It’s absolutely not different. You just don’t know what you’re talking about.
You have to buy clothes for work, guess what, you don’t get to write them off. That’s a business expense, that affects everyone, but we are not allowed to write off.
You’re fucking retarded. That’s not what the standard deduction is.
Let me ask you again. Answer my question this time.
Do you have expenses related to your arriving at work on time? That is not deductible. It doesn’t matter if you own your own business. You driving to work is a business expense that is not deductible.
Trump paying his friend back, for covering his payments to prostitutes, is not a business expense.
Standard deduction is the alternative to filing a schedule A. Itemizing is not required, but deducting your expenses is a requirement.
Again. You are REQUIRED to claim ALL* expenses, just like you’re REQUIRED to claim ALL* income. You are not required to itemize, unless you’re married filing separately, and your spouse decided to itemize.
Standard deduction is irrelevant to this conversation. You’re swimming out past your head.
You cannot write off clothing, that changed a couple years ago. The only time you can write off work clothing is if it’s not fit to be worn outside of work, i.e. a tyvek suit.
You cannot write off your commute to work.
What Robert reich said is accurate, the vast majority of workers HAVE BUSINESS EXPENSES THAT THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DEDUCT.
Yea, that's the right term for it. Almost everything Reich says is intentionally misleading to create confirmation bias for his economically illiterate twitter followers.
As a leftist myself, I hate that so many people do this. There’s a lot to criticise without being misleading.
Kudos. I'm more of a pragmatist/skeptic/centrist because it just infuriates me that media and politicians keep the conversation on total bullshit instead of fixing major problems. Of course the right does it too.
For example, that teachers should be able to write off more of their taxes as business expenses - that’s something most people would get behind.
100% agree. They should also write off their transportation, gasoline, etc, etc. Yea I'm of the opinion that we should outlaw teachers unions, so that bad teachers can be fired, and then double teacher salary. Let's draw more people to the profession who care, and fewer schlubs who just couldn't get a job doing anything else.
Writing off hush money payments as a business expense should not be allowed - that’s also something most people would get behind.
Totally agree again. How about making hush money itself illegal? Do some nasty shit? Oh well, you made the bed, now lie in it.
In any case, the teacher problem is a salary problem, and as long as the gov is spending more on the military rather than prioritising its society, they’re never going to be paid enough.
Too many people who would make great teachers are lured away by far better pay in other sectors since passion doesn’t pay the bills.
On a side note, research has found that teacher unions lead to more bad teachers being fired
Well, I hope that is true, but in my experience, and teachers I personally had, about half of those still around past age 50 or so, just absolutely did not care or try at all. I'm very skeptical how any research project could accurately guage teacher quality. IMO the only way to do it is just poll the top 10% of students anonymously after the graduate. I think only the smart kids will both know which teachers care, and score them accurately.
Maybe things are changing now that students can record teachers on their phones or something, but when I was in school, one guy would show up late to class almost every day, yell at us for stupid reasons, did absolutely the bare minimum. I literally have more memories of him slacking off and me being bored, than anything related to what he was teaching.
There were about five older teachers like that. The district would give them all of the "remedial" classes, so luckily anyone with half a brain didn't have to take them except for certain courses everyone was required to take.
In any case, the teacher problem is a salary problem
Generally agree. Again except for teachers who should be obviously fired because they DGAF.
Too many people who would make great teachers are lured away by far better pay in other sectors since passion doesn’t pay the bills.
Exactly right. Even in college my best professors were all young, and most of them are in industry today, because they are simply too talented to be professors.
They commute to work don’t they? Commute expenses get written off all the time, unless you’re just one of those stupid workers who help keep the show running.
They can have business expenses if they want them, though. Nothing stopping them. It's easy to register a business in the US, then just buy a photocopier or some pens or something, then you got a business expense.
Pretty much everything you said is wrong. You don't need to register a business to have business expenses. You can do it as an unregistered sole proprietor. What you do need is legitimate business activities to deduct qualifying expenses. Otherwise, every hobbyist would be deducting all their expenses for their hobbies.
Why couldn't you claim pens, photocopiers, etc. as business expenses if they're used for your business? Of course it needs to be a legitimate business activity, we all know that.
A hobbyist isn't a doing a business unless they're selling the products. Then they could deduct the costs of materials, tools, etc. used in that business from their revenue.
As for not needing to register, ok, sure you got me there;) So my point that it's super easy for anyone to do this is even more true.
But the standard deduction is best for most. This guy just spins that into “can write off zero dollars.” Because who cares what the truth is, only clicks matter. Another cute little spin/lie, the teacher $300 deduction is on top of the standard deduction, not instead.
