President Trump this weekend signed into law a massive tax and spending megabill that will reduce revenue by around $570 billion in 2026 and mainly help the richest Americans and foreign investors.
As a new report from ITEP details, Congress and the president could have spent less than half that much money on a tax bill that does more for working-class and middle-class households. That alternative would have extended the expiring 2017 Trump tax law provisions for those making less than $400,000, extended an expansion of the health insurance premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, and reinstated an expansion of the Child Tax Credit that was in effect in 2021.
As the report notes, even simply extending the expiring 2017 Trump tax law provisions for everyone would have been significantly less expensive than the megabill.
FIGURE 2
Revenue Impact (in Billions) in 2026 of Approaches to Tax Provisions Compared to Current Law
| Extend Tax Provisions Expiring End of 2025 | Senate-Passed GOP Megabill | Potential Alternative Approach | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extend and/or Modify Trump Tax Law Provisions | -$334 billion | -$402 billion | -$129 billion |
| Extend the Expansion of ACA Credits | -$21 billion | $0 | -$21 billion |
| Provisions Proposed as New Middle-Class Tax Cuts (Trump’s Campaign Proposals, Democrats’ Child Tax Credit Expansion) | $0 | -$58 billion | -$113 billion |
| Business Tax Breaks (not counting 2017’s deduction for pass-through businesses) | $0 | -$165 billion | $0 |
| Other Tax Provisions | $0 | +$56 billion | $0 |
| TOTAL | -$355 billion | -$568 billion | -$264 billion |
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ITEP.org
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