INTERNACIONAL
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
INTERNACIONAL
Illegal alien murder suspect avoided system as ICE pushes Dem governor to keep him locked up
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A Guatemalan national in the U.S. illegally — who authorities say entered as a «gotaway» and had never been encountered by federal immigration officials — has been charged in a fatal stabbing in Fairfax County, Virginia, Fox News has learned.
Fairfax County Police said Monday that Anibal Armando Chavarria Muy, 38, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, adding that he is being held without bond.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sources confirmed to Fox News that Chavarria Muy has no alien registration number, indicating he had not previously been encountered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and is believed to have entered the U.S. illegally at an unknown time and location.
ICE has lodged a detainer with Fairfax County authorities.
Officers responded to a reported stabbing just before 9 p.m. Sunday and, upon arrival, located a man inside a residence with multiple stab wounds to the upper body.
VIRGINIA PROSECUTOR’S RECORD ON VIOLENT OFFENDERS SCRUTINIZED AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED IN MOM’S MURDER
Anibal Armando Chavarria Muy faces second-degree murder charges in Fairfax County, Va. (Fairfax County Police)
Officers immediately performed life-saving measures until Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department personnel took over and transported the man to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
The suspect left the scene before officers arrived, police said, and detectives from the Fairfax County Police Department’s Major Crimes Bureau took over the investigation.
After an investigation, Chavarria Muy was identified as the suspect. Police said he and the victim were known to each other.
HOUSE PANEL SUMMONS SOROS-BACKED FAIRFAX PROSECUTOR OVER RELEASES TIED TO VIOLENT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CASES
ICE agents confirmed to Fox News that a migrant who entered the U.S. undetected is charged in a fatal Virginia stabbing. (Fairfax County Police Department)
Officers ultimately located Chavarria Muy in a vehicle and took him into custody without incident.
The DHS said ICE has requested that Fairfax County officials honor the detainer and not release Chavarria Muy from custody, citing past instances where local authorities have declined to comply with such requests.
Democrat Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger previously signed an executive order restricting cooperation between state and local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, reversing a policy under former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin that had allowed such coordination.
DEM SENATOR WARNS DEPORTATION COULD LET VIRGINIA WOMAN’S ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT KILLER ‘ESCAPE ACCOUNTABILITY’
ICE agents confirmed to Fox News that a migrant who entered the U.S. undetected is charged in a fatal Virginia stabbing. (Getty Images)
«Anibal Armando Chavarria Muy, a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala, was charged with second degree murder after repeatedly stabbing a man to death in Fairfax County. ICE is calling on Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger and Virginia’s sanctuary politicians to not release this murderer back into our communities,» DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said. «This incident comes just one month after an innocent woman was murdered by another criminal illegal alien at a bus stop in Spanberger’s state.
«Open-border policies yet again have caused another preventable tragedy.»
The incident comes roughly one month after Stephanie Minter was stabbed to death at a bus stop in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Authorities charged Abdul Jalloh, a 32-year-old Sierra Leone native, in Minter’s killing.
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Jalloh had been arrested more than 30 times prior to the attack, according to the DHS, with previous charges including rape, malicious wounding, assault, drug possession, identity theft and trespassing.
Authorities said prior charges had been dropped, allowing him to remain free.
Fox News Digital’s Leo Briceno contributed to this report.
virginia, migrant crime, police and law enforcement, homicide, illegal immigrants, abigail spanberger, homeland security
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Iranian officials pushing for negotiations with the United States risk being labeled traitors and «most likely eliminated,» according to a policy expert, as internal fractures emerge inside Iran’s new regime.
Hooshang Amirahmadi, president of the American Iranian Council, said moderates advocating engagement with Washington are increasingly vulnerable at a moment when the Trump administration says it is in contact with elements of a «new» leadership.
«If the moderates were to push toward negotiation and a ceasefire, they will be considered traitors and will most likely be eliminated,» Amirahmadi told Fox News Digital.
