Okay, so here’s the deal with Gerhard Randers-Pehrson. He’s this 81-year-old guy living up in Ossining, N.Y. And he’s got some thoughts. About taxes, of all things. He’s not thrilled about the whole $10,000 cap thing. Yeah, he paid over $16,000 in state and local taxes last year, but he’s not about to benefit personally from raising that cap. Nope, he’d just do the standard deduction thing. But for some reason, it still bugs him. Like, a lot.
He goes on about how we shouldn’t slap regions in the face when they’re just trying to provide decent municipal services. His rep, Mike Lawler, is thinking about bumping that cap way up to $100,000 for singles, $200,000 for couples. But Gerhard? He’s like, “Nah, that’s overkill.”
Meanwhile, Republican reps can’t land on a number. It’s a circus. Jeff Van Drew from Jersey suggests maybe $30k-$40k is a sweet spot. But then you’ve got these four New York Republicans shouting that $30k is basically a joke. Then, up pops Young Kim from California mumbling about a $62,000 deduction. And don’t even get me started on Nicole Malliotakis, representing Staten Island and Brooklyn folks, most of whom earn under $500,000. She’s got her own ideas about making the deduction fully available for them.
Honestly, it’s like herding cats over here. But somehow, House Republican leaders still think they can pull a rabbit out of a hat. And then boom, Trump throws everything into a spin with a last-minute, sorta-kinda-maybe idea about raising taxes on the rich… before doing a backflip on social media, leaving us all scratching our heads. “Do it, don’t do it — whatever,” he says.
Anyway, taxes and drama, who knew?
