My accountant just figured out my taxes and I went from getting a $1,500 refund last year to owing $5,700 this year. I’m told that this dramatic change is due to three things. First, I lost about $4,000 in deductions due to the $10,000 cap on SALT. I knew this was coming. Second, in order to juice the economy before the 2018 mid-terms to help the GOP, the government changed my withholding (without really telling me of course) so that I was not properly withheld. I sort of expected this after reading about all the people seeing their refunds decline. However, this also led to the third issue, which is that the government so underwithheld me that I now owe a penalty of $124. That’s right, the Trump Treasury Department changes my withholding, to give the Republicans an advantage in 2018, but they screwed it up so that I get hit for a penalty by the same people — for being underwithheld. This is a pretty minor issue compared to the massive give away to the rich and corporations that the Trump tax cut was all about but it is another way the middle class got ripped off by Trump. I hope the Democrats can get come traction out of this issue. Backing a bill to waive all withholding penalties for 2018 taxes or for people making under $200,000 should be pretty popular.