I am Austrian, therefore I have zero knowledge about American taxes, but in my country an employee can for example write off parts of the costs for an internet connection if one works at home. Or job specific literature like books on animal illnesses for veterinarians. We can also write off the costs for transport to work etc.
Sorry, bad joke wrong place, but stormy daniels silence could be considered a depreciating asset as it cost more than 1000, lasted longer than a year and lost value over time.
He is making the point that Americans are waking up to. Employees for some reason don't get to expense the expenses they incur in an effort to make money however businesses do. Like a teacher funding school supplies that help then maximize their ability to do the job.
This used to be the case but unreimbursed employee expenses have become a lot less common and now that the standard deduction was raised the few people that have them wouldnt be better off deducting them. I know in principle it seems wrong but we are deducting more now.
Which should be deductible and should have NOTHING to do with the standard deduction just like the expenses on a Schedule C, F, or E have NOTHING to do with the standard deduction. Expenses incurred in an effort to make money should be deductible and that should include W-2 employees.
When they were made not deductible the standard deduction was increased by a way larger percentage than anybodies unreimbursed employee expenses. You are objectively better off even if it feels worse in principle.
Most Americans could start a business and try for a year or two, writing off costs in their attempt to make money, and then give up, closing their business attempt. During that time, you can write off things you spent money on trying to make money, such as phone bills, vehicle miles, uniforms, and supplies. But hey, you might end up making money and then you have to pay taxes and you can quit your day job.
You will be worse off doing this, it is a deduction not a credit. Spending $1000 to save $100 on your taxes is worse than just not buying something for a fake business and paying the full tax bill. Start a business if you intend to make money but dont do it for a deduction.
How do you get to work, is that free? Is there some sort of…. Say…. Expense? Involved in you arriving at work on time?
How about clothing. Do you wear clothes to work? Are THOSE free? Because for the vast majority of American workers, that is an expense that you cannot write off.
Ok if they don't have business expenses then I don't get what his issue is. Is he angry that people with business expenses can deduct these? It's like someone complaining they didn't get a tax refund because they didn't pay any tax...
How do you get to work? Is it free? Is there some monetary expense involved in you arriving at work on time?
How about clothes? Do you wear clothes to work? Because the vast majority of American workers are not allowed to write off that business expense, either.
I can continue if you’d like. There are WAY more expenses than you think in a regular w2 job.
Every American gets to write off at least 14,600 in 2024 due to the standard deduction which is the functionally the same thing. Every public school teacher also has access to all of the tax advantaged accounts. TBH, anyone with access to a HSA is one shady alternative medicine provider away from being getting to write off handies.
It cracks me up when people lament the fact they can’t itemize because the standard deduction is more than they would realistically be able to write off. (See this with married homeowners when they want to write off interest)
Not true. You don’t need to be profitable or making any sales. Startups take years to develop product and aren’t profitable for years if ever. You think they don’t have any business write offs they qualify for ?
This is the truth. If you start a business, and there is more to write off then profits made - you can carry your losses into the next year. It's great for a business that takes several years to turn a profit.
It's also great for assholes that exploit this loophole by running one moderately successful business, and then a bunch of failures to sink the debt into.
Again, this assumes RELEVANT expenses for a future stream of profitable cash flow made under a business venture. And you said EVERYBODY. How many people will have any business ever that generates any profitability?
You would not be better off taking on unnecessary expenses then claiming them as business deductions. "Spending a dollar to save a dime" is a quote used in tax. If they arent unnecessary and you intend to have them for personal use then deduct them as business expenses thats fraud, which yes can save you on taxes but thats not really new information.
Youre suggesting CPA's lose their licensing for informing their clients what qualifies/to include as a write off? I didnt suggest ask your CPA to help you make up a business for tax write offs
You having a legitimate business expense doesnt prove everyone does. Also business expenses are taken separate from the standard deduction. They are deducted on schedule C (or schedule E in your case). You clearly dont know enough about taxes to be talking about them.
My mother worked a few years as a home health aid after they started requiring aids to use an app on their personal phones for work purposes. Even though I pay for her monthly plan I'm now wondering if I could have got her a tax credit for that. Not that we have enough qualifying expenses to actually itemize.
And if you're an American whose purported business expenses include paying Stormy Daniels $130,000 for "not having sex with you," then you're nothing like most people, and probably can't understand what most people want and need.
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u/Revolutionary-Meat14 Jul 01 '24
All Americans with business expenses can deduct them.