Pledge and Invocation
President Mike Horwitz welcomed us all and then asked Bob Doerr to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Paul Watermulder asked for guidance for our speakers as they discussed “money” and the new tax laws… something near and dear to our hearts.
Guest and Visiting Rotarians
There were numerous guests in attendance. Jon Grant of the Foster City club skipped his meeting to attend ours. Rose Camarena introduced her two guests, Maggie Alegria and Cindy Fode. President Mike introduced Kevin Brehmer, George Tucker and Pierre Buljan (father of our very own Alex). He then wandered over to a back table where he introduced his lovely wife Melinda who sat between her sister Marilyn Clark and Michelle Loane, a member of the Horwitz team. Former member Phillip Larson was also in attendance.Announcements
Stan Moore reminded us of the upcoming new schedule and our inaugural breakfast meeting on Wednesday, March 7 at 7:30. There will be a speaker. He and his committee are working on a service project with PalCare. More to come.
Cheri Carr gave us an update on our upcoming fundraiser. The second annual Burlingame Bistro will be held Sunday, May 20th at the Doubletree.
Mark your calendars and invite friends.
Program
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Fritz Brauner introduced our speakers, past-presidents Joe Galligan and Lage Andersen, who presented information on the new tax bill. Since their very impressive bios were distributed to each table his comments were brief. Joe was up first addressing how this legislation impacts the individual. He noted that it will take three years for the IRS to understand and figure out all the details and then render interpretations. Congress would then need to make some “technical” corrections. However the new law should make tax filing simpler. Since the IRS has been asked to do more with less, i.e. fewer auditors, tax preparers have a greater liability to insure the validity of client filings. Prior to the new tax bill 30% of individuals itemized their deductions. Going forward it should only be about 4%. Joe gave us an idea of what has changed and what hasn’t. Medical expenses and student loans are still deductible however state income tax and property taxes are no longer fully tax deductible. It is capped at a combined $10,000. With the increase in the AMT threshold many high-income taxpayers will not be adversely affected by this change. Mortgage interest deduction will be capped at $750,000 on new first.jpeg)
mortgages originated in 2018 and beyond. Joe went through many scenarios to demonstrate how different people would be affected by these changes. It was quite illuminating.
With not much time remaining Lage attempted the daunting task of educating us on the 20% deduction for Qualified Business Income. Fortunately he had supplied us with copies of his slide presentation so we could try to digest this very weighty business tax regulation. Both gentlemen stayed on to take questions from members and guests.