Remember when the House voted for a fiscal cliff bill way back when three days ago?
Sure, this might mean some money being taken from your paychecks. But according to a Sun Sentinel report, Florida is one of the big winners in the whole fiscal cliff bill thing.
According to the report, Florida taxpayers will be getting tax breaks if they happen to be a teacher, a college student, parents who adopted, homeowners who need to buy private mortgage insurance, and those building energy-efficient homes. Floridians will also be able to deduct state and local taxes from their federal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 if they itemize deductions.
The middle-class living in the Sunshine State will be able to deduct with no worries on the alternative minimum tax biting them in the ass, if they've deducted mortgage interest and other tax-deductible expenses.
Also, since we don't have a state income tax, Floridians will be able to deduct sales tax from their federal income taxes.
Congress also apparently raised the AMT exemption from $45,000 to $78,750 for married couples and from $32,000 to $50,600 for singles. We'll also apparently be able to deduct sales tax from a large-ticket item purchase -- like, for example, a car.
Students: Up to $2,500 a year with the American Opportunity tax credit. It covers the first $2,000 of a student's qualified education expenses and 25 percent of the next $2,000.
Teachers: WIll get a $250 deduction for buying classroom materials, even if they don't itemize on their federal taxes.
Homeowners: Will be able to deduct qualified premiums of private mortgage insurance or PMI from their federal taxes.
Parents: Can receive up to a $10,000 credit for adopting.
Builders of energy-efficient homes: Can qualify for a credit of up to $2,000 for each home built.
We have no idea what the hell any of this means either, other than it sounds pretty nifty. Also, we're calling the people who handle our taxes so they can translate all this accountantspeak for us.
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