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GOP push to make Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, say going back would be a ‘dramatic’ change for many
Tax season is done.
And this year, Congressional Republicans converted tax season to «sales» season. Republicans and President Donald Trump are pushing to approve a bill to reauthorize his 2017 tax cut package. Otherwise, those taxes expire later this year.
«We absolutely have to make the tax cuts permanent,» said Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., on FOX Business.
«We’ve got to get the renewal of the President’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That’s absolutely essential,» said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., on FOX Business.
Rates for nearly every American spike if Congress doesn’t act within the next few months.
CONFIDENCE IN DEMOCRATS HITS ALL TIME LOW IN NEW POLL
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks with the media after the House passed the budget resolution on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
«We are trying to avoid tax increases on the most vulnerable populations in our country,» said Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee which determines tax policy. «I am trying to avoid a recession.»
If Congress stumbles, the non-partisan Tax Foundation estimates that a married couple with two children – earning $165,000 a year – is slapped with an extra $2,400 in taxes. A single parent with no kids making $75,000 annually could see a $1,700 upcharge on their tax bill. A single parent with two children bringing home $52,000 a year gets slapped with an additional $1,400 in taxes a year.
«Pretty significant. That’s an extra mortgage payment or extra rent payment,» said Daniel Bunn of the non-partisan Tax Foundation. «People have been kind of used to living with the policies that are currently in law for almost eight years now. And the shift back to the policy that was prior to the 2017 tax cuts would be a dramatic tax increase for many.»
But technically, Republicans aren’t cutting taxes.
«As simple as I can make this bill. It is about keeping tax rates the same,» said Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, on Fox.
Congress had to write the 2017 tax reduction bill in a way so that the reductions would expire this year. That was for accounting purposes. Congress didn’t have to count the tax cuts against the deficit thanks to some tricky number-crunching mechanisms – so long as they expired within a multi-year window. But the consequence was that taxes could climb if lawmakers failed to renew the old reductions.
«It sunsets and so you just automatically go back to the tax levels prior to 2017,» said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
A recent Fox News poll found that 45% of those surveyed – and 44% of independents believe the rich don’t pay enough taxes.
Democrats hope to turn outrage about the perceived tax disparity against Trump.
«He wants his billionaire buddies to get an even bigger tax break. Is that disgraceful?» asked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at a rally in New York.
«Disgrace!» shouted someone in the crowd.
«Disgraceful! Disgraceful!» followed up Schumer.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., (R) speaks alongside Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., (L) to reporters during a news conference on the impacts of the Republican budget proposal at the U.S. Capitol on April 10, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Some Republicans are now exploring raising rates on the wealthy or corporations. There’s been chatter on Capitol Hill and in the administration about exploring an additional set of tax brackets.
«I don’t believe the president has made a determination on whether he supports it or not,» said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
«We’re going to see where the President is» on this, said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent while traveling in Argentina. «Everything is on the table.»
A Treasury spokesperson then clarified Bessent’s remarks.
«What’s off the table is a $4.4 trillion tax increase on the American people,» said the spokesperson. «Additionally, corporate tax cuts will set off a manufacturing boom and rapidly grow the U.S. economy again.»
Top Congressional GOP leaders dismissed the idea.
«I’m not a big fan of doing that,» said House Speaker Mike Johnson on Fox. «I mean we’re the Republican party and we’re for tax reduction for everyone.»
FEDERAL JUDGE TEMPORARILY RESTRICTS DOGE ACCESS TO PERSONALIZED SOCIAL SECURITY DATA
«I don’t support that initiative,» said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., on FOX Business, before adding «everything’s on the table.»
But if you’re President Donald Trump and the GOP, consider the politics of creating a new corporate tax rate or hiking taxes on the well-to-do.
Sunrise light hits the U.S. Capitol dome on Thursday, January 2, 2025, as the 119th Congress is set to begin Friday. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The president has expanded the GOP base. Republicans are no longer the party of the «wealthy.» Manual laborers, shop and storekeepers and small business persons now comprise Trump’s GOP. So maintaining these tax cuts helps with that working-class core. Raising taxes on the wealthy would help Republicans pay for the tax cuts and reduce the hit on the deficit. And it would shield Republicans from the Democrats’ argument that the tax cuts are for the rich.
Congress is now in the middle of a two-week recess for Passover and Easter. GOP lawmakers and staff are working behind the scenes to actually write the bill. No one knows exactly what will be in the bill. Trump promised no taxes on tips for food service workers. There is also talk of no taxes on overtime.
