I am a single, senior woman living in Kansas and I have just filed my taxes through TurboTax. Everything I read about the new tax code led me to believe I would be paying less taxes, but not so. At the federal level I will receive a refund but it is about 18% less than last year, according to TurboTax. At the state level I have to pay $700 additional taxes. This is because I took the standard deduction on my federal return, which is a higher level of deduction for me than itemizing. I didn't know this when I filed, but Kansas is one of many states that does not allow you to itemize on your state return if you did not itemize on your federal return. So I could only take the Kansas standard deduction. Itemizing on the state return would have been much better. I live in a high-tax Kansas City suburb and for me an additional $700 is significant. I am not happy.
