If you’ve ever wondered if we have the best government money can buy, as Mark Twain may have said, you can quit wondering. The Republican “one big beautiful bill,” in addition to adding at least $2.4 trillion to the national debt over ten years, will distribute its largesse thus:
People making over $1 million per year will have a net 4.3% tax cut, averaging over $89,000
Top 1% income earners: 4.3% cut, $64,000
90-99% income earners: 4.2% cut, $10,960
80-89% income earners, 2.9% cut, $4,500 (mean income for top quintile, 80-100%: $277,300)
60-79% income earners: 2.7% cut, $2,750 (mean income for fourth quintile: $119,900)
40-59% income earners: 1.9% cut, $1,290 (mean income for third quintile: $74,730)
20-39% income earners: 1.5% cut, $640 (mean income for second quintile: $43,850)
Bottom 20% income earners: 0.6% cut, $90 (mean income for bottom quintile: $16,120)
(Percentage tax cut and dollar amount are from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; mean income per quintile is household income from Tax Policy Center for 2022)
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the top 1% of earners would receive about $121 billion in tax cuts, while the bottom 60% would receive about $90 billion. Read that sentence again. The top 5% of earners would receive 43% of the cuts. For working class Americans, Trump-proposed tariffs—effectively a tax on consumers—would have a net effect of actually raising taxes.
The bill barely passed the House 215-214, with two GOP representatives voting against, one voting “present,” and two not voting. One of the two GOP No votes, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, complained that the House rules allow 72 hours for a bill to be read by members, but that was not the case here. He asked, “Shouldn’t we take more than a few hours to read a bill this big and this consequential?”
The regressive aspects of the bill are bad enough; favoring the wealthy and cutting benefits to the less well-off are GOP hallmarks. But we should not overlook what it does to the national debt, already at $36 trillion. When Trump was running in 2016, he promised to totally eliminate the debt within two terms. Instead, he added to it in his first term, especially with his 2017 tax cuts (“my rich friends are going to hate me,” he said with a straight face), and he’s doing it again here. The debt itself may not affect our pocketbooks today or next month or next year, though then again the stock market and IRAs may not like it. But this bill is irresponsible, and there will be a day of reckoning. And it may be our children and grandchildren who will have to face that day—and pay for our spendthrift ways.
John Rachal's Blog
The Big Beautiful Bill for the Wealthy
June 10, 2025 at 2:08 pm (Political Commentary)
If you’ve ever wondered if we have the best government money can buy, as Mark Twain may have said, you can quit wondering. The Republican “one big beautiful bill,” in addition to adding at least $2.4 trillion to the national debt over ten years, will distribute its largesse thus:
People making over $1 million per year will have a net 4.3% tax cut, averaging over $89,000
Top 1% income earners: 4.3% cut, $64,000
90-99% income earners: 4.2% cut, $10,960
80-89% income earners, 2.9% cut, $4,500 (mean income for top quintile, 80-100%: $277,300)
60-79% income earners: 2.7% cut, $2,750 (mean income for fourth quintile: $119,900)
40-59% income earners: 1.9% cut, $1,290 (mean income for third quintile: $74,730)
20-39% income earners: 1.5% cut, $640 (mean income for second quintile: $43,850)
Bottom 20% income earners: 0.6% cut, $90 (mean income for bottom quintile: $16,120)
(Percentage tax cut and dollar amount are from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; mean income per quintile is household income from Tax Policy Center for 2022)
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the top 1% of earners would receive about $121 billion in tax cuts, while the bottom 60% would receive about $90 billion. Read that sentence again. The top 5% of earners would receive 43% of the cuts. For working class Americans, Trump-proposed tariffs—effectively a tax on consumers—would have a net effect of actually raising taxes.
The bill barely passed the House 215-214, with two GOP representatives voting against, one voting “present,” and two not voting. One of the two GOP No votes, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, complained that the House rules allow 72 hours for a bill to be read by members, but that was not the case here. He asked, “Shouldn’t we take more than a few hours to read a bill this big and this consequential?”
The regressive aspects of the bill are bad enough; favoring the wealthy and cutting benefits to the less well-off are GOP hallmarks. But we should not overlook what it does to the national debt, already at $36 trillion. When Trump was running in 2016, he promised to totally eliminate the debt within two terms. Instead, he added to it in his first term, especially with his 2017 tax cuts (“my rich friends are going to hate me,” he said with a straight face), and he’s doing it again here. The debt itself may not affect our pocketbooks today or next month or next year, though then again the stock market and IRAs may not like it. But this bill is irresponsible, and there will be a day of reckoning. And it may be our children and grandchildren who will have to face that day—and pay for our spendthrift ways.
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