WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 20: U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters while hosting Republican … [+]
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Working on a piece about Mary Trump’s book I went to recover a relevant twitter exchange and what pops out at me is this:
I thought I had missed something, but I had not. It was another review of the bidding in the three way game of stimulus bridge among the Democratic House, the Republican Senate and the Trump administration.
The House
Way back on June 1, 2020, which seems like eons ago, HR 6080 was passed by the House of Representatives and went to what is usually the final resting place of anything the House passes – the Senate.
The bill included an additional “rebate amount” of $1,200 plus $1,200 for each dependent up to three. Phaseout starts at $75,000 single, $112,500 HOH and $150,000 joint modified adjust gross income. The modifications relate to exclusions for income earned outside of the fifty states and DC.
So a couple with three or more kids might get six grand. I haven’t tried to figure out how you might game things with separate filing or a strategic divorce if you have more kids. Planning for possible provisions is not that good a use of time.
Remember Reilly’s Third Law of Tax Planning – Any clever idea that pops into your head probably has (or will have) a corresponding rule that makes it not work.
The Senate
So in the Senate we don’t have a bill yet. There is just rumbling that there will be one and talk that McConnell wants a lower AGI limit – $40,000.
The Administration
Apparently the latest is that in meeting with Congressional Republicans, President Trump indicated that he is on board with some sort of stimulus check.
Just Stop It
My advice is to stop worrying about this so much. If the Senate actually passes something, we should study it, particularly if there are indications that it will pass the House.
The problem with thinking a lot about proposals is that they can get stuck in your heard and confuse when something different passes. You can’t rule out that nothing will pass because there won’t be a meeting of the minds on liability protection or payroll tax holidays or something else