Opinion 3

Breaking down the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

The Emery Conservative Corner
The Student Publication of Huron High School Jack Harrison | Staff Editor
In December of 2017, Congres-
sional Republicans passed the Tax Cuts and
Adviser Jobs Act in a complete party line vote in
the Senate, and in an almost party line vote
in the House. The bill was drafted without
Sara-Beth Badalamente
Democratic input, but almost every piece of
legislation today is written behind closed-
doors, which means the other party is not
included in the drafting and negotiating of
Editor-in-Chief the legislation. This is not something new to
the world of congressional politics; Demo-
crats did the same thing during the drafting
Kara Kozma of the Affordable Care Act.
This act’s trademark is that it
marks the largest one-time reduction of a
corporate tax rate in our nation’s history,
which is a stark positive in the view of
Staff Editors many conservatives. On the other hand, this
Act has received much scrutiny for heavily
favoring the rich and not doing enough to
Jack Harrison help the middle class. Trying to understand
Julie Heng the implications of such economic reform
Ritvik Jillala can be difficult, especially when the media
clouds our understanding. After reading
Samantha Ruud various articles and examining the legisla-
tion, I have highlighted what I feel are the
most important components of the Act and
what it means for Americans.
Staff Writers The pros:
The child tax credit increases- Before this
Adela Buranova act, the tax credit per child was $1,000 for
Amber Clark a family making less than $400,000 a year.
Sydney Crispin-Pischea This amount is now increased to $1,400 per
child in a family with less than $400,000 in
Micah Etchison income. In addition, families that are work-
Yennifer Guerra-Pantaleon ing with children and do not earn enough
Katherine Gurgenian to owe taxes will receive a bonus check of
$1,400. Obviously, a family making $350,000
Gena Harris does need the credit as much as a family
Alexander Hassan making $50,000. If I were in Congress, I
Parker Hermanson would have a proposed a bracket system for
this. For instance, a family making enough
Cinthya Hernandez to pay taxes to $100,000 would receive
Caitlin Kaleta $2,200 per child; a family making $100,000
Niyati Kellenberg- to $200,000 would receive $1,800 per child;
and a family making $200,000 to $300,000
Callewaert would receive $1,400 per child.
Ivan Martin
Daniel Middaugh Fewer people are paying taxes- Before the
bill’s passage, 44 percent of Americans were
Takayla Pugh-Henderson not paying taxes. Now, 47.5 percent will
Jorge Rodriguez not owe a dime in taxes. The rearrangement
Alyssa Salamin of the new tax brackets is more taxpay-
er-friendly. This means all Americans will
Eilyn Sanabria be paying until the bill expires in 2026.
Austin Shepherd
Cierra Slater Individual health mandate will be re-
moved- Under Obamacare, those who did
Shannon Stocking not purchase health insured were required
Sindy Vasquez Barahona to do so, and if they did not, they paid a
Marshelle Walker fee. Many argue, including me, that this
mandate was solely intended to allow the
Patrick Wang Democrats to say that Obamacare did its
Anna Weigel job by putting more people on health-
George White care plans. Democrats will tell you that
this means 10 million people will now
Ian Wilson
lose healthcare, which is true. But, this is
because people are deciding not to purchase
insurance, because it makes more economic
sense not to in their current situation. This
could raise premiums, but Congressional
Democrats did not have an issue with high
premium costs under Obama Care. To
compensate for this, by eliminating the
mandate, the government will save $300
billion in spending.
Adoption and charitable giveaway tax
credits are preserved.
The student-loan interest deduction, the
deduction for excessive medical suspenses
(for conditions like Alzheimer’s), and the
tax break for graduate students are still
preserved.
Standard Deduction is almost doubled- In-
dividuals can now claim $12,000 instead of
$6,350 in tax credits and married couples
can now claim $24,000 instead of $12,700.
Aspects that could be better:
“Pass through companies” receive a 20
percent deduction- Prior to this bill, many
Republicans claimed that they could bring
changes for small businesses. But the issue
here is that not all small companies fit the
description of a “pass-through companies,”
which means they may not receive the
deduction.
The corporate tax rate is reduced from
35 to 21 percent- The economy should
experience economic growth, though some
report it won’t be as significant as intended.
Personally, I believe that corporations have
to deal with many regulations, and, when
35 percent of their earnings are taxed, it
is difficult to make a profit while paying
employees well. After this bill was passed,
corporations started giving their employees
raises and bonuses. However, for businesses
that have little to no competition, I think
a rate of 27 percent would be more fitting.
For instance, if a small business made
$400,000 before this tax, 27 percent would
equate to $108,000 paid, and under a 21 per-
cent tax equates to $84,000. For a monopoly
making $4 billion, under a 27 percent tax,
they would pay 1.08 billion, but under a 21
percent would only pay 84 million. There-
