May 26, 2019

by Steve Stofka

Φ * π Σ (y-c) / (σ ỹ)

Did your head just explode? That’s how the tax code appears to many of us. This spring, many taxpayers sat down with their tax accountants and were informed that they were among the losers created by the tax reform act that went into effect for the 2018 tax year. Among the losers were employees who claim business expenses. In the western states, many in the construction trades may take a temporary job that is located a few hours from home. Instead of driving home every day, they share hotel rooms or live in campers during the work week and travel home on weekends to be with their family. Some employers pay per-diem expenses, but many smaller employers don’t. Under the old tax laws, an employee could deduct meals, lodging and ordinary living expenses away from home. Under the new law, employee business expenses are subject to a threshold that equals 2% of gross income (Note #1).

An employee with business expenses who has a family of four has discovered that they are the losers this tax filing season, the first one under the new tax law. Under the old law, that family of four used to get $12K standard deduction and $16K in personal exemptions. Now they get a $24K standard deduction and no personal exemption (Note #2). If they have employee business expenses that meet the threshold test, it may not be enough to exceed the new higher standard deduction. Some tax accountants report that their clients are shocked when they learn how much they owe in this first tax year under the new law.

In the future, some workers may be able to negotiate higher pay on these away jobs. Some will have to turn down such jobs.   

Corporate America was a big winner in the tax reform bill. In addition to lowered tax rates, low interest rates during the past decade have helped many publicly held companies buy back their own stock. The stock buybacks have accelerated this past year, with a record 25% of companies in the SP500 buying back their own stock, according to a Wall St. Journal analysis published this week. 

Don’t companies have a better use for the money? Apparently not. When companies buy back stock, they reduce the number of shares outstanding and increase the profit per share reported. In the first quarter of 2019, these buybacks lifted per-share profits by 4%. The share buybacks have distracted investors from the fact that corporate profits have flatlined since 2012.

Corporate profits flatlined during the Reagan administration in the 1980s. Investors bid up stocks on the promise that trickle-down policies and tax reform would break the cycle. Before profits did start to rise again, stock prices shook off their speculative pricing on Black Monday in October 1987. Let’s hope we don’t have a similar phenomenon this time.  

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Notes:

1. Workplace expense deductions
2. Tax law winners and losers.