Tax plan more backward than forward

We live in a nice home, and a great neighborhood, in Representative Peter Roskam's district. Under the proposed tax plan, that Roskam supports, we all would lose personal exemptions of $4,050 per family member, lose our state income tax deduction and lose our property tax deduction for amounts over $10,000. A significant number of households in the western suburbs have property taxes that exceed the $10,000 cap limit.

While the standard deduction for a family would increase by $12,000 and the tax rates would fall a bit, we would have to pay an additional, estimated $2,500 to $3,500 in annual federal income taxes via this new tax plan.

From another perspective, our increase in federal income tax liability would fund the 42 percent decrease in federal corporate taxes and help fund the new estate tax that benefits the top one percent. Notably, this shell game, tax plan alone would increase the federal deficit, normally a Republican Party concern, by over $1.5 trillion. Importantly, poor and lower middle class households along with small businesses would receive some, but insufficient tax breaks.

Additionally, by eliminating financial incentives for homeowners, the real value of properties would decrease. No longer would a homebuyer be able to deduct all of his/her property taxes. Mortgage interest deductions would be limited based on the size of the loan. This would devastate the housing market in the western suburbs and beyond.

Roskam's "forward lookingness" perspective, as he mentioned while promoting the proposed tax plan, is more backward than forward and seems to represent a significant increase in federal taxes for middle/upper middle income homeowners in his district.

Dennis Dedmond

Glen Ellyn