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Hi, I’m George Gerbo and welcome to Washington Times Weekly, where we get a chance to sit down with our reporters and dig into their latest coverage of the news and events around the nation and the world.
Joining me today is Washington Times national politics reporter Susan Ferrechio.
[GERBO] We’ll start off with the big budget bill, the big beautiful bill, as President Trump calls it, on Capitol Hill that’s making its way through a myriad of committees. And your recent reporting honed in on some areas that are pretty relatable to Americans. This campaign promise that President Trump talked about during his 2024 campaign about eliminating taxes on tips. And over time, what’s that going to look like in terms of how it makes its way, if it makes its way, into this package? And what will it mean for Americans?
[FERRECHIO] These were priorities of President Trump. So we’re probably going to see a huge effort to make sure that those cuts make it through to the end. And so as you say, it’s cuts on taxes, on overtime pay, cutting taxes on tips, cutting taxes on auto loan interest payments, if your car is made in America. I remember the president has pushed for cars and other manufacturing to take place America. And also reducing federal taxes on social security payments.
And the way they would accomplish this is through your ability to claim deductions.
I think it’s hard for this particular type of bill to pass a law that would eliminate the federal government from taxing you on those things, but then it would allow you to claim them as a deduction. The idea is that if you’re making $75,000 or less and you’re taking Social Security as a senior citizen, that you would be able to claim up to $4,000 in deductions on your taxes, which would be a big savings for a lot of people who are on Social Security. So you wouldn’t see it in every check every month, but you would get it at the end.
Democrats are trying to ding their Republicans on this by saying, “Well, you’re not really cutting the taxes,” but in the end you actually are, because when you file your taxes, which we all do every year, you’d be able to claim that as a sizable deduction.
So that’s one way that Democrats and Republicans are trying to keep the promises that the president made on the campaign trail.
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