Editorial written by Las Vegas Review-Journal Editorial Board.
History predicts that Republicans will suffer losses in next year’s midterm elections, and Democrats have made clear they will try to use President Donald Trump’s big, beautiful bill against the GOP. The progressive talking points about Medicaid “cuts” and tax relief for “billionaires” have been widely distributed to the faithful.
But Republicans should relish the chance to undermine the inevitable Democratic attacks with the facts.
When it comes to taxes, many wealthy Americans received breaks in Trump’s landmark 2017 tax reform bill and its 2025 follow-up because the legislation applied across the board, and they are the wage earners who contribute the highest amount of income to the federal Treasury. But the U.S. income tax system remains highly progressive, with many low-income earners having no liability at all. In 2022, the top 20 percent of earners accounted for 87 percent of federal income tax collections.
In addition, a Wall Street Journal analysis of the bill reveals that “relative to their share of the existing tax burden,” the most relief “goes to middle-income households.” The legislation also includes highly popular provisions, including a tip income exemption for many workers, higher standard deductions for seniors and limits on taxing overtime. A Journal poll measuring reaction to the tax cuts found that these aspects of the law “all generate strong support, winning not just a supermajority of respondents, but also a majority of Democrats.”
The reality is that every congressional Democrat voted against a bill that included these well-regarded reforms. It would also behoove Republicans to emphasize that the failure to pass Trump’s omnibus legislation would have resulted in a $4 trillion tax hike on all Americans — the largest in U.S. history.
As for Medicaid, Democrats can scream “cuts” from here to the hills, but that won’t change the fact that spending on the entitlement for the poor will continue to increase over the life of the bill. Provisions of the law that require able-bodied recipients to work — favored 62 percent to 34 percent in the Journal survey — will strengthen Medicaid by freeing resources for those who truly need the assistance.
The bill also includes more money for immigration enforcement and defense, both generally welcomed among American voters.
“It’s wildly popular when people hear what’s in the bill,” Rep. Richard Hudson, the North Carolina Republican who runs the House GOP campaign arm, told the Journal. Indeed, Republicans have the ammunition to confront Democratic fear-mongering and distortions head on. Their fortunes come next November likely depend on their willingness to do so.
