Local Impact of Fiscal Cliff Deal
By: Jim Madalinsky
Updated: January 2, 2013
There will be no major tax hike for families with an income under $450,000.
Congress agreed to a deal late Tuesday night extending the Bush Era tax cuts, and easing the minds of people.
"Some of those things for sure are going to happen so there is some uncertainty that has become certainty so that's a good thing. It may not be exciting for everybody but at least know for sure what to plan and what to plan for," Michael Wall of Wall Financial Group says.
Families with an annual income of more than $450,000 will see a 4.6% tax increase
"For a high income person that makes more than $500,000 their taxes could go up $7,000 or $8,000," Altoona CPA Patrick Fiore says.
Even though a deal was made to prevent a major tax spike that doesn't mean there won't be some change. In fact 77% of American's will pay higher taxes in 2013.
For the past two years a 2% tax break was given to more than 160 million working Americans.
That break was not renewed as part of the Fiscal Cliff deal.
For a person that makes $500 a week, that 2% is an extra $10 a week or about $520 per year.
"That's a chunk of money for the people in that tax bracket that they're going to have to do without," Fiore says.
And even though taxpayers can now plan ahead, not every question was answered, including dealing with our national debt.
"Quite honestly that's what we've seen here is a little bit of a bandaid. Not a real solution a lot of stuff has still been postponed. So there are a lot of things still left to hit the fan that we're not sure of that will come up down the road," Wall says.
The Fiscal Cliff deal also extended unemployment benefits for an entire year. Those were set to expire if no deal was reached.
Congress agreed to a deal late Tuesday night extending the Bush Era tax cuts, and easing the minds of people.
"Some of those things for sure are going to happen so there is some uncertainty that has become certainty so that's a good thing. It may not be exciting for everybody but at least know for sure what to plan and what to plan for," Michael Wall of Wall Financial Group says.
Families with an annual income of more than $450,000 will see a 4.6% tax increase
"For a high income person that makes more than $500,000 their taxes could go up $7,000 or $8,000," Altoona CPA Patrick Fiore says.
Even though a deal was made to prevent a major tax spike that doesn't mean there won't be some change. In fact 77% of American's will pay higher taxes in 2013.
For the past two years a 2% tax break was given to more than 160 million working Americans.
That break was not renewed as part of the Fiscal Cliff deal.
For a person that makes $500 a week, that 2% is an extra $10 a week or about $520 per year.
"That's a chunk of money for the people in that tax bracket that they're going to have to do without," Fiore says.
And even though taxpayers can now plan ahead, not every question was answered, including dealing with our national debt.
"Quite honestly that's what we've seen here is a little bit of a bandaid. Not a real solution a lot of stuff has still been postponed. So there are a lot of things still left to hit the fan that we're not sure of that will come up down the road," Wall says.
The Fiscal Cliff deal also extended unemployment benefits for an entire year. Those were set to expire if no deal was reached.
