No Tax Calculating

[CAPCPA]

I've got a 70 year old retiree with $38,691 in capital gains, interest & dividends.  After $17,750 in standard deduction and $6,000 in additional deduction, taxable income is $14,941.  The Tax calculated = $0

What am I missing?

[BobKamman]

The legislation from -- was it the last decade? -- that set a zero tax bracket for LTCG and QD, up to a certain point.  

[CAPCPA]

Wow,  you never stop learning ...... never had a client with income that low, so never ran into a zero bracket.   Thanks. 

[Frustrated-in-IL]

That was young George Bush who did that.  Announced on TV that he was reducing the capital gain rate to 15%, and for those otherwise in the 15% bracket, the rate would be 0%.

The day Bush announced that was the day I realized there was fake news.  All the talking heads could say was it was a giveaway to the rich and skewered him.  Never once did I hear them say a word about the 0% rate.  Over the past couple decades, I have had countless clients benefit from this, including one who just could not believe he did not have to pay a penny on his big capital gain.  After I told him why he did not have to pay a penny, all he did was sit in the office shaking his head and repeating "George Bush did this, George Bush did this?"  Finally, he said "I wish I would have known.  I didn't vote for him either time".   

[BobKamman]

And then there was my millionaire client who scraped by on about $100,000 a year of dividends, along with a pension and Social Security.  I think his tax bill was cut from about $40K to about $20K.  They always throw some bones to the poor -- often, because those who are elected by the poor, manage to negotiate a few concessions.