Trump won the election : Did I just take a pay cut? -- Part 1

It has been four days since the election that will bring President-elect Trump to power and, like many who consider themselves to be on the more liberal side of the political spectrum, I've been fretting over all of the things that we have lost and the many ways in which our lives may change.

This morning, a Facebook friend shared that she had just learned that her income taxes as a single mother of two school-aged children would go up under the Trump tax plan.  

Really? 

Up until this point, I hadn't even thought about the ramifications of the Trump tax plan on my own family's bottom line or that of my friend's I decided to learn as much as I could about his tax plan, when it might affect my family... and by how much.

Firstly, I realize that rewriting the tax code is not something that the President does alone.  He would work with the Republican-controlled Congress to make tax reform happen.  President-elect Trump's platform did include a tax plan that would attempt to simplify the current tax code. Instead of seven income tax brackets, we could go down to three.

Source: www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/tax-plan (11-12-16)

And then, there would be a different standard deduction:

Source: www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/tax-plan (11-12-16)

But he would also eliminate personal and dependent exemptions as well as the "head-of-the-household" filing status.  Both Polifact.com  and Forbes Magazine agree that this could have major implications for all single parent families.  For instance, a single mom with one child would have a standard deduction of $15,000 rather than a total deduction of $17,600.  She would have to pay taxes on an additional $2,600.00 

But what about my own family?  How will our own tax bill change? This question has me looking over my last tax return, my current pay stubs, and predicting what Trump will be able to pass through Congress in the future.  Part 2 of the answer to my question is coming soon. 

Leaning in... Why am I doing this?

I voted for Hillary Clinton.  I'm a member of the Pantsuit Nation, although I didn't wear white OR a pantsuit on Election Day.  While I live in a liberal enclave in the Pacific Northwest, I try to get out of my "echo chamber" of a community.   I'm a forty-something white girl with a job in K-12 education.  I'm the mom of a son who is still in the single digits. 

I used to live in New York City where Hillary Clinton was my senator and Donald Trump was just my much wealthier neighbor who I never actually saw walking down the street.  But I certainly walked past his properties from time to time. 

I used to live in Indiana and many of my family members still live there and likely voted for Trump as well.   

I respect the role of the President of the United States but I cannot respect the President-elect.  He has shown too much of his character to let me believe that he will be an effective leader of our country.  I realize that there are many on the right that have encouraged people who believe as I do to give their leader a chance.  I am not in a mood to be conciliatory. 

I think acceptance and conciliation are dangerous for our country. 

This is not the time for people who disagree with Mr. Trump to ignore what goes on in his government.  This is the time to lean right in.  We need to watch him closely as well as his advisers and to speak up often and strongly against his policies.  

For me, this is also a time to get educated.  I don't think that I know nearly enough about how my government works.  Ignorance is dangerous for our country.  

This blog is a journal of how my life and the lives of my friends and family are changing because of this regime change.  It's a record of the work that I intend to do to better educate myself on my country.   And I'm using this blog as a record of injustice when I see it happening.