Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Discussions about the forum and contents
Locked
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

[Update: The site owner is permitting discussion in a single thread here: Tax Bill Omnibus Thread

[Revised to include the proposed tax plan --LadyGeek]

The proposed tax plan has created much conjecture, which impacts personal finance and investing. (Previously, discussions were about the recent elections.)

Speculation about future legislation is prohibited by forum policy, see Unacceptable Topics:
Politics and Religion

In order to avoid the inevitable frictions that arise from these topics, political or religious posts and comments are prohibited. The only exceptions to this rule are:
  • Common religious expressions such as sending your prayers to an ailing member.
  • Usage of factual and non-derogatory political labels when necessary to the discussion at hand.
  • Discussions about enacted laws or regulations that affect the individual investor. Note that discussions of proposed legislation are prohibited.
  • Proposed regulations that are directly related to investing may be discussed if and when they are published for public comments.
This forum is focused on investing that is directly actionable to personal investors. We don't hold debates on conjecture.

The whole point of the policy is to (1) eliminate contentious disagreements that result from these discussions and (2) keep investors from making bad decisions. Proposed legislation changes many times between the time it's introduced and signed into law.

The disagreements will indeed occur, which is more work for the moderators and results in locking the thread. See: Yellen: "We're taking a look at negative interest rates."

Decisions to keep the thread visible or making it disappear are done on a case-by-case basis. Threads are not deleted, but archived in an area only accessible to the moderators and site admins.

- If anyone disagrees with a moderator action (locking a thread, etc.), PM the moderator and we will decide if a correction is needed. We also have an Advisory Board to help adjudicate the disagreement. Do not post a complaint publicly; that creates a whole 'nother can of worms.
- If we miss something that needs a moderator attention, report the post and we'll take a look. See: REPORTING VIOLATIONS AND UNWELCOME PMs

(Thread locked.)
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

Bumping for visibility.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Proposed tax plan is off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

The first post has been revised to reflect the proposed tax plan.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
prudent
Moderator
Posts: 9079
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 2:50 pm

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by prudent »

Bumping for visibility.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

Bumping for visibility.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

Bumping to clarify that IRS tax-favored health plans, such as Health savings accounts, are defined in US law. An HSA is defined here: 26 U.S. Code § 223 - Health savings accounts.

Changes to ACA health care are currently under debate in Congress. Conjecture on changes to these tax-favored plans is therefore off-topic.

The wiki has some background info: Tax basics (Hierarchy of tax authority)
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

Bumping for visibility. As we have done during election time, discussions related to tax reform remain off-topic.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

Bumping yet again for tax reform. Discussions remain off-topic.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
prudent
Moderator
Posts: 9079
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 2:50 pm

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by prudent »

Bump for visibility.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

Bumping for visibility.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

Here is some background info:

Tax authority comes from Title 26 of US Code - which is US law and a legislative process. See the wiki: Hierarchy of tax authority

For example: 26 USC 408A: Roth IRAs

Tax reform starts from the House Ways and Means Committee which has crafted a bill to be introduced. See: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act - Ways and Means

For the gory details, click on "Read the Bill" which gets you to Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Resources - Ways and Means, then Full Legislative Text, a PDF file 429 pages long. This is the bill introduced into Congress and is the start of the legislative process.

Next, note the Chairman’s Mark, a 425 page proposed revision to the bill.

The bill is the first step in changing the law. See any of these links:

- The Legislative Process · House.gov
- The Legislative Process: Overview (Video) | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
- U.S. Senate: Legislative Process

Quite a bit of negotiation will be on-going until the bill becomes signed into law.

The purpose of this forum is to educate investors and provide actionable, accurate advice. Consider the primary purpose of investors here is to save for retirement. This is your life's savings.

Making a decision based on information that will change from now until the tax legislation becomes law places your life's savings at risk. In some cases, an incorrect decision can result in an unrecoverable error.

To protect investors - and even more lurkers - from making a potentially bad life changing decision, we are not permitting discussion of "proposed legislation" in this forum. Aside from the political disagreements, we are simply trying to protect investors from making a bad decision. It's no more complicated than that.

(Political discussions are not permitted either, but for the purpose of keeping discussions civil and to avoid contentious disagreements.)

====================================================================================================
I should also explain the difference between legislation and regulations. Legislation is US law. After Congressional bills become laws, Federal agencies are responsible for putting those laws into action through regulations. This process may include the following steps:*
  1. An agency initiates a rulemaking activity, and adds an entry to its Regulatory Agenda
  2. A Proposed Rule or other document is published to Regulations.gov
  3. The public is given the opportunity to comment on this rule for a specified timeframe
  4. Final Rules can be accessed on Regulations.gov
Therefore, "regulations" are rules imposed by the departments and agencies of the Federal Government. The Internal Revenue Service is a federal agency under the U.S. Treasury Department (also a Federal agency).**

We permit discussions regarding "proposed regulation" when they are published for public comment. Here's an example: Fiduciary Standard - Now open for public comments, federalregister.gov.

If there are any questions, please feel free to PM me or a moderator. Don't start a new discussion.

* Source: Frequently Asked Questions, regulations.gov.
** Source: Internal Revenue Service , federalregister.gov.

(Thread remains locked.)

Update: 3/4/2019: Expanded explanation of proposed regulations.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

Bumping for visibility.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

Bumping for visibility.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

Bumping for visibility.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

Based on the amount of members asking questions about tax reform, this thread is now visible across all forums. Please see my post 4 up from here.

(The thread is posted in the Forum Issues and Administration forum.)
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

Bumping for visibility.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
prudent
Moderator
Posts: 9079
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 2:50 pm

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by prudent »

Bumping for visibility.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

The current state of the legislation is here: H.R.1 - Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

At the time of this post, the status is "Resolving differences".

There are 2 steps to go - "To President", then "Became Law".

Tax reform discussions remain off-topic until the last step has completed.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

Bumping for visibility.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
Mel Lindauer
Moderator
Posts: 35757
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 7:49 pm
Location: Daytona Beach Shores, Florida
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by Mel Lindauer »

Bumping for visibility.
Best Regards - Mel | | Semper Fi
Alex Frakt
Founder
Posts: 11589
Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:06 pm
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by Alex Frakt »

Another bump. To ease the moderators' burden, threads violating this rule may be removed without any notice (or a notice limited to a link to this thread).
User avatar
prudent
Moderator
Posts: 9079
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 2:50 pm

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by prudent »

Bumping for visibility.
User avatar
prudent
Moderator
Posts: 9079
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 2:50 pm

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by prudent »

Bumping for visibility.
User avatar
Topic Author
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Political comments and proposed tax plan remain off-topic

Post by LadyGeek »

The site owner has opened a single thread for discussion. See: Tax Bill Omnibus Thread

Please restrict comments to that thread until the bill is signed.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
Locked