There's a big fight brewing over the mortgage-interest tax deduction

[jmowreader]

23. You have that many charitable contributions?

The 2016 standard deduction:

Single, Married Filing Separately: $6,300

Married Filing Jointly, Qualifying Surviving Spouse: $12,600

(I had to look: If you have at least one child, you can use the Married Filing Jointly standard deduction for two years after your spouse dies.)

Head of Household: $9,300

This is what you are allowed to deduct:

Medical and Dental Expenses not reimbursed or paid by others, minus 10 percent of your adjusted gross income (AGI)

Taxes you paid: your choice of state income tax or state sales tax, plus real estate taxes, personal property taxes, and "other" taxes

Mortgage costs: home mortgage interest, points paid, mortgage insurance premiums, investment interest

Gifts to charity

Casualty and theft losses

Job expenses and miscellaneous deductions: unreimbursed employee expenses, tax preparation fees, and "other" expenses, minus two percent of your AGI

Then there's an "other miscellaneous deductions" from a list in the Schedule A booklet.

If you earn more than $155,650 there's a worksheet you need to complete to see whether you get to keep all of it.

Here's the problem: In order to have the level of spending needed to use Schedule A, you've got two choices: eat nothing but ramen and live in a darkened house because you can't afford electricity, or earn very close to that $155,650 statutory cutoff.

If General Secretary Trump wants to do something to help the Common Man (stop your laughing), he can quit fucking around with tax rates and allow people to use both the standard deduction and Schedule A if they earn under:

Single/Married Filing Separately: $50,001
Head of Household: $75,001
Married Filing Jointly/Qualified Surviving Spouse: $100,001