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Republicans from high-tax states like New York and Pennsylvania want to see a reduction of «SALT.» That’s where taxpayers can write off «state and local taxes.» This provision is crucial to secure the support of Republicans like Reps. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., and Mike Lawler, R-N.Y. But including the SALT reduction also increases the deficit.
So what will the bill look like?
«Minor adjustments within that are naturally on the table,» said Rounds. «The key though, [is] 218 in the House and 51 in the Senate.»
In other words, it’s about the math. Republicans need to develop the right legislative brew which commands just the right amount of votes in both chambers to pass. That could mean including certain provisions – or dumping others. It’s challenging. Especially with the slim House majority.
People attend a press conference and rally in support of fair taxation near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on April 10, 2025. (Bryan Dozier / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP)
«There were trade-offs and offsets within that bill that many people are dissatisfied with,» said Bunn of the 2017 bill. «And it’s not clear how the package is going to come together with those various trade-offs.»
Johnson wants the bill complete by Memorial Day. Republicans know this enterprise can’t drag on too late into the year. Taxpayers would see a tax increase – even if it’s temporary – if working out the bill stretches into the fall when the IRS begins to prepare for the next tax season.
It’s also thought that finishing this sooner rather than later would provide some stability to the volatile stock markets. Establishing tax policy for next year would calm anxieties about the nation’s economic outlook.
«The big, beautiful bill,» Trump calls it, adding he wants the legislation done «soon.»
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And that’s why tax season is now sales season. Both to the lawmakers. And to the public.
Politics,Taxes,Congress,Donald Trump
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Ro Khanna’s State of the Union guest recruited over 20 underage girls for Epstein: ‘Like Heidi Fleiss’
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Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., is bringing a guest to the State of the Union who, at 16-years-old, started helping introduce Jeffrey Epstein to underage girls in the early 2000s after having been exploited by the disgraced financier herself as a minor.
Haley Robson was pressured by Epstein to recruit six other underage girls to perform sexual acts after meeting him in 2003, according to 2006 police documents. After initially resisting his sexual advances, Epstein told her to find him other girls he could use. Robson told police she was paid $200 for each time she brought a contact to Epstein’s home and told police «I’m like Heidi Fleiss,» referring to the American madam known for operating a prostitution ring in Hollywood.
Robson described her relationship with Epstein as part of a Netflix documentary series on Epstein, acknowledging that it had taken her over two years to escape from under his influence.
«I would recruit girls who were friends. I would casually bring it up, and we would drive together to his house. I would take them to his room and then I’d walk out. Sometimes I would wait by the pool. When the girls would leave, Jeffrey would come out and pay me. I probably recruited 24 girls. Those girls brought other girls too. They were all underage,» Robson told interviewers.
Jeffrey Epstein, left, pictured alongside President Donald Trump at 2025’s State of the Union. (Rick Friedman/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images; Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Robson recalled being «destroyed» by guilt for years afterward.
When asked about why he had selected Robson as his guest on Tuesday, Khanna’s office referred Fox News Digital to an online statement.
«Haley Robson was 16 years old when she survived Epstein’s abuse. This campaign to malign her and the other survivors on the night of the State of the Union is shameful. Attack me all you want. Do not attack the survivors,» Khanna said. «I am honored to bring [her] as my guest to Trump’s State of the Union. Their courage moved a nation.»
Robson herself could not be reached for comment.
Top Democrats in Congress are attempting to needle President Donald Trump by bringing Epstein victims as guests to the State of the Union on Tuesday evening, putting pressure on an area of public dissatisfaction and continuing the ways lawmakers have advanced political storylines through the address in years past.
Findings from January indicate that fifty percent of the public are dissatisfied with the way the government has handled the Epstein case, according to polling by SSRS, a political polling group.
Another poll put out by IPSOS, a public opinion research firm, found that 75% of the public believes the government is still hiding secrets from the public about Epstein’s dealings.
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The Department of Justice released a trove of Epstein documents on Dec. 19 following President Trump’s signature on the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Although the Department of Justice has released millions of files on Epstein, Khanna, who helped push Congress to vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, is one of many Democrats who believe there’s more. He believes the DOJ still has unreleased information that could help lawmakers and investigators identify possible Epstein co-conspirators that made his crimes possible.
Epstein, a former financial advisor, died while incarcerated in 2019 on charges of sex trafficking minors, leaving behind questions about who may have participated in his crimes or known about them.
Other high-ranking Democrats who have also demanded accountability will follow Khanna’s strategy, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
«I’m proud to bring Dani Bensky, New Yorker and survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, as my guest to the State of the Union to demand the truth. Dani has turned unimaginable pain into unrelenting advocacy. Survivors deserve justice. Trump must end the cover-up and release the full Epstein files — NOW,» Schumer wrote in a post to X.
