By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff
The U.S. House passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” on a 218-214 vote July 3, which President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4. While Trump proclaimed a “phenomenal victory,” Democrats were unanimous in opposing the sweeping budget legislation, which makes most of the 2017 tax cuts permanent while instituting deep cuts to health care and nutritional programs to pay for the reduction in revenue.
Still, the Congressional Budget Office analysis indicates the “big, beautiful bill” will result in an additional $3.4 trillion to the deficit in the next decade and take away health insurance for more than 11 million Americans.
The Act funnels increased funding to border security, defense and domestic energy production, though some controversial elements were ultimately left out of the final version, including the sale of public lands and barring states from regulating the use of AI.
All four of Idaho’s Republican Congress members voted for the bill in both its House and Senate versions.
In a news release, Rep. Mike Simpson described the bill as “the America-First policy agenda that Idahoans and Americans nationwide voted for in November.”
He stated that, “Republicans came together and passed historic tax relief for working-class Americans, including much-deserved relief for Idaho farmers and small businesses. We are also delivering historic investments in border security and restoring domestic energy dominance.”
Simpson was the first of Idaho’s delegation to oppose the public lands sell-off portion of the bill, and stated that he was “especially pleased that the out-of-touch provision to sell off public lands was withdrawn before returning to the House.”
“Land selloffs are not part of the Trump agenda, and I was proud to fight for that in the House,” he stated.
Rep. Russ Fulcher called the bill “the single largest tax cut in American history for the American People,” which will also “bolster border and military resources to keep our communities safe.”
“While I believe there are additional provisions that should have been included in the final bill, this legislation delivers significant wins for hardworking families, codifying key aspects of President Trump’s policy agenda into law,” he added. “It promotes economic growth by stopping a 22% tax hike through the extension of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and it eliminates taxes on tips and overtime — a measure I introduced and have fought hard for.”
Like Simpson, Fulcher also highlighted the removal of barriers to permitting energy production.
Sen. Mike Crapo stated in a news release that in addition to extending the 2017 tax cuts, border security investment, increased military spending and “restoring American energy dominance,” the bill reduces federal spending by more than $1.5 trillion and delivers more than $400 billion in deficit reduction.
Those figures don’t align with the CBO analysis, yet Crapo stated, “When taking the pro-growth economic effects of Trump’s agenda into account, which the Council of Economic Advisers estimates will increase federal revenues by more than $4 trillion, we are achieving nearly $4.5 trillion in deficit reduction.”
Further, despite what other analysts have reported regarding deep cuts to Medicaid, Crapo wrote that the bill “improves and strengthens programs like Medicaid by targeting waste, fraud and abuse, ensuring it remains financially viable for those it was designed to help.”
As Crapo’s office noted, he serves as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee — overseeing federal tax and health care policy — and was therefore “one of the chief architects of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Sen. Jim Risch also made a statement on the passage of the bill, celebrating the permanent tax cuts and increased spending on border and defense, while also “dismantl[ing] the Green New Deal, and address[ing] wasteful spending.”
“While no bill is perfect, the One, Big, Beautiful Bill delivers on these priorities and provides working Americans with the largest tax cut in history,” Risch stated.“Congress is not done tackling out-of-control spending. I remain committed to reining in the national debt and ending the waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.”
Observers ranging from Elon Musk to Sen. Bernie Sanders have described the bill as “pork-filled” and “probably the worst piece of legislation in modern history,” respectively, with dozens of examples of tax loopholes for the ultra-rich, giveaways to foreign businesses and sweetheart deals for certain states to avoid the harshest ramifications of health care and nutrition program cuts.
According to the Tax Foundation, “the good” in the bill is focused on making it easier for businesses — big and small — to expense investments in “short-lived assets and domestic research and development.”
“Permanent expensing has the most bang-for-the-buck when it comes to economic growth,” the nonprofit, non-partisan foundation stated in a July 7 rundown of the legislation.
Those provisions alone are estimated to increase gross domestic product growth by 0.7% while “providing taxpayers the certainty they need to boost long-run investment.”
In addition, the bill allows for expensing of “qualified structures,” which the Tax Foundation stated “would need to be made permanent for long-run economic growth.”
The foundation also lauded the extension of looser limits on interest deductions, while allowing a higher threshold for small businesses to expense some types of equipment.
Another “good” aspect of the legislation is permanently extending rates and brackets from the 2017 tax cuts, “providing certainty for households and stability to the structure of the tax code.”
Meanwhile, it permanently establishes a bigger standard deduction and extends limits on a basket of itemized deductions, including mortgage interest, and limits the value of itemized deductions for the top earners in the economy.
One revenue-generating aspect of the bill comes with the reduction of many tax credits and deductions — including green energy tax credits, which will be cut by half and raise about $500 billion over 10 years.
“The bad,” according to the Tax Foundation, is that the bill “spend[s] far too much money on political gimmicks and carveouts,” including tax exemptions for overtime pay and tips — which Fulcher championed — as well as deducting auto loan interest and a new standard deduction offered to seniors 65 and older, “all of which violate basic tax principles of treating taxpayers equally.”
Those provisions alone will cost in excess of $350 billion in the next four years.
The Tax Foundation also took aim at the “costly mistake” of the House allowing a 23% deduction for business income — up from 20%. That alone will cost between $700 billion and $800 billion over the next 10 years, according to estimates from the foundation and the Joint Committee on Taxation.
At the same time, the version approved by the House on July 3 will reduce revenue by between $3.1 trillion and $4 trillion, further swelling the deficit.
“Lawmakers could have reduced the cost of their legislation by trillions of dollars through further cleaning up the tax code,” the foundation stated.
Finally, “the ugly” in the “big, beautiful bill” starts with new rules and costs related to compliance “that in many cases likely outweigh potential tax benefits.”
The Tax Foundation is especially displeased with the removal of tax on tips, overtime and car loans, which it anticipates will “require hundreds of pages of IRS guidance to interpret.” The same goes for changes to IRA credits, which will come with new rules and restrictions “that may make many of the credits cost-prohibitive.”
The so-called “Trump Accounts,” which provide a $1,000 bonus for children born in the next four years and offer taxpayers the option of depositing up to $5,000 per year into an 18-year tax-free account, is more limited and restricted than saving incentives already in the tax code.
“The major effect is to introduce a new baby bonus entitlement that requires taxpayers to track yet another small dollar account for 18+ years,” the Tax Foundation wrote. “This is a missed opportunity to simplify saving and improve financial security for all Americans.”
Overall, the foundation applauded aspects of the bill like expensing investments for business, but reiterated its dislike for “political carveouts” and failing to reign in the deficit and making the tax code more complex overall.
