It is difficult to assess. Each year, I pay down more of my house so there is less principal interest so I have less of a deduction. I do not have a complex tax return. However, the booming economy was good to me so I made significantly more than last year. I donated more to charity. I paid more taxes but on higher income. My net gain was better for both the Federal government and me. My two brothers are both blue collar workers and with the booming economy made more money than the previous year. They had both a salary increase and more overtime pay. Two other friends lost their jobs due to a merger (blue collar job, both at same company). Both received more than three months severance pay. Due to the booming economy, the demand for unemployment was high. One found a job in two weeks with slightly less pay but came with better benefits, better hours and a substantially shorter commute. The second friend did not accept the first couple of offers and took a better paying job after five weeks. Both my son and daughter made more money (gross and net) in 2018. My brother’s wife was unemployed for almost two years. She lost her job when the company where she was employed moved their accounting operations to the Philippines. She found a job in 2018 that gives her more flexibility to visit her daughter who lives out of state. She no longer collects her extended unemployment benefits (good for government and her). Life is good….life is in fact better.It is important to note more than half of the people mentioned were union employees. Previously all were Democrats, except a few did not vote for Obama in his second term. All will vote for Trump in 2020.Life is good…..life is in fact better.