fore, the monopoly would keep 24 more
billion whereas the small business would
only keep 24,000 more.
The estate tax remains- Thankfully, this was
not repealed because those that receives
estates gain plenty of money from doing so.
However, due to the rearrangement of the
brackets, a portion of those who already
have plenty of money are included in the
bracket that are exempt from the tax.
401Ks are not altered- I wish the tax plan
would allow individuals to invest more in
their savings while being taxed less.
Terms to Know
Tax credit is the amount of refundable credit subtracted from the amount owed.
So, if $4,000 was owed and you receive a credit of $1,000, only $3,000 is owed.
This does not mean that you are paid $1,000, but instead that you save $1,000.
Tax deduction is a reduction of the income that can be taxed. Your income de-
creases, but the percentage of income that is taxed decreases.
S - corporations are corporations with less than 100 employees.
LLCs are owners who hold less liability for their actions and debts than owners
of normal corporations.
Corporate taxes are a direct taxes on money that is earned.
401ks are retirement savings plans from working at a company; the plan allows
workers to invest their paycheck before it is taxed.
Pass-through companies are companies that are either a partnership, LLC or S -
Corporation.
An heir is a person legally entitled to property once its owner denies it.
Itemized deductions are eligible expenses that taxpayers can claim on federal tax
returns.
Mortgage interest deduction means that taxpayers who own homes can reduce
their taxable income by the amount of interest paid on their homes.
Heirs pass-up- Before the bill, the first
State and local tax deduction is capped $5.5 million passed down by a person or 11
at $10,000- This mostly helps the wealthy million passed down by a family could not
because it reduces the amount of income be taxed. Now, that number has doubled to
that is taxed. It will still hurt lower and 11 million per individual or $22 per married
middle class families in high taxed states couple. To begin with, $5.5 was already too
such as New York and California. Perhaps high not to be taxed. Now, this whopping
these states should change their tax rates. $11 million will keep anyone rich for life and
However, other states with lower tax rates explains why the bill costs so much.
were not as affected, such as our state
for example. A bracket system could be The Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax
implemented to increased the deduction (AMT)- This bill was passed by congress
in 1969 to make sure that high income tax-
in certain states. According to Time, in
2013, 42 percent of people making $50,000 payers who claim many deductions would
to $75,000 itemized their deductions, still pay taxes. Essentially, repealing this is
compared to the 93.5 percent of the people a benefit strictly for the rich mean that the
government’s income will decrease. Howev-
making over $200,000 who itemized their
deductions. er, is that a married couple making less than
$160,900 or an individual making less than
The cons: $120,700 would be exempt from having to
pay this tax.
The bill costs $1.46 trillion- This is a highly
cost which could contribute to an already The cap on mortgage interest deduction is
high national debt. In the past, Congressio- lowered- At first, Republicans wanted to
decrease the cap to $500,000, and they ulti-
nal Republicans have valued limited spend-
ing. Thus, it is quite ironic that they do not mately had to settle at $750,000. According
seem to care now. In fact, the Democrats are to Forbes, when it was at one million, it was
quite concerned with the cost of this bill, worth it for 44 percent of homeowners to
itemize their deduction and, now, it is only
and the irony is that in the past they did
not voice concerns about spending and the worth it for 14.4 percent of homeowners
national debt. to do so. Thus, this has a negative effect,
especially on the middle class, and I do not
The top bracket receives a cut- Before see the benefit of this.
the plan, married couples making at least Personal exemptions are eliminated- This
$470,700 would pay 39.6 percent in income eliminates the personal exemption of $4,050
taxes. The new plan decreased the rate for per taxpayer. I am not sure why this was
married couples making over $600,000 to done, but my guess is was that it would less-
37 percent. This is clearly a big break for en the cost of the entire plan. However, the
the wealthy. Instead, Republicans should doubled deduction should offset this repeal.
have lowered the percent to 37.5 for those
There are portions of this bill I
that make up to $470,700 and kept the 39.6
percent for those making over $600,000. am pleased with, but there are also sections
However, Republicans argue that those in that I would certainly change to benefit
the highest bracket have to pay higher tax lower and middle class Americans. It’s time
to see if this bill brings about economic
rates in states such as New York and Cali-
fornia, but they should have not capped the growth and success. If it does not, I think
state and local deduction. They used this as Republicans might find themselves in some
an excuse, which is not acceptable. trouble after the midterm elections. Over-
all, I give the bill a solid B rating.

