of the tax law that the GOP has not thought through. Raising the threshold and reducing what qualifies for a deduction is going to drive itemizing from 30% to as low as 5% from what I saw one study said. That means contributions are 10% to 25% less valuable than before. This analysis also applies to purchasing homes.

and scribbling in the margins continuity goes out the window.

This has always been a concern regarding the "simplified"/post card tax efforts.
Having prepared returns and worked at charities/non-profits this weekend is the cash cow. People who really tax plan are writing checks a lot right now. BTW - tax prep and advising won't be deductible in this law either. I can't believe the CPA and accounting firm trade groups knew of that or they would have fought it tooth and nail.

but, in todays world, so much going on, it did not even register with people.

This is going to be a real hit to non-profits.

Jesus-like party is.

Instead of making sure that people have a minimum decent, basic quality of living the US forces them to depend on charity for food, shelter, and medical needs. This will hurt those people immensely, though I'm sure the people who wrote the law won't have a second thought about this because they're comfortable in their mansions.

We are "warned" that the Republicans will tell their constituents that if Democrats take control of the House and Senate, that they will take away their tax reductions.

I think that we will have to concentrate on the estate tax to convince voters how important it is to roll these breaks back. Also, if they will listen, that these nice tax reductions that many will see in their paycheck in 2018, will disappear in a few years.

Our leadership needs to tout the charts showing who's really benefiting from the repub tax bill - the ultra rich and large corporations.

This damned tax bill is just a mish-mash of giveaways to the wealthy, they didn't take the time to make it at all coherent. This one appears to be far worse than Bush's, and look where that got us (although most Americans can't remember 9 or 10 years ago).

on the one hand, giving to charities is the decent thing to do, on the other hand it gives republicans cover for their cruel policies.

In the beginning of the year, when they were going after the ACA, there were people, miners, I think, who needed the ACA for their lives, yet they still support Trump.

Since my charitable contributions won't count for 2018, I pushed them into 2017.

That means the organizations probably won't be getting anything from me in 2018.

I donate to charities because I believe in their mission & not because of any tax break. I don't itemize anyway, but that never affected how I approached charitable giving.

This has been going for so many years..

More than 20 years ago I volunteered to help with managing personal finance, including negotiating with creditors.

We had several hours of training and at some point the instructor said how clergy really do not understand and cannot help. How, for many people, tithing ten percent to the church was very important even when they could not afford it. And the consultants were trying to tell them that it did not have to be money; they could volunteer, make things, etc.