“The Big Bad Bill”
June 8, 2025
President Trump is predictable. He believes, if we give everyone gets a gigantic tax cut, we eliminate services for low and middle class Americans that will achieve a massive decrease in our national debt.
The DOGE attack on spending which was based on random cuts, will not even produce a trillion in reduced costs. That’s because some of these cuts were exaggerated and some of the cuts have been eliminated based on judicial action or Trump’s realization that some of the DOGE cuts are dangerous. Food Stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will face a cut of 267 Billion not to mention the Medicaid cuts that increase health costs for lower and middle class Americans.
Trump is also proposing deep cuts to the IRS and VA benefits, along with reducing the number of workers that help our veterans. Congress is talking about cutting these programs while giving a gigantic tax cut to the wealthy. Everyone would get a tax benefit if the bill passes in its current form. The Tax Policy Center estimates that middle income earners would get a tax break of 1,840 while people who earn less than 35,000 would get a 160 tax benefit.
The main impact is that middle income and poor citizens will lose money relative to their more affluent neighbors.
The Tax Policy Center estimates a current deficit at 37 trillion dollars. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the current legislation will add 3.1 trillion to the deficit. Now everyone wants a tax cut but the truth is that we need to focus on getting our deficit down. Billionaires can pay more because they are super rich. If Trump was serious about the deficit, he would add employees to the IRS with the mandate to increase tax revenues. The wealthy use all kinds of deductions to avoid paying taxes which is why we need better enforcement of IRS regulations. More manpower gives the IRS additional tools to improve collections. Tax cuts, according to CNN, account for 57% of the current deficit.
Trump’s tax cut plan will increase the deficit but will the cut spur economic growth? Trickle down economic theory has been pretty much been disproven. So, if you are already wealthy, this proposal will make your more rich. If you are not rich now, the Medicaid cuts and other cuts contemplated by the bill will overwhelm the tax cut money that you might receive.
Trump’s wealthy friends will get richer. The deficit will grow, furthering weakening the dollar, which is bad for all Americans. Folks in poverty or in the middle class will get little or no net benefit as higher costs will soak up whatever money they get from the tax cut.
The bill is not beautiful. It is bad.
–Joe Willis
