Inflation, gas prices make Trump tax cut savings go pffft
Yeah, that was "one big beautiful bill,” alright. What those people in the picture above are preening about as President Trump signs the bill is more like one big beautiful bunch of baloney.
Locally, Sens. John Thune and Mike Rounds repeatedly crow about how tax cuts created by Donald Trump's “big, beautiful bill,” were supposed to be a cash windfall for working families. Mike Rounds seems particularly infatuated with the notion, as a line about it seems to show up in every one of his televised ads as he seeks re-election.
You can’t blame Rounds – indeed, you can’t blame the entire Republican Party – for bragging on a tax cut that did, indeed, save working families some money.
Trouble is, their crowing stops short of reality: The money saved on taxes has evaporated into an atmosphere of inflated consumer prices.
After computing tax savings and the effects of inflation on middle-income Americans, the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, in a just released report, concludes that “middle-income Americans are losing an average of $1,670 in 2026 overall, accounting for changes in tax policy and increased inflation that has been boosted by tariffs, the Iran war, and the loss of immigrant workers.”
You don’t have to be an economic analyst to know how inflation has hit your family’s bottom line … or to figure out that the Trump administration and its string of ill-conceived policies have been the driving force for higher prices across the board.
As to the political value of Republican braggadocio about Trump’s tax cuts, is it doing any good as the election draws near?
As a stand-alone issue, maybe. Overall, though, I doubt it. Polls show the GOP is behind, practically across the board. More specifically, last week’s AP poll shows 84% of respondents say that the cost of living is one of their top concerns.
Cory Heidelberger notes in Dakota Free Press that even in deep red South Dakota a majority of poll respondents say that Trump has hurt the economy.
My hunch is that most people, after they hear Republicans crowing about the money saved by the tax cut, quickly remind themselves and each other that, yeah, it meant more money all right, but what about the cost of food and gas eating it all up?
Followed by a competing, practically reflexive rejoinder like that, the GOP’s boasting about the “big beautiful bill” is a net political liability. In the political card game, inflation trumps the tax cut.
John Tsitrian is a businessman and writer from the Black Hills. He was a weekly columnist for the Rapid City Journal for 20 years. His articles and commentary have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and The Omaha World-Herald. Tsitrian served in the Marines for three years (1966-69), including a 13-month tour of duty as a radioman in Vietnam. Republish with permission.
Photo: Trump signs “one big beautiful bill,” public domain, wikimedia commons
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