Students’ voices: is vaping a serious problem at our school?

Caitlin Kaleta | Staff Writer

The Emery Staff Policy

The Emery is a newspaper

produced by and for the
students of Huron High
School. The Emery exists to
inform and entertain the
student body by producing “Yes, but I don’t think it is a big issue.” “I’ve never seen anyone vape.” “I feel like only a select few people do it.” “No, I don’t think it’s a big problem.”
quality content on a vari-
Hannah Hu, freshman Phoebe Yi, sophomore Imani Peterkin, junior LJ DeWolf, senior
ety of school, community,

In the people’s best interests: on vaping in our society

national, and international
issues. We at The Emery
aim to improve ourselves as
writers, thinkers, and com-
municators serving commu-
nities to which we belong,
and we strive to maintain
the highest degree of jour-
nalistic integrity.
All opinions pieces pub-
lished by The Emery reflect
only the views of their
authors, not those of the
adviser, editor-in-chief, ed-
itorial board, or other staff
members.
The Emery achieved a Gold
Ranking in the Spartan
Critique for the 2016-2017
academic year.
The Emery is a member of
the Michigan Interscholastic
Press Association, the Na-
tional Scholastic Press Asso-
ciation, and the Journalism
Education Association.
Staff Editorial
for concern. If we don’t have enough regular smokers according to the Centers in hindsight, we end up cycling back to
information to come to a conclusion, we for Disease Control and Prevention. The similar issues over time. Amid our current
should not be brashly moving forward. We population suffered much higher levels of opioid epidemic, the last thing we should
Julie Heng | Staff Editor should not unconsciously follow an agenda chronic bronchitis, emphysema, coronary be doing is pushing an unknown substance.
that might promote potential devastation. heart disease, and high risk of lung cancer The new vaping marketing doesn’t refute
Many claim that, since the
In the 1920=====s, tobacco mortality with the incessant presence of the idea that we are easily enslaved to
nicotine content in e-cigarettes is
companies shamelessly advertised first- and second-hand smoking. addictive substances.
significantly lower than in cigarettes,
vaping is considerably safer than traditional cigarettes with special filters to promote There were no precautions taken In the case of vaping e-cigarettes,
smoking. Besides, they argue, there have health and well-being. It wasn’t until 1970 until it was too late. that our ignorance now parallels past drug
been no known health risks so far. that Congress passed the Public Health We shouldn’t aim to be in yet epidemics should be obvious. We should
Cigarette Smoking Act, which prohibited another similar situation. We constantly proceed with caution.
That lack of information,
TV and radio advertising for cigarettes. say that the primary purpose of considering
however, should be even more cause
By then, 40 percent of U.S. adults were history is learning from past mistakes, but,
Lack of sleep: a root cause of stress among high school students
Patrick Wang | Staff Writer time is about one hour later than places like New York City in the east coast. Therefore,
Sleep deprivation among high school students is on the rise. How to overcome Michigan should have used the Central Time Zone like Illinois. When high schools in Mich-
this challenge is an urgent topic for our school system, students, and families. It may just igan start at 7:45 a.m., it is equivalent to 6:45 a.m. in New York. It becomes worse during
look like a school problem, but in reality, this is a social problem involving many factors daylight savings time; during this time people including high school students have to get
such as the start time of school, daylight savings time and extracurriculars. Some of these up one hour earlier across the nation, except for Arizona and Hawaii. So in theory, high
factors, like daylight savings time could be mistakes made a long time ago. If these mistakes school students and all people in Michigan lose two hours of sleep in the morning. Because
can be corrected, stress for high school students can be significantly reduced. However, if high school students experience both physical and mental development, the impact of a
two-hour sleep deficit is the most destructive to this age group. This adds inevitable stress
sleep deprivation continues, then many students can fall into a depression.
Research shows that about 20 percent of all teens experience depression before to high school students, which leads to serious psychological and mental problems.
they reach adulthood. In fact, between 10-15% suffer from symptoms at any one time, but When some students have anxiety or depression, they are normally sent to
only 30% of depressed teens are being treated. One of the reasons for depression is due to doctors for treatment with medication and therapy. This is a standard procedure to treat
a lack of sleep. A survey by the National Sleep Foundation found that 60% of high school the symptoms, but it may not cure the root causes. To do so, first the daylight saving time
students suffer from daytime fatigue which causes them to regularly fall asleep in class. For should be eliminated, similar to most people in the world who live in places such as Ari-
zona, China and India. Secondly, in Michigan, schools should use the Central Time Zone
students who struggle to get a sufficient amount of sleep, it not only decreases the produc-
tiveness of learning, but also reduces the efficacy of immune systems. As a result, that leaves even though Michigan is in the Eastern Time Zone. In other words, schools across Michigan
students vulnerable to illnesses that they are exposed to at school. This could explain why should start one hour later than New York’s schools. If the daylight saving time cannot
15-year old high school students native to the U.S. performed poorly in international com- be eliminated, schools across Michigan should start two hours later than the current start
petitions (The Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA) compared to those time. It is believed that removing this root cause of stress will not only raise the efficiency
in other developed countries. of learning, but also significantly reduce the stress level among teens by just simply giving
A lack of sleep during teenage years can lead to serious mental illnesses such high school students two more hours of sleep in the morning. Sleep deprivation applies to
as anxiety and depression, which require medical and psychological help. For example, all Americans and to people in developed countries that currently use daylight saving time.
Michigan is located at the west-most end of the Eastern Time Zone, this means that sunrise