
Chris Picciurro:And then the, you know, other other things that she has mentioned over the last few months of note would be the, 1031 exchanges. So 10 30 one exchanges it was a like kind exchange. If you don't know what it is, don't worry. We've got a podcast episode. So we have an amazing guest as well.
Chris Picciurro:And, what a 10/31 exchange is that if you sell a real estate investment and reinvest it into another real estate investment without taking any cash into your pocket, you you could defer the gain and you could have a new asset. And at that point, you could defer as much gain as you want right now. Well, the, one of the proposals that she she's mentioned is that the, like, limit to the 1031 exchange of a is is a half $1,000,000 of gain. So if you have a $1,000,000 gain, you can only 1031 you can only defer $500,000 of gain, and you would have to be you have to pay tax on the other $5,000. So that would be a 5th 500,000.
Chris Picciurro:The limitation of a 10/30 one exchange would be a seismic change to the real estate industry to say the least. Because that,
John Tripolsky:I think, we referred to it multiple times in that episode and other ones as it's almost like an REI, so real estate investors. It's almost like their secret weapon a little bit, which is now it's not getting to be such secret. And I think I mentioned it on that one specific show you'd referenced as well too is, you know, I've I've talked to some guys that might have 10, 15 properties that didn't even know it existed, where it's like, holy cow. Be like, it's a it's a very, very powerful tool. But, again, go back, listen to the episode.
John Tripolsky:We won't we won't talk through that one.
Chris Picciurro:Right. And there are and there are some other there are are some other things that she's thinking about doing. There are changes to the global intangible low taxed income. We call it guilty in the business. There there's some kind of needle in the haystack thing that that most taxpayers will never run into.
Chris Picciurro:So we're gonna, you know, we're gonna kinda focus on on what we're what we're talking about. The yo. The the other thing and I'll I'll mention a couple more things. You know, we talked about that NIT, Increasing the top individual income tax rate to 39.6% on income above 400,000 for single and 4.50 for married joint is something that's been proposed. Now that's really interesting because, ultimately, there used to be something called the marriage penalty, from a tax perspective in in so fact that 2 individuals would be better off tax wise being unmarried, and the the marriage penalty got fixed.
Chris Picciurro:Well, if your income tax rate, is at 40% basically for any incomes over 400 for a single person, but 4.50 for joint filers, John, let's say you've got 22 2 taxpayers that each make $300,000 and they're married. If they were to divorce, they would sing save they would go from a 30 pretty much a 40% marginal tax rate significantly down. Again, can't let the tax tail wag the dog, and, you know, we know you can never put a price on love. But I'm just saying things that are like that are gonna happen. I do wanna touch on one more thing that she did propose because on the tax on long term gains and qualified dividends, I said that that that max would be, a little higher.
Chris Picciurro:Also, it's been talked about that the, that would be for that that $1,000,000 you know, anything over $1,000,000. There's also been talk about taxing unrealized capital gains at at death. So, again, we don't have anything really concrete on that, but we want to discuss that. There's and then limiting retirement account contributions for high income taxpayers with large IRAs has been something talked about. So the theme would be is for people that are in those high marginal tax rates limiting the amount they could put into retirement because we know that is a tax deferral, and that gives them an immediate deduction.
Chris Picciurro:The theme I'm seeing here is this. One, little bit high well, not more significantly more taxes on the business and personal side. But here's the thing. We talked, John, about one of the three laws of tax planning, teaching tax laws, that tax laws are written to incur, rather this isn't a law, but, that tax agencies are involuntary business partner. And as I look at some of these thresholds, what what keeps popping out to me is that $400,000 number.
Chris Picciurro:And so what the proposals that vice president Harris is is throwing out is is are really targeting people over that $400,000 threshold of income or households over that income. Some of the phase outs occur before then. Some of them occur after, but that's kind of where we're at. And then to wrap up, you know, the tax foundation does its own analysis. They do a detailed economic analysis of each candidate's proposals, and they walk through each one.
Chris Picciurro:How much is the change in a gross domestic product? How much the change in wages? And what's the change in full time equivalent jobs up or down? Which is very interesting. So, you know, according to the tax foundation, if all of vice president Harris's proposals were to be enacted, which we know wouldn't happen, we would see a decrease in full time job equivalents of 786,000 jobs.
Chris Picciurro:Again, this is this is this what the tax foundation's calculated. And, John, we'll put a link to this in the show notes so you guys listening could check it out. And I wanna say that reiterate one more time. We are just focusing on the tax part of this election. Right?
Chris Picciurro:There are a lot of other considerations. And and no matter what happens, there's always opportunity for tax planning a strategy. To wrap up, bringing it back to teaching tax law, if tax rates do go up in a higher percentage of taxpayers or in a larger marginal tax rate, then we're gonna probably focus on more red diagnosis tax planning strategies and more tax deferral because you've heard me say
John Tripolsky:it a 1000000 times. Right now, taxes are on sale, and, we don't know how long that's gonna last. Absolutely. Absolutely. Chris, too, I kinda reiterate a little bit too what you mentioned on earlier on and then just, again, to kinda lay it out to everybody.
John Tripolsky:Next week's show, we're gonna do the other candidate. So I know we're gonna talk about that here relatively soon. Just kinda split it up a little bit. So that'll release next week. But also too.
John Tripolsky:Right? Like, these are just the proposals that are anticipated on being in place. So whether some go through, whether some don't, things will change. It's almost like putting together a puzzle. Right?
John Tripolsky:Like, you can't make the entire puzzle in 5 minutes. You might get a portion of it done, but then when you get back to it, you know, somebody might have spilled it over. Half the pieces are gone. You mix you mix and match a little bit. So again, that does scare anybody if you are afraid of any of these changes and, you know, we'll get into the other candidate as well as mentioned, but it's very unlikely that everything would go through.
John Tripolsky:Chris, exactly what you said. So I look forward to the next one we do here on the podcast here coming up on Trump's proposals as well. Provide all the information provided by the Tax Foundation. And as always, we will see everybody back here again next week, roughly the same time. Semi more related topic this time, but we'll see everybody soon.
John Tripolsky:Thank you for joining us here on the Teaching Tax Well podcast.
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