They should hold events, talk to people, and be evangelists for the good news hitting everyone’s paychecks and tax refunds.
They should hold events, talk to people, and be evangelists for the good news hitting everyone’s paychecks and tax refunds.
T he One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) became law on Independence Day 2025. The tax title alone — which was the heart of the bill, but by no means all of it — has dozens of provisions. What congressional Republicans and the Trump administration are now in the process of doing is identifying the winners from this bill and making sure they know about the tax relief they got from OBBBA.
This effort is necessary because of the botched follow-up to OBBBA’s legislative ancestor, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). That bill, signed into law just before Christmas 2017, took effect the following January, in 2018. As a result, taxpayers did not start to see most of the benefits until they filed their tax returns in the spring of 2019, too late to help Republicans in the midterm elections.
OBBBA’s authors were careful enough this time to make most of the “winner” policies take effect in 2025, so taxpayers will see a large windfall in the tax return filing season next spring. Some of these refunds will be very large, depending on the circumstances of the taxpayer.
The first group of winners are America’s tens of millions of small businesses, family farms, and ranches. Main Street employers get rate certainty, as all personal and business tax rates and an expanded “zero bracket” standard deduction are now permanent law. They also can plan around a permanent 20 percent small business tax deduction. All business purchases and research expenses can be permanently deducted in full in the year made. The death tax is now permanently affixed with a $15 million “standard deduction,” indexed to inflation. Startup companies now qualify for bigger tax-free buyouts. Businesses can permanently deduct their state income taxes paid. Employee benefits got richer, and 1099 tax form filing requirements eased up (goodbye, Venmo Tax).
Those receiving tips are the most well-known winners in OBBBA. Up to $25,000 of tips in customarily tipped professions are now excluded from income tax. Congressmen should seek to do events with bartenders, waiters and waitresses, delivery and rideshare drivers, housekeepers, baristas, nail technicians, and hotel valets and bellhops. Local news has been eating these stories up, and Americans for Tax Reform is keeping a “quotes and local news” database.
Overtime workers are also winners. Up to $12,500 in overtime wages (just the “half” in “time and a half,” not the whole wage) are excluded from income tax, $25,000 if married filing jointly. Town hall attendees here might include home health-care nurses, retail workers, customer service call center operators, fast food and other restaurant employees, cashiers, janitors, movers, and construction workers.
Then there are more rifle-shot winners to highlight. Seniors are getting a $6,000 tax deduction each just for being seniors. Those who buy a new car made in America get to deduct $10,000 in auto loan interest. People on “bronze” tier Obamacare plans or in direct primary care arrangements now get access to health savings accounts. Families with disabled children get bigger ABLE accounts. Families with kids in K–12 private or religious schools or in college get expanded 529 plans, as do skilled work trades trainees. Local religious and other private schools get access to a new scholarship tax credit. Families of younger children get a bigger child tax credit and a bigger child and dependent care credit.
Trump Accounts were created for the first time. Starting in 2026, families can open these accounts for any child under the age of 18. Children born in 2025 or later get a startup deposit of $1,000 from the Treasury Department. Parents, employers of parents, and non-profits can then make a contribution of up to $5,000 per year to a child’s Trump Account. Account dollars are invested in a low-cost stock index fund. The money grows tax-free until distributed, which can happen at any adult age for any reason. Tax is then owed on the account’s earnings.
It is well within the power of congressional Republicans to avoid the fate of the House GOP in 2018. The winners in OBBBA work up and down every Main Street in every congressional district. They should be working now to do what congressmen do best: Hold events, talk to people, and be evangelists for the good news hitting everyone’s paychecks and tax refunds. If they do, Republicans in 2026 will accomplish what they could not in 2018: get credit for a darned good tax law they got passed.