In the News

More money could be coming to your wallet thanks to the federal tax overhaul Congress passed a month ago.
 Last week the United States Treasury Department announced it's adjusted the amount the Internal Revenue Service will take out of paychecks to account for the new tax law.

Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson said around 90% of Americans will see a boost in their paychecks.
"The reason for it is that it's a combination of new tax brackets and tax rates that are being applied," said Johnson. "In addition to the standard deduction that they'll see when they file for their taxes next year."

Johnson said for example, a $12,000 standard deduction for a married couple would be doubled to $24,000.

"And that's real money," said Johnson. "It means the first $24,000 of your joint earnings aren't touched by the federal government."

Johnson called the new tax law a sigh of relief for working families in Louisiana.
"We have to be honest with ourselves and recognize that we're one of the poorer states in the union," said Johnson. "We have a lot of hard-working people and so many live paycheck to paycheck.

While some will see relief from the federal taxes, don't expect the same for state taxes, they're actually going to go up.
"Every state is having to reconfigure the way they do their state taxes," said Johnson. " This will be a hot topic coming up in Baton Rouge."

Opponents of the federal tax reform, said it will add a staggering $1.5 Trillion to the nations debt.

Johnson says while that's true, this new tax law is an investment into America's future.
"There is a short-term increase in the federal debt, but it really is an investment in the short-term for long-term gain." said Johnson. "Some of the estimates of how the debt will go up in the short-term does not take into account all of this extraordinary growth that we're already seen happen."

Johnson said he believes the economic growth will dramatically outpace the increase in the debt.