Tax Day Reality Check: No Real Tax Cuts, Just $4.2 Trillion in New Debt and More Bureaucracy
I’ve written extensively on these pages about the disasters of Trump's Big Beautiful Bill. Given that last week as Tax Day there were a lot of things written in important sources, including the Wall Street Journal, talking about how wonderful it is that everybody is getting bigger refunds now. Surprising no one, the Administration is everywhere there saying how great it is that refunds are so much bigger than they normally are thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill. Over 53 million filers claimed the new breaks—no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, extra deductions for seniors, and car-loan interest relief. Refunds jumped 11 to 24 percent. The average hit about $3,500. Yet polls still show 70 percent of voters think taxes are too high. These cuts were delivered with great fanfare. At the same time nothing is being done to fix the real problem. I am taking this opportunity to reiterate how irrational and bad for the present and future of the United States the situation we now find ourselves in is.
These deductions sound nice on a tax form. But as I have explained elsewhere on Taxpolitix they are irrational. They pick winners and losers instead of treating everyone the same under the law. They are not pro-growth tax cuts that expand the economy through free markets. They pile on complications that hurt taxpayers now and for years to come. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) already runs on a skeleton staff. It cannot handle the extra paperwork these rules create. The big refund jump is mostly a one-time aberration. Congress never updated withholding tables after the law passed. Instead, lawmakers structured the benefits as one giant end-of-year refund. Taxpayers think they got something special. It is just a temporary illusion.
Most importantly the law adds $4.2 trillion to the national debt through 2034. That is absolutely unaffordable. The main driver of our debt—entitlements—keeps growing with zero restraint. The Cato Institute (Cato) has it right: you cannot cut taxes responsibly without cutting spending first. Reagan understood this principle. He paired rate cuts with efforts at spending discipline. This bill does the opposite. It is big-government overreach wrapped in a pretty bow. It distorts free markets, burdens future generations, and erodes individual liberty. Americans deserve honest fiscal policy—not this hypocritical kick-the-can-down-the-road nonsense.