Taxes are going up in 2013, and I mean REALLY up, as a result of a) Obamacare, and b) expiration of the "Bush tax cuts."
Here's a summary of the tax increases that will be hitting in just a few months, absent some kind of agreement between Congress and the Obama administration, which I seriously doubt.
- A new Medicare surtax of 3.8% will be accessed against married taxpayers with AGI over $250,000, or single taxpayers with AGI over $200,000. This new surtax will be applied to interest, dividends, capital gains, annuity income, rents, royalties, and distributions from trusts and estates.
- The threshold for deductible medical expenses will increase from 7.5% of AGI to 10% of AGI, which be a tax increase for many who itemize.
- The top income tax rate will increase from 35% to 39.6%.
- Capital gains tax will increase from 15% to 20%.
- Dividend tax will increase from 15% to 39.6%. But for some the 3.8% Medicare surtax will also apply, resulting in a 43.4% tax on dividends. (Hello retirees on a fixed income!)
- The Section 179 deduction for investment in business assets will be reduced from $139,000 to $25,000, and investments in software will no longer apply (Hello Oracle, SAP, and SAS).
- The employee share of the FICA tax will jump up from 4.2% and return to its original 6.2%. This is a tax that all workers pay on their first dollar of income.
- The estate and gift tax exemption will drop from $5,120,000 to $1,000,000, and the top tax rate on estates and gifts will jump from 35% to 55%.