Similarly, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, will send an Epstein survivor to the State of the Union in his stead.
«Annie Farmer is a courageous survivor of Epstein’s abuse. I’ve invited Annie to the State of the Union so she can join other survivors and remind the President of his refusal to release all the Epstein files,» Garcia wrote.
Garcia himself will not attend the State of the Union. Instead, he will join a Democrat-led counter event at the Lincoln Memorial.
Using the State of the Union to advance a political storyline isn’t unique to Epstein.
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In 2018, at the height of the MeToo sexual abuse movement, several Democratic lawmakers brought victims of sexual exploitation to put pressure on Trump for past comments he made about his behavior around women and highlight ongoing allegations of misconduct on Capitol Hill.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump stands at the podium during his State of the Union address on January 30, 2018. (Win McNamee/REUTERS)
In the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, Democrats invited officers who had defended the building against protesters, while Republicans invited the innocent family members of those caught in the costly legal crossfire of the fallout.
Although those appearances generated headlines and underscored key political themes, Khanna hopes to continue the public pressure on Epstein will do something more.
He wants prosecutions.
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«Former Prince Andrew PrinceAndrew is being investigated and prosecuted in Britain. In Norway, they are prosecuting a former prime minister. In France, they’re investigating government officials and business leaders,» Khanna said.
«It’s time for the Department of Justice to begin investigations and prosecutions,» he added.
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Mexico says Jalisco security situation ‘stabilized,’ flights resuming after Americans stranded
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The Mexican government said the security situation in the western state of Jalisco has «stabilized» after an explosion of cartel-linked violence following the death of kingpin Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as «El Mencho.»
The Embassy of Mexico in the United States said federal and state authorities were working to normalize conditions after the unrest, reopening transit corridors and restoring public services following targeted operations.
The update comes as the State Department’s travel advisory for Mexico remains in effect at a heightened level of caution, while flight cancellations and transportation disruptions stranded some travelers in popular destinations such as Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara. Hundreds of Americans remain stranded in Mexico following the violence.
«The security situation has now stabilized following targeted operations in Jalisco,» the embassy said in a post on X. «Federal and state authorities are proceeding to reopen transit corridors and restore public services smoothly.»
Tourists walk past a burned shop in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco state, Mexico, Tuesday, after cartel-linked violence erupted following the death of Jalisco New Generation cartel leader Nemesio «El Mencho» Oseguera Cervantes. (Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images)
The embassy said airline operations were returning to normal and that international carriers were resuming flights. Puerto Vallarta International Airport has reopened to domestic traffic, according to the statement.
«If traveling through Jalisco, some local security measures remain in place, while authorities are restoring airport operations to full capacity,» the embassy added.
Officials said they were coordinating with international partners «to ensure safety and stability at all transit hubs and tourist destinations.»
DEATH TOLL RISES AFTER MEXICAN DRUG CARTEL LEADER KILLED IN US-BACKED OPERATION
A bus burns on a main avenue in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico, Sunday, after it was set on fire by organized crime groups in response to a federal operation targeting a high-priority security suspect. (Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images)
The statement described the operation as part of «a broader national effort that has produced a sustained decrease in violence across Mexico in recent months.»
According to the State Department’s official website, Mexico is currently under a Level 2 «Exercise Increased Caution» travel advisory due to risks including crime and kidnapping. The advisory notes that violent crime and organized criminal activity remain concerns for U.S. citizens traveling in the country.
Watch: Leavitt warns Mexican drug cartels, tells them not to lay a finger on Americans
Certain Mexican states carry higher risk levels, with some areas classified as Level 3 «Reconsider Travel» or Level 4 «Do Not Travel,» depending on local conditions. Jalisco — where the recent violence occurred — has previously been listed among states with elevated advisory levels, though the State Department notes that risk can vary by region.
The advisory urges U.S. citizens to take precautions similar to those required of U.S. government employees, including avoiding intercity travel at night, using regulated transportation services and remaining aware that emergency services may be limited in some areas.
The State Department said it had received hundreds of calls on its 24/7 crisis hotline as Americans sought assistance following the violence.
A man stands guard near a burning bus on one of the main avenues after it was set on fire, Sunday, by a cartel group in Zapopan, state of Jalisco, Mexico. (Ulises Ruiz / AFP via Getty Images)
Mexican authorities said Oseguera Cervantes was killed Sunday during an operation aided by U.S. intelligence.
The cartel responded by setting vehicles on fire and erecting roadblocks throughout Guadalajara, the state capital. The city’s international airport operated at limited capacity as violence gripped the area.
