News
After just seven weeks of debate (and more than a few protests), the United States' first major revision to the tax code in over 30 years has been passed by the House and Senate. This will affect everyone's paychecks and every aspect of the American economy, so naturally people have a lot of questions of exactly what this bill means for everyday Americans. If you're wondering how the bill might affect your personal finances, you're not alone. In fact, this is such a popular question that there are a number of GOP tax plan calculators on the web to help you answer that question.
Most American households will see a tax cut next year as a result of the new plan. In fact, a new report estimates that middle-income households will collectively receive $61 billion in tax cuts in 2019. But exactly how much money each household pays in taxes depends on a variety of factors. Things like what state you live in, whether you're married or single, whether you have any dependents, and other individual determinants have to be factored into the equation.
Luckily, a number of news outlets have created online tools that can help you enter your personal information so you can calculate exactly what your taxes will look like next year. Here are a few tax plan calculators that are definitely worth checking out.
The Upshot By The New York Times
The Upshot is a New York Times website that specializes in graphics, charts, and other visual representations of data journalism. This particular calculator is pretty cool because as you enter your personal data, an interactive chart gives you a visual representation of how much money other households are saving.
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal's calculator is another useful tool. Twitter users are already raving about how much this calculator has helped them wrap their minds around the effects of the new tax plan.
CNN
Trump might call this outlet #FakeNews, but the calculator incredibly easy to use and does a really great job of really concisely explaining how the tax plan will affect you.
Market Watch
Created by Market Watch, this calculator doesn't have a snazzy interactive graphic like some of the others, but it does have a very comprehensive questionnaire that will give you all of the information you need.
The Washington Post
The Washington Post's calculator shows where your taxes lie within everyone else's tax changes, and you can even click around to see how your taxes would be different if you lived in a different state.
TIME
TIME Magazine has also created its own version of the tax calculator. This one is a bit simpler than the rest, and is mostly just based on your income level, but if you're looking for something quick and easy that will give you more of an estimate than an exact amount, this would be a great tool to check out.
A Calculator Created By Students
This one may not have been created by a major news outlet, but it is the result of really hard work by two UC Berkeley graduate students. And the best part is, it was created specifically for other graduate students, who often have thousands of dollars in debt. If you're a recent graduate, or still in school, this is worth examining.
TaxPlanCalculator.Com
Created by journalist Maxim Lott, this particular calculator is getting quite a bit of attention on Twitter, likely because of its easy-to-remember URL. According to Lott, at one point this afternoon, the site was averaging 50 users per second.
Tax legislation can be really confusing. But thanks to these great online tools, you can get a much clearer sense of what your taxes will look like next year by answering a few simple questions.
