By Gene Meyer / KansasReporter

Middle income Kansas families have as much riding on expiring 1990s tax cuts as the rest of the nation, but more if they live near the state’s biggest cities, the Tax Foundation calculates.

The Foundation, an independent, non partisan Washington policy analysts’ organization, calculates that average middle income families across the U.S. will pay an additional $1,540 in federal taxes next year if tax reductions passed early in the administration of President George W. Bush are allowed to expire on schedule Dec. 31. Their total average tax bill will jump from $3,423 with the tax cuts in place to $4,964 if the cuts expire.

Kansas taxpayers’ average increase is just $6 larger. The tab increases by $1,546, to a total $5,062 from a current $3,516. So-called average in this case means the average of the middle one-fifth of the taxpaying public, which translates into approximately $62,462 household income for the Kansans whose taxes were calculated and $63,366 nationally.

Researchers focused on that middle group to take very high incomes and very low ones out of the calculations. They also ran separate numbers for Kansas’ four Congressional districts and came up with a wider range of changes.

Taxes for Third District taxpayers, where middle incomes in Johnson, Wyandotte and Douglas Counties are nearer $81,421, jump $1,918 to $8,852, the researchers calculate. Nearer Wichita, in the Fourth District, taxes on a middle income average $60,229 household income increase $1,709 to $4,720.

In the thinly populated, sprawling First District, which is much of western Kansas, taxes go up $1,508, to $3,796 for households with middle average incomes of $55,126. And in the Second District, much of eastern Kansas between the Nebraska and Oklahoma borders, taxes potentially go up $1,466 to $4,181 for families with $58,345 household income.

A separately released Rasmussen Reports poll last week found that 54 percent of U.S. voters believe the cuts should be extended past Dec. 31, compared to 30 percent who favor letting them expire. A total 48 percent believe the cuts should be extended for everyone, while 40 percent favor letting them lapse for wealthy Americans but continuing them for everyone else.

Congress is expected to begin debating in September whether to extend the cuts.

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Americans for Tax Reform reveals more tax pain after January 1

First Wave: Expiration of 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief

In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business owners, and families.  These will all expire on January 1, 2011:

Personal income tax rates will rise. The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed).  The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent.  All the rates in between will also rise.  Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will again phase out, which has the same mathematical effect as higher marginal tax rates.  The full list of marginal rate hikes is below:

- The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%
- The 25% bracket rises to 28%
- The 28% bracket rises to 31%
- The 33% bracket rises to 36%
- The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%

Higher taxes on marriage and family. The “marriage penalty” (narrower tax brackets for married couples) will return from the first dollar of income.  The child tax credit will be cut in half from $1000 to $500 per child.  The standard deduction will no longer be doubled for married couples relative to the single level.  The dependent care and adoption tax credits will be cut.

The return of the Death Tax. This year, there is no death tax.  For those dying on or after January 1 2011, there is a 55 percent top death tax rate on estates over $1 million.  A person leaving behind two homes and a retirement account could easily pass along a death tax bill to their loved ones.

Higher tax rates on savers and investors. The capital gains tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011.  The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011.  These rates will rise another 3.8 percent in 2013.

Second Wave: Obamacare

There are over twenty new or higher taxes in Obamacare.  Several will first go into effect on January 1, 2011.  They include:

The Tanning Tax. This went into effect on July 1st of this year.  It imposes a new, 10% excise tax on getting a tan at a tanning salon.  There is no exemption for tanners making less than $250,000 per year.

The “Medicine Cabinet Tax” Thanks to Obamacare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin).

The HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike. This provision of Obamacare increases the additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent.

Brand Name Drug Tax. Starting next year, there will be a multi-billion dollar tax assessment imposed on name-brand drug manufacturers.  This tax, like all excise taxes, will raise the price of medicine, hurting everyone.

Economic Substance Doctrine. The IRS is now empowered to disallow perfectly-legal tax deductions and maneuvers merely because it judges that the deduction or action lacks “economic substance.”  This is obviously an arbitrary empowerment of IRS agents.

Employer Reporting of Health Insurance Costs on a W-2. This will start for W-2s in the 2011 tax year.  While not a tax increase in itself, it makes it very easy for Congress to tax employer-provided healthcare benefits later.

Third Wave: The Alternative Minimum Tax and Employer Tax Hikes

When Americans prepare to file their tax returns in January of 2011, they’ll be in for a nasty surprise—the AMT won’t be held harmless, and many tax relief provisions will have expired.  These major items include:

The AMT will ensnare over 28 million families, up from 4 million last year. According to the left-leaning Tax Policy Center, Congress’ failure to index the AMT will lead to an explosion of AMT taxpaying families—rising from 4 million last year to 28.5 million.  These families will have to calculate their tax burdens twice, and pay taxes at the higher level.  The AMT was created in 1969 to ensnare a handful of taxpayers.

Small business expensing will be slashed and 50% expensing will disappear. Small businesses can normally expense (rather than slowly-deduct, or “depreciate”) equipment purchases up to $250,000.  This will be cut all the way down to $25,000.  Larger businesses can expense half of their purchases of equipment.  In January of 2011, all of it will have to be “depreciated.”

Taxes will be raised on all types of businesses. There are literally scores of tax hikes on business that will take place.  The biggest is the loss of the “research and experimentation tax credit,” but there are many, many others.  Combining high marginal tax rates with the loss of this tax relief will cost jobs.

Tax Benefits for Education and Teaching Reduced. The deduction for tuition and fees will not be available.  Tax credits for education will be limited.  Teachers will no longer be able to deduct classroom expenses.  Coverdell Education Savings Accounts will be cut.  Employer-provided educational assistance is curtailed.  The student loan interest deduction will be disallowed for hundreds of thousands of families.

Charitable Contributions from IRAs no longer allowed. Under current law, a retired person with an IRA can contribute up to $100,000 per year directly to a charity from their IRA.  This contribution also counts toward an annual “required minimum distribution.”  This ability will no longer be there.

Read more: http://www.atr.org/six-months-untilbr-largest-tax-hikes-a5171##ixzz0wCukYp7A

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