I saw no change in last years tax return that could not be attributed to making less. I am not really expecting a windfall this coming April.
On the local front, my property taxes have risen tremendously over the past two years. (We do not have a state income tax) Not blaming Trump for this though. It is an ongoing problem and is all the unfunded mandates the Texas Republican legislature have issued over the past decade. They insist schools, civic governments, etc. do certain things and attain certain levels without providing the funds to do so. Usually, they actually cut budgets to various state agencies to finance tax cuts and the local government have to pick up the slack.
Looks good on them Republicans: Mr. Right hand says “Look we lowered the tax rate and taxes”. and Mr. Left hand (local government) says: “Um, we have to raise your taxes to pay for services”.
Guess what. To me it doesn’t matter. It still comes out of my wallet either way.
Being recently retired it doesn’t make a difference. I don’t get a pay raise. Can’t collect SS yet and feel sorry for those who have to live on it. Yearly adjustments can’t keep up with rising prices and Congress is presently trying to do away with it. All my income comes from property and savings. Savings hasn’t seen a substantial increase in the rate of return in decades. What little I have in the stock market has fluctuated up and down and recently is declining again. As I said my property taxes have gone up as has my insurance costs but I am not able to increase the rents I ask on my properties. I tried to make a minor adjustment this August and increased my rents on vacant units only to have to lower them back to where they were to actually rent them so I have to absorb the increase costs. Utilities are up, groceries are up, gasoline is up, insurance is up. Income has declined.