Change Is In the Air

It’s hard to believe it’s December 2. It seems like the year just started, and alas, 2016 is coming to an end. Just two more columns for me before we break for the holidays.

But it seems that since the election, things have calmed down. The stock market is rallying, interest rates are ticking up (good if you rely on interest for income, bad if you borrow), and the transition of power from the Obama administration to the Trump administration is well underway.

It seems our President-elect is well on his way to saving American jobs (or at least taking credit for it). Ford last week; Carrier this week. And it seems this is just the beginning.

It looks like we’re in for tax cuts in 2017 — individual rates going from 39 to 33%, corporate rates going from 35 to 15%, reduced tax rates for corporate repatriation of foreign income, and elimination of the estate tax. All things that will bode well for Marcum clients and the Firm itself.

Infrastructure spending is also in the offing. Billions upon billions will be spent to upgrade our roads, bridges, airports and other public works, all creating jobs that don’t exist today. Let’s just hope all of the tax cuts, coupled with spending and an interest rate increase, doesn’t increase our deficit to unreasonable levels based on our GDP.

2017 looks to be a year of change for our country. We at Marcum are used to change. Some may argue that it’s part of the fabric of our Firm. We will be here to help our clients navigate the challenges and opportunities that these changes will bring.