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The U.S. State Department had previously offered up to $15 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction, describing him as «one of the most wanted fugitives in Mexico.»
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El régimen de Irán dijo que un acuerdo nuclear con Estados Unidos “está al alcance” si se prioriza la diplomacia
El régimen de Irán dijo este martes que un acuerdo nuclear con Estados Unidos está “al alcance” y pidió que la diplomacia tenga prioridad en las negociaciones que comenzarán esta semana en Ginebra.
El ministro de Asuntos Exteriores iraní, Abbas Araghchi, aseguró que un pacto “justo y equitativo” podría concretarse si ambas partes anteponen el diálogo.
“Tenemos una oportunidad histórica de alcanzar un pacto sin precedentes que atienda preocupaciones mutuas y logre beneficios compartidos. El acuerdo está al alcance, pero solo si se da espacio a la diplomacia”, afirmó Abbas en un comunicado difundido a través de sus redes sociales.
Abbas subrayó que Teherán mantiene una política invariable sobre el uso de la energía nuclear.
“Jamás desarrollaremos armas nucleares bajo ninguna circunstancia; pero tampoco los iraníes renunciarán a su derecho de aprovechar la tecnología nuclear pacífica para el bienestar de nuestro pueblo”, indicó el ministro, quien enfatizó que Irán defenderá en la mesa de negociaciones los mismos principios que han guiado su política nacional.
Las declaraciones del jefe de la diplomacia iraní llegan en la víspera de una nueva ronda de conversaciones en Ginebra, donde delegaciones de Washington y Teherán intentarán destrabar el estancamiento que frustró el acuerdo el año pasado.
El viceministro de Asuntos Exteriores, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, reiteró la disposición de Irán a “tomar todas las medidas necesarias” para alcanzar un pacto en el menor plazo posible.
“Haremos todo lo necesario para que esto suceda. Entraremos en la sala de negociaciones en Ginebra con total honestidad y buena fe”, aseguró Takht-Ravanchi.
En esta nueva etapa, el régimen iraní evalúa enviar al extranjero la mitad de su uranio altamente enriquecido, diluir el resto y participar en la creación de un consorcio regional para el enriquecimiento, a cambio de que Estados Unidos reconozca su derecho al uso pacífico de la energía nuclear y elimine las sanciones económicas que afectan al país.
“Un ataque o una agresión contra Irán recibirá la respuesta prevista en nuestros planes de defensa. Un ataque estadounidense sería una verdadera apuesta”, advirtió Takht-Ravanchi, aunque insistió en que la prioridad es resolver las diferencias por medios pacíficos.
Desde Washington, la secretaria de prensa de la Casa Blanca, Karoline Leavitt, recalcó que la primera opción del presidente Donald Trump es la diplomacia, pero advirtió que “está dispuesto a utilizar la fuerza letal si es necesario”.
Trump ha reiterado en los últimos días que solo aceptará un acuerdo que limite el programa nuclear iraní y que no dudará en actuar militarmente si considera que Teherán busca una bomba atómica.
“El presidente evaluará todas las alternativas para proteger los intereses de Estados Unidos y de sus aliados en la región”, agregó Leavitt en una rueda de prensa.
Funcionarios estadounidenses informaron que la próxima sesión de negociaciones se celebrará este jueves en Ginebra, con la presencia de enviados especiales de ambas partes y bajo la supervisión de observadores internacionales. Entre las principales exigencias de Washington figura la renuncia de Irán al enriquecimiento de uranio en territorio nacional, un punto considerado inaceptable por Teherán, que reclama el derecho soberano a desarrollar tecnología nuclear para fines civiles.
El contexto de las conversaciones está marcado por el despliegue de una fuerza naval estadounidense cerca de las costas iraníes y la advertencia de Trump de que dará a Irán entre 10 y 15 días para lograr un acuerdo.
Entretanto, el secretario de Estado, Marco Rubio, tiene previsto informar a los principales líderes del Congreso sobre el avance de las negociaciones y la estrategia de Washington en caso de que el diálogo fracase.
La comunidad internacional sigue de cerca las negociaciones, conscientes de que el resultado de esta nueva ronda será determinante para el futuro de la relación bilateral y la estabilidad en Medio Oriente. Tanto Washington como Teherán reconocen la oportunidad única de resolver el conflicto por la vía diplomática, en un contexto de alta tensión regional y con la presión de actores externos como la Unión Europea y la Agencia Internacional de Energía Atómica, que han instado a ambas partes a avanzar hacia un acuerdo sostenible.
(Con información de AFP y Reuters)
Seyed Abbas Araghchi,Irán,diplomacia,energía nuclear,acuerdo nuclear,negociaciones,paz,soberanía
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