Tax math didn’t add up all the way
The Dec. 24 My Turn column “Do the tax deduction math” by Don David is very misleading and disingenuous at best. As a retired tax preparer of 25 years now living on the Big Island, I would like to point out that although Mr. David is correct in his analysis on how the new tax law beginning in 2018 will affect the standard deduction and personal exemptions, he implies that the new changes will have a negative affect on taxpayers. This is true for some, but for the vast majority of taxpayers these changes in tax law will be quite beneficial.
If you do the math like he urges, you will find that in each of the four scenarios he presented — a single person who doesn’t itemize and one who does and the same for a married couple — if you complete the math and run the numbers to figure out how much each taxpayer will actually pay, you will find that each of these taxpayers will pay less tax than before. Mr. David only presented part of the tax math problem and failed to tell the readers that the tax rates were cut also, which mitigated the changes in the standard deduction and personal exemptions.
As another example of how this law will affect some taxpayers — a young family with both spouses working, with a modest income of $80,000 living in Kona with two small children and who rents, will have their taxes cut by thousands of dollars.
I have read many different tax analyses of this new law and most show that up to 80 percent of all taxpayers will pay less under this new law. I also would urge you to do the math, but make sure that you complete it. I think you will be pleasantly surprised!
Rob Reschan
Waikoloa Village
High praise for opinion page
Absolutely loved the opinion page Saturday. Different opinions in the letters section, great political cartoon and one of Ken Obenski’s always thought-provoking columns.
The newspaper keeps getting better all the time!
C.F. Steffen
Captain Cook