As House Republicans aim to pass the reconciliation package before Memorial Day recess, perhaps even in the coming hours, a few points: First, in addition to its much-discussed tax provisions, the legislation also increases border security and immigration enforcement resources, while further unshackling domestic energy production. It addresses multiple important legislative priorities, and supporters shouldn't hesitate to raise these issues when discussing its projected impacts. Second, in spite of the exhausting and stale talking points coming out of the Democrats and the media -- who are currently under a deserved glare of scrutiny for brazenly lying about a former president's fitness for office -- the 'big beautiful bill' is not merely beneficial to "the rich" and "big corporations." Not even close. The 2017 tax cuts, which were also feverishly opposed by the exact same people now lying and misleading about extending those cuts, slashed taxes across every single income group. The overwhelming majority of taxpayers, including and especially middle class and working Americans, received relief. Businesses large and small also benefited. The same applies here:
“Average-income people would see double-digit percentage declines in their tax bills under House Republicans’ tax package, according to a new official analysis…” https://t.co/FmDECrdKme
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) May 14, 2025
This resulted in lower taxes across the board and an economic boom (higher employment, higher wages, economic growth, and even higher government revenue, as we'll emphasize below), which was only interrupted by the COVID pandemic, years later. Critically, if those tax cuts expire at the end of the year, as they're scheduled to do automatically under existing law, all of the beneficiaries of the lower rates will face a tax increase. In total, it would amount to a tax hike of approximately $4 trillion, a disaster for families still hurting from four years of inflation under Biden. Again, this matters for everyone, not just the wealthy. In addition, the new bill adds relief on the income tax side of tips and overtime. Whether you support that policy or not (you may recall that Kamala Harris belatedly tried to steal the idea from Trump during the last campaign), lowering taxes on tips and overtime work is a benefit aimed squarely at working people. How many rich people do you know who work for tips and count their overtime hours? A few additional relevant notes:
Remember this when you hear (endlessly) that GOP tax cuts will only benefit the rich: About 40% of U.S. households pay no federal income tax. It's not easy to design a tax cut for people who don't pay any. Trump has tried by proposing no tax on tips, overtime and Social Security.…
— Brit Hume (@brithume) May 19, 2025
Incredibly misleading.
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) May 21, 2025
The "low-income people" who "lose" are largely non-citizens illegally benefitting from Medicaid and people benefitting from programs they're not eligible for - hurting those programs for those who actually NEED them.
This is what I voted for. https://t.co/hUFklvDsel
I certainly share some honest brokers' concerns about unsustainable federal overspending, about which we've warned for years, under presidents of both parties. The math is the math:
I’m all for the tax cuts. But as usual, when it comes to the unsustainable debt, it’s the spending. And neither party is serious about constraining it. One party is reckless; the other is insane. https://t.co/t01chERR27
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) May 14, 2025
That said, I don't view letting Americans keep more of the money they earn as government "spending." And as mentioned above, the last time Republicans cut taxes -- over unified and at times hysterical opposition from the Democrats and media -- tax revenues increased to record levels because the economy thrived. All the (literally) apocalyptic doomsaying was proven wrong, with nearly every critique and prediction falling flat on its face. Don't be fooled by the exact same people saying the exact same things. They have earned distrust and lack of credibility on this subject. Indeed, there's a very recent case study to point to. It's also hard to take leftists seriously when they wring their hands about deficits and debt only in the context of tax cuts and defense spending. These are the two areas in which their selective deficit hawkishness cynically emerges. Meanwhile, they demand huge spending expansions in virtually every other context, and actively demagogue any discussion whatsoever about essential reforms to gargantuan long-term debt drivers like Social Security and Medicare (which are not touched in this bill, by the way). Republicans have become increasingly irresponsible and reality-denying on this front, which is a problem. Democrats are outright delusional, wanting to make those problems far, far deeper.
They also frame any modest efforts to scale back previous massive expansions as cruel, misery-spreading, death-causing "cuts." On Medicaid, for instance, many of the "cuts" (Medicaid spending still increases under the bill) involve throwing ineligible recipients like illegal immigrants off of taxpayer benefits to which they are not legally entitled. The 'cuts' also feature requiring able-bodied, working-age people who receive benefits to prove that they're working, or actively seeking work. This is a Clinton-era welfare reform policy idea. One of the Democrats' arguments against an idea one of their party's living presidents famously embraced isn't terribly persuasive, in my mind:
From Politico: “Democrats also made the case that the work requirements amounted to paperwork requirements.”
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) May 16, 2025
Well, yes. If you want all of us paying for your healthcare & you can be expected to prove that you’re eligible. Absurd to frame this as heartless or too onerous.
And once again, overall, Medicaid spending still increases under this bill -- just not as much as Democrats want it to. Republicans want to save money by removing people who are not eligible from the Medicaid rolls, while encouraging work (people can get benefits through their jobs, rather via taxpayers), and therefore stabilizing the program for the truly needy, indigent and disabled people for whom it was designed in the first place. In short: (1) Spending is the problem when it comes to our red ink crisis. Neither party is serious about it. Change course and get serious, or we're headed for a crash eventually. (2) The last thing our economy needs right now is a gigantic tax increase. (3) The vast majority of the people squealing about the reconciliation bill are partisans or bad faith actors who were disastrously wrong about all of this just a few years ago. Ignore them. (4) Pass the bill.
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