FYI this was written at the end of FEB...

This is a post about taxes..... wait, wait, wait, don't fall asleep. So, I got into President Trump's tax proposal to simplify the tax code and "reduce" our tax rates. In his proposal he would reduce the tax brackets from 7 to 3 and increase the Standard Deduction from $12,600 for those married filing jointly to $30,000. Sounds good so far. But, in raising the standard deduction he also proposes eliminating the personal exemption ($4,050 per person). Well, what does that mean?

Looking at the basic numbers, for example, I currently use the standard deduction, $12,600, then I and my wife have two kids, so personal exemptions of $16,200 (4 X $4,050). Our total of $28,800 is less than Trump's $30,000 standard deduction so wahoo! We're coming out ahead! Unfortunately, not everyone has been so wise as my spouse and I in limiting our reproductive output because we foresaw this day coming early in our marriage. In fact, I'm sure our friends with 3 or 4 kids are doing the math and saying wait a second, our deductions would be $32,850 or $36,900! But we'll be in a lower tax bracket right? Well.....maybe.

After creating a slew of excel charts,( and anyone else can re-create this on their own, just take AGI - Standard Deduction - Personal Exemptions = Taxable Income * Tax Rate = Tax ), it's very clear that anyone with more than 2 kids, is looking at a very distinct possibility of seeing their taxes increase if President Trump's prosposal goes through.

What if I itemize my deductions!? Well, if your itemized deductions are lower than the President's proposed $30,000 standard deduction than the current tax value of those expenses are basically going to disappear. In fact, if you have more than 1 child and your itemized deductions are less than $30,000 there's a good chance you're going to be paying more taxes with President Trump then you did with President Obama.