In December 1773, Americans said they had enough.
For years, these patriots were overtaxed, ignored, and told by a distant elite to sit down and take it. They refused. By dumping tea in the Boston Harbor, they sent a message that still defines our country’s values today: In America, the government serves the people, not the other way around.
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That same spirit of liberty and defiance is alive today. After years of being squeezed by Biden-flation and an ever-growing bureaucracy, working-class Americans are finally winning the fight for their own pocketbooks.
When President Donald Trump signed the Working Families Tax Cuts into law on July 4, it was more than a legislative achievement. It was a recommitment to our founding values of liberty, putting power back into the hands of the people. It was a line in the sand: Keep your hands off Americans’ paychecks.
By making the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent and expanding benefits for working- and middle-class Americans, the Working Families Tax Cuts prevented the largest tax hike in U.S. history. Now, Americans are reaping the benefits, taking home tax refunds that are 11 percent higher on average than last year.
Middle-class families get a bigger standard deduction than ever before. In fact, the first $31,500 a family earns is tax-free in 2025, and that number will continue to increase each year as the standard deduction expands with inflation.
For parents, the Child Tax Credit was increased to $2,200. In designing the bill, we were thinking long-term for your kids, too. Families can now open a Trump Account for any child under 18 when filing their tax return. If your child is born between 2025 and 2028, the account will be seeded with a start-up $1,000 contribution. That single contribution has the potential to grow to $81,000 by the time your child turns 28.
Even better, the Trump Accounts create a new vehicle for individuals, such as an employer, grandparent, or even the Dell family, to contribute to your child’s future. It’s a true jumpstart to the American dream, empowering the next generation to buy a home or start a small business.
If you’re working extra hours to support your household, there are big wins in this bill for you as well. For the first time in American history, there will be no taxes on overtime or tips, boosting incomes for rideshare drivers, hair stylists, servers, and those who go the extra mile to serve.
The small businesses that employ about half of the United States’s workforce are empowered to expand, innovate, and hire like never before. We made the 20% small business tax reduction permanent and allowed for the immediate deduction of new equipment, research, and investments in their operations.
CONGRESS IS ABOUT TO UNDO DOGE’S BIGGEST WIN
And for those over 65 who spent decades working hard and are now living on fixed incomes, the Working Families Tax Cuts offer a $6,000 bonus deduction to stop the double taxation of your Social Security check.
This is what putting Americans first looks like. Less government. More freedom. After all, the Sons of Liberty didn’t toss tea into the harbor to be overtaxed by another government. With the Working Families Tax Cuts, we cut waste and threw excess taxes overboard. In doing so, Trump and congressional Republicans have kick-started America’s next 250 years by returning power (and money) to the people once again.
Tom Schatz is the president of Citizens Against Government Waste. Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) is chairwoman of the House Republican Conference.
