These appear to be serious proposals with legs and bipartisan support.
Will this mean an end to day rates for mariners?
Under the proposed no taxes on overtime, we would be much better off being hourly employees that are paid overtime after 8 hours.
For example: Dayrate $1050 is something like $600 net after taxes.
$75 an hour x 8 is $600, maybe $350 net after taxes.
Plus $112,50 an hour overtime x 4 is 450 untaxed. So the net take home for the day is more or less $800.
So this Trump tax proposal would put a lot more money in our pockets if we are hourly instead of on a dayrate.
If it happens then I hope so. I canāt see them doing that though, they prioritize tax cuts for the uber wealthy so they canāt afford to cut taxes on normal people.
They same proposal also changes how overtime is calculated. I havenāt seen the current text, but the one I saw a few weeks ago basically eliminated OT as we know it.
The idea is to encourage people to work overtime by giving them a tax break. This is partly to address the US Citizen worker shortage.
To the typical American worker (especially union workers) Overtime means more than 8 hours a day, or more than 40 hours a week. Different states define it and calculate it differently. In some states anything over 8 hours in a day is overtime, but in other states there is no overtime until after 40 hours.
I donāt foresee Trump and Congress shooting themselves in their new found populist feet by giving a tax break on overtime, but then taking it way by changing the definition of overtime. Nor do I see them creating conflicts with states on how overtime is defined. That would be inefficient.
Eliminating taxes on SS, Overtime and Tips is how they are going to buy votes from ordinary people while giving tax breaks to Billionaires.
Most taxes are paid by people who are on salary and/or bonus, and are exempt from overtime.
Iām looking forward to no tax on my SS. Iām also looking forward to only paying tax on my first 40 hours a week of wages.
I donāt foresee Trump and Congress shooting themselves in their new found populist feet by giving a tax break on overtime, but then taking it way by changing the definition of overtime.
Why not? They got what they wanted (to get elected), now they wonāt care about the people who elected them (steelworkers have already got a taste of it: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/02/us/politics/trump-nippon-steel-us-merger.html), they will only care about lining the pocket of the people who contributed to the campaign.
The problem with Trumpās original proposal was the overly broad definition of ātipā would allow CEOs to be given $50,000,000 annual ātipsā and not have to pay any tax on it because itās a tip. So no, they wonāt be getting most of the taxes from people receiving bonuses because those will be tax free.
If they go forward with Project 2025, they are going to seriously reduce or eliminate overtime. You may get a tax break, but if your overtime is gone, no real gain.
Letās be cautiously optimistic and supportive, until they give us a reason not to be.
If the Republicans screw us, in two years we throw the bums out, and vote the misnamed āProgressiveā Trans pandering, pronouns pushing, DEI, and welfare loving Democrats back in.
How does this come in to play on vessels that donāt pay OT but just a straight day rate? Does this mean that shipping jobs that pay hourly with daily OT will be the place to be to make a bigger buck?
As a former Democrat, now Libertarian with many liberal opinions, as a citizen who has some appreciation for our 2 party system, I strongly hope the Democrats donāt do what they did last time & fight Trump on every single proposal. I know for a fact many tips are tax free anyway. I always try to tip in cash just for that purpose perhaps. From my observation, because of age & demographics, I would say the majority of tip earners in the food service industry are Democrats. Although many of them donāt vote, they will in the future. If the Democrats alienate them & continue to drive them to the Trump camp over taxes on tips, then Democrats are dumber than I thought. Considering the recent popular/E.C/swing-state sweep, Democrats should choice their battles wisely this go around with Trump. No taxes on tips, plain & simple.
Iām going to take your word for it & do no research at all. So be it, Trump plan bad, Harris plan was good. But what Iām saying is Democrats shouldnāt be played like a fiddle like last time. IMO, the average Josephine doesnāt really care about a CEO taking a tax break or not, she just wants her tips to be tax free. If the Dems fight Trump over tax free tips, all the food service folks will hear is, Dems donāt want Trumps tax free tips plan. Choose battles wisely. Tax free tips with CEOās getting a break is better than no tax free tips at all for most people. Dems just had a few years to pass a tax free tip plan & did diddly squat. Lets someone else try to give those in the food service a break now.
I think most folks in congress couldnāt care less about tax on tips as people earning tips donāt make major campaign contributions [pay bribes]. Also, I think most people worried about all these supposed changes coming greatly underestimate just how dysfunctional congress is, even the MAGA crowd fight each other not to mention the perennially dysfunctional Democrats who have lost their identity completely now. I know a lot of people but I donāt hear any of them pushing pronouns, trans or DEI, that seems to be an exclusive worry of the mainstream media. Most folks I know are live and let live that couldnāt care less about your pronoun or how you contribute to ādiversityā as long as you help get shit done. As far as welfare is concerned Musk loves it as he has received 4.9 billion in tax breaks and subsidies [welfare] for electric cars, solar panels, rockets etc. [He didnāt invent any of these businesses he bought them,] Why the richest man in the world needs this government welfare is anybodyās guess but I expect more will come his way.
Nothing we can do now but sit back and watch the circus. Not my circus, not my monkeys but I DO know the clowns
On vessels that pay OT usually the Captain and CE get paid a monthly supplement āin lieu of overtime.ā I wonder if that supplement will be tax free?
If not the I think depending on the OT worked the 1AE and C/m could be making more take home then the top 2.
Making overtime and tips tax free is beyond insane. Its all income, and shouldnāt matter.
Thereās a wide range in ātippedā restuarant workers. But i canāt see the rational of 6-figure bartenders and servers essentially living a tax-free life, and the rest of us paying our full taxes.
And yes, I have a lot of friends in the high-end restaurant industry, and its not that difficult to pull in 100K+. Plus most already hide a lot of cash tips.