MEET IRAN’S HARDLINE SPEAKER WHO THREATENED TO BURN US FORCES — REPORTEDLY TEHRAN’S POINT MAN FOR TALKS
Amirahmadi’s warning came as Washington also appears to be navigating internal «fractures» amid the ongoing conflict.
President Donald Trump on Monday said the U.S. is engaged in serious talks with a «new» and «more reasonable» regime in Iran as the war enters its fifth week, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to say who exactly the U.S. is negotiating with but cited «fractures.»
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a meeting with China’s Foreign Minister (not pictured) in Munich Feb. 13, 2026, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. ( Alex Brandon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
«Well, I’m not going to disclose to you who those people are, because it probably would get them in trouble with some other groups of people inside of Iran. Look, there are some fractures going on there internally,» Rubio said on «Good Morning America.»
«Anyone in Iran who speaks of negotiation is suspected of paving the way for more war and destruction,» Amirahmadi said before stating that the moderate reformers are thought of as «infiltrators and deemed traitors.»
Amirahmadi also confirmed Rubio’s comments and highlighted an internal struggle within Tehran’s power structure, where remnants of what he called the «old regime,» or the Khamenei-era system, still exist.
«Many of them support negotiation or a ceasefire. But the emerging new regime is made up of more hard-line elements and views the others as traitors,» he said.
«For a long time, there has been a serious gap — what we call a cleavage — between the hardliners or radicals and the moderates or reformists.»
PAKISTAN’S AMBASSADOR WARNS IRAN TOO ‘WAR-TORN’ TO RESPOND QUICKLY AS TRUMP EXTENDS STRIKE DEADLINE
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf attends a news conference at a conference hall in the Iranian Parliament building in Tehran, Iran, Dec. 2, 2025. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Amirahmadi also described how «assassination in the Islamic Republic is not a new phenomenon. It has been there for a long time.»
Amirahmadi spoke ahead of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth saying Tuesday that Washington remains firm on reaching an agreement to end the monthlong conflict involving the U.S., Israel and the Islamic Republic.
Speaking at a news conference, Hegseth reiterated that Trump is willing to make a deal to end the war, adding the new regime is now in place.
«If Iran is smart, it will make a deal. The new Iranian regime should already know that. This new regime, having undergone a regime change, should be smarter than the previous one. President Trump does not bluff and will not back down. He will make a deal, he is willing and the terms of the deal are known to them,» Hegseth said.
«The field and the war are in the control of the radical colonels, and that is what matters at this point,» Amirahmadi added.
«The established bureaucracy is still run by the same old moderate regime, but then that is not a new regime. The new regime is certainly more radical.»
WHO ACTUALLY RUNS IRAN RIGHT NOW? THE KEY POWER PLAYERS AS TRUMP CLAIMS TALKS TO ‘TOP’ OFFICIAL
Iran’s power structure is increasingly dominated by IRGC figures like Ahmad Vahidi (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Since the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the succession of his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, the regime appears more reliant on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iran’s power structure is increasingly dominated by IRGC figures like Ahmad Vahidi and Qods Force chief Esmail Qaani, alongside judicial figures such as Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Ayatollah Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei.
While President Masoud Pezeshkian’s influence could have waned, figures like Saeed Jalili, Guardian Council insider Ayatollah Alireza Arafi and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi continue shaping Iran’s security posture.
«There are basically the colonels; there are the Revolutionary Guards, people that are in the military. A few non-military hardliners are in universities, in government and places,» Amirahmadi added.
«They have changed the regime into a very radical regime,» Amirahmadi warned, «I don’t even think Khamenei’s son would favor negotiation, at least initially.
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«His position and condition are not entirely clear. His leadership appears symbolic — a reaction, even a gesture against figures like Trump.
«Trump and Netanyahu wanted regime change, and they have already achieved it, but the regime has just become more radical,» Amirahmadi concluded.
war with iran, iran, donald trump, marco rubio, treason, state department
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