Republicans are crowing about the tax cuts. Let’s discuss who really benefited.
Rant of the Day
“Working-class Americans have experienced a paycheck bump”? ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW? Here are the facts:
Let’s start with the middle class since that’s the one they brag about most. Even the White House’s own numbers show middle-class families got roughly $600-$800 for the ENTIRE YEAR, about $50-$65 a month.
That disappeared within a couple weeks. Gas is up 17% from Trump’s Iran war. Groceries keep climbing. Inflation (3.8%) is now outpacing wage growth (3.6%) for the first time since 2023.
And healthcare? ACA premium tax credits are getting eliminated, and this bill cuts $863 billion from Medicaid, meaning millions pay MORE for coverage or lose it entirely. This costs American lives.
That “tax cut” didn’t survive 1 day with a grocery run, a gas fill-up, and one doctor’s visit.
Now the people who actually got hurt. Households making $20,000 or less LOSE an average of $40 this year, not gain. SNAP dropped 5% in one month alone as this bill slashed $295 billion from food assistance. 65% of SNAP households already lost a deduction worth about $10/month.
Combine lost healthcare, cut food assistance, and rising costs, and the bottom 10% of Americans lose $1,214 a year in total resources.
Meanwhile 60% of all the tax benefits in this bill go to the top 25% of earners who needed the least.
There’s no paycheck bump. That’s a lie, and it shows exactly who this bill was built for. And it’s not you. You’ve added trillions to our national debt with nothing to show for. STOP LYING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
Distribution of the Tax Cuts
- Putting aside the extension of existing cuts, almost half of households will see an income tax cut of less than $100 in 2026 under the new tax law.
- About 20% of households will see a tax cut of more than $1,000. These households are concentrated in the upper-middle income range.
Please consider Distribution of the Tax Cuts in Current Law
Most of the tax cuts in the OBBBA were simply an extension of the tax code that was in place for 2025. If households think about tax changes on a year-over-year basis, rather than a counterfactual basis, then they may not “feel” the impact of the new tax law unless they benefit from one of the new tax breaks, like the “no tax on…” tax breaks or the higher cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions. Therefore, looking at tax cuts against a current policy baseline—that is, how much taxes changed above and beyond TCJA extension—helps us understand how much tax relief taxpayers will receive over and above the post-2017 status quo.
That analysis and some excellent charts are from last year.
But thanks to Trump’s press secretary for bringing up the lies again.
Article posted with permission from Mish Shedlock
