Newsletter: Today: 5 Tax Tips to Consider Before Trump Signs the Bill

Republicans in the House and the Senate passed their tax plan, and while there are a few details to still work out, it’s time to think about your taxes now.

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5 Tax Tips to Consider Before Trump Signs the Bill

The Senate stayed up late last night and the House will have to do an unusual additional vote today to dot its I’s and cross its T’s, but Republicans have all but delivered a tax bill to President Trump’s desk. Polls show the $1.5-trillion package remains broadly unpopular (just ask those protesters chanting “Kill the bill!” during both of Tuesday’s votes), and unless voters warm up to it next year, it could have some unsavory consequences for the GOP. Two California House Republicans even voted against it. But for now, the main question on most minds is: What can I do now to prepare? Here are five things you can to talk to your advisor about doing before New Year’s Day.

More Politics

-- A Senate committee rejected Trump’s nominee to lead the Export-Import Bank, which aims to help American companies sell their goods abroad. “I believe he’s a principled man who simply believes in the abolishment of the bank,” said one GOP senator who voted against him.

-- A Democrat seems to have won a recount for a seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates by one vote: 11,608 to 11,607. It may spell the end of Republican control in the statehouse.

A Bitter Harvest From the Thomas Fire

Firefighters in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties today are bracing for the return of fierce winds whipping the Thomas fire, which has grown to become the second-largest wildfire in modern California history. The blaze has not only destroyed homes and disrupted residents’ lives; it’s also hit Ventura’s farming community, which produces a large number of the state’s avocados and a variety of other fruits and vegetables. The fire has burned plants as well as created smoke that causes premature ripening, while the wind has ruined fruit on trees.

The ‘Lost Boys’ of Santa Barbara

Gary Goddard was an exalted figure to the young male actors he mentored at a theater program in Santa Barbara that put on productions of “Oliver!” and “Peter Pan.” But four decades later, several of them say they’ve been haunted by their encounters with Goddard, who went on to become a Hollywood producer-director and theme park designer. Eight former Santa Barbara theater students have told The Times in interviews that Goddard molested or attempted to molest them as children. Goddard’s publicist has disputed the allegations.

China’s Blue-Sky Thinking

China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, has created the world’s biggest carbon-trading program — another sign it’s pushing the fight against climate change where the United States under Trump has pulled back. The program is similar to California’s, in that it employs a market-based incentive to cut carbon emissions, but it could be hampered by the lack of transparency that clouds many transactions in the Middle Kingdom.

Did His Heart Grow Three Sizes?

“Christmas in Evergreen,” “Christmas at Holly Lodge,” “The Christmas Train,” “Switched for Christmas” … you may not have seen these films, but you can probably guess that they’re part of the Hallmark Channel’s annual onslaught of Christmas movies. Times deputy television editor Greg Braxton watched them all in a marathon viewing to see whether they would change what some colleagues have called his Grinch-like disposition.

MUST-WATCH VIDEO

-- Scenes from Kobe Bryant’s jersey numbers being retired by the Lakers.

-- Another Times Cookie Bake-Off finalist: Linzer cookies with persimmon filling.

CALIFORNIA

-- Remember the L.A. Times story about a secret list of problem L.A. County sheriff’s deputies? Sheriff Jim McDonnell says he learned about misconduct by some of his own officers from it.

-- The L.A. City Ethics Commission fined a real estate developer and a billboard executive thousands of dollars for flouting city rules that restrict how much donors can give to politicians.

-- A San Bernardino woman is suing after she was held for a day in immigration custody, even though she told officials she had become a citizen nearly 20 years ago.

-- Downtown L.A.’s Music Center plaza is getting a revamp, with new restaurants and escalators; the L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved $30 million for the project.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams redefined hip-hop’s sound; now they have put out a N.E.R.D album that responds to Trump.

-- Film critic Justin Chang says “The Greatest Showman” turns Hugh Jackman’s P.T. Barnum into a hero and cons the audience in the process.

-- What to make of the movie “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”? You might think of it as John Hughes meets Indiana Jones.

-- A new thriller called “In the Fade” looks at neo-Nazis and a disturbing world of terror and hate.

CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

Dun dun. Dick Wolf was an advertising copywriter before he created “Law & Order,” an hourlong TV series designed to be split in half for reruns. Why? To double the revenue when it went into syndication. Wolf was born on this date in 1946.

NATION-WORLD

-- Rail safety experts are questioning why a speeding Amtrak train that derailed in Washington state did not have the latest automated control system. This graphic explains how positive train control works.

-- Cardinal Bernard Law, the former archbishop of Boston who stepped down amid the pedophile priest scandal that was later depicted in the film “Spotlight,” has died at age 86.

-- Business tycoon Cyril Ramaphosa will probably be South Africa’s next president; some observers call it a turning point.

-- The death of a K-pop star this week has brought new attention to South Korea’s suicide rate, which is the highest in the industrialized world.

-- Another gene therapy breakthrough: The Food and Drug Administration has approved a DNA-altering medication that can reverse an inherited form of progressive blindness.

BUSINESS

--The Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City wants to add a second, $100-million tower overlooking Universal Studios Hollywood film studio and theme park. Thank (or blame) all those Harry Potter fans.

-- Big freight haulers have placed orders to check out Tesla’s new semi-truck, a sign they are taking the electric truck seriously, even if it won’t be available until at least 2019.

SPORTS

-- Columnist Dylan Hernandez says you shouldn’t expect the Dodgers to field another $300-million team like they did two seasons ago. The real question: how they’ll exercise restraint.

-- Adoree’ Jackson always dreamed of playing for the Rams. But this Sunday, as a member of the Tennessee Titans, he’ll play against them.

OPINION

-- California needs to vastly increase its supply of homes, but it is becoming ever more risky to build them lots of places. So, where can people live?

-- If your bliss is ignorance, this is a great time to be alive in the U.S.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- Author and theologian Timothy Keller asks: “Can evangelicalism survive Donald Trump and Roy Moore?” (The New Yorker)

-- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shares his thoughts on 2017 and how to make 2018 great again. (The Hollywood Reporter)

-- You probably haven’t heard of Edward Garnett, but he identified and nurtured the talents of writers such as Joseph Conrad, Henry Green and D.H. Lawrence. Here’s how he pulled Conrad’s work from the slush pile. (Literary Hub)

ONLY IN L.A.

At the Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas, officials have gone out on a wing and a prayer to help a wild goose with an arrow stuck between its shoulder and neck. Carefully selected volunteers, county staff members, the Humane Society and specialists from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife have tried to safely capture the bird, all to no avail. At least they can now say they’ve been on an actual wild goose chase.

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