Hey to each their own. What I described is NOT central planning.

You do understand what an ad hominem is, right? The only time I’ve used one is when I called you Mr. H&R Block.

Clearly you use a different method to determine “ahead” but I consider it any time you are paying less taxes for something you already want to do. Therefore you can absolutely come out ahead by giving strategically.

Nothing worse than an egotistical tax preparer.

Look buddy, all I ever said is it is pretty easy to deduct more than the standard by itemizing. Holy shit you are on some other planet. I can’t see how many homeowners wouldn’t come out better by itemizing considering today’s interest rates. Most people give to charity because they aren’t shit human beings. Do you laugh in your clients’ faces and say “what a dumbass you are for donating to charity?” My clients often have specific giving goals and we advise them how to best use those to reduce tax obligations. If you don’t understand that concept you shouldn’t be in this field.

And yes that is exactly the kind of work my firm does as well. This thread is purely about itemizing deductions for individuals. I’m not sure what you’re trying to prove but I can tell you where I’m never going for tax advice.

Oh now that I have credentials you’re just going to try to discredit them, Mr. H&R Block?

Maybe go back and read my previous comments where I have said REPEATEDLY that I did not change ANY part of my lifestyle in order to reduce my tax burden.

And yes, most people are not planful in their activities to minimize taxation. They most likely are coming to someone like you to prepare their tax return versus someone like me to plan how to minimize those taxes. THAT is what I mean by people are bad at itemizing. They don’t plan their itemizations or look at where they can do things they already want to, but with a tax advantage.

For instance, I did buy a larger, more expensive home than I really needed but it is a tax advantaged, appreciating asset. And you need to give up on the “charitable contributions don’t put you ahead” BS because it makes you sound like a heartless asshole. Why are you criticizing me for giving to the less fortunate?

I am a CPA with a degree in economics bud. I’m unclear what is inaccurate about how easy it is to get more than the standard deduction. My property tax alone is more than the $10K limit. Add in the mortgage and my normal charitable giving and I’m well over.

All economic incentive is based on inefficiency. Naturally occurring inefficiencies rarely align with the public good (e.g., there is no natural economic incentive for charitable giving). The entire point of taxation is to make negative activities (smoking, gambling, drinking, etc.) more expensive and make positive activities (home ownership, charitable giving, having a family, etc.) cheaper. Obviously there has to be a margin in there for government operating expenses, but once you realize how the tax code should be structured it’s obvious that the income tax needs to be replaced with a wealth tax. Earning income is a positive for the economy while accumulating wealth causes the economy to stall.

Ok so I came out $20K ahead of the standard deduction (so around $5K less tax) for just living my life. Maybe you missed that part. I didn’t just over mortgage myself or donate my entire earnings to charity in order to pay no taxes.

Methinks some people here are just jealous that I’ve been able to keep my effective tax rate much lower than my marginal.

I strongly disagree that restructuring to push more people to take the standard deduction is a good use of the tax code. People should be incentivized to do things like gift to charity and purchase homes. The correct answer would have been to increase the limits on what can be deducted.

Care to elaborate? I would love to hear how my math is wrong considering I have a degree and do this for a living.

Ok genius. For one, I can’t NOT pay property taxes, so your advice isn’t helping there. For two, I have a mortgage at 3.5%, after accounting for the deduction that’s equivalent to a rate of 2.66%. I could pay off the mortgage…or invest the extra cash flow. Even just putting it in a savings account I’m coming out ahead here.

I do also give to charity, which is about 15-20% of my deduction from year to year.

Depends on how you define “good”. If it’s that I can pay $20 less per year in taxes, cool. I’d rather live in a society where people are properly incentivized by the tax code even if it costs me $20 more. It’s actually pretty easy to get more mileage out of itemizing, but most people aren’t good at it.

You do you brah. My itemized deduction last year was almost $33K and I didn’t do anything special I wouldn’t normally have done. Just didn’t blindly accept the standard $13,850.