An average family of 4 will pay the equivalent of 9 weeks worth of groceries in higher taxes if the Trump tax cuts expire.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – If the 2017 Trump tax cuts expire, working families could soon find themselves paying higher taxes. Both the Guaranteed Deduction and the Child Tax Credit are scheduled to be slashed in half, and tax rates would climb for every taxpayer. The Working Families Tax Team, led by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), has heard loud and clear that American families need relief after four years of sticker shock under the Biden-Harris Administration. 

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) released the following statement: 

“Washington has a mandate from the American people to renew the Trump tax cuts. Without action, the average family of four will have to pay the equivalent of nine weeks of groceries in higher taxes. After four years of a Biden-Harris Administration that made groceries and everything else more expensive, American families are demanding relief. Ways and Means Tax Teams have spent this year traveling to 20 states and holding over 120 listening sessions, hearing directly from working families how they would be affected if the Trump tax relief from 2017 is allowed to lapse. They have shared time and time again that us such a tax hike would make it harder to feed their kids, pay the mortgage, and fill up the gas tank.”

Ways and Means Tax Teams have traveled to communities across the country soliciting feedback and ideas from the American people ahead of a looming 2025 expiration of the 2017 Trump tax cuts. At every stop, workers, families, and small businesses have warned about the dire consequences they would face if Congress fails to renew the successful tax relief.

The 2017 Trump tax cuts boosted paychecks and raised take-home pay for working families. Real wages rose by 4.9 percent and real median household income rose by $5,000. Following the passage of the Trump tax cuts, the bottom 10 percent of workers saw 50 percent faster wage growth than folks in the highest 10 percent. Ways and Means Tax Teams are fighting to return to that record of prosperity for families. 

Looming Tax Hikes for American Families and Workers:

• If Congress fails to renew the Trump tax cuts, 207 million taxpayers in the United States will see an average tax hike of 22 percent.
• The average family of four making the national median income will see a tax hike of $1,695. 
• The Guaranteed Deduction will be cut in half, making tax filing season more complicated and costly for hardworking, busy Americans. 
• The Child Tax Credit will be slashed from $2,000 to $1,000, hurting parents crushed by a 20+ percent price hike during the Biden-Harris Administration. 
• Tax rates will increase for every American. 

VIDEO: Stopping a Tax Hike on Every American

Biden-Harris Working Family Failures

• Prices have increased 20.7 percent since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration.
• Real wages and benefits have fallen 3.1 percent since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration.
• The monthly mortgage payment for a median priced new home has increased $1,087 and is 96 percent higher than when President Biden and Vice President Harris took office in January 2021.

Stories from the American People
At the Committee’s field hearing at the Iowa State Fair, Iowa mother and policy expert Sarah Curry testified to the difference the Trump tax cuts made for her family:

• Lower tax bill: “Every dollar that my husband and I earn, that we get to keep, goes towards our children. [My son] Isaac, he’s in speech therapy, occupational therapy. We’re waiting for behavioral therapy. It’s all very expensive. Health insurance doesn’t cover everything. [My son] Benjamin needed speech therapy because the little booger didn’t want to talk when he turned two…expenses like that. The water heater goes out; the furnace went out right after Philip was born. Looking at when we file our taxes, it happened early spring, and in Iowa, it’s still very cold then. That was actually a reprieve. I didn’t have to pay a whole lot extra in taxes. We got a little bit back, and it helped with that. Taxes affect my grocery bill. They affect my gas tank. They really do impact my kitchen table.”
• Doubled guaranteed deduction: “First and foremost…reducing the standard deduction would negatively impact my family because it would raise my taxable income both at the federal and the state level. We experienced benefits from tax simplicity. I didn’t have to have receipts all over the floor, trying to itemize all this stuff, trying to save a buck. We were able to take the standard. Iowa and many states use the federal taxable income as the starting point for state tax that is owed. With the reduction in the federal standard deduction, my state taxes will also go up. I’m not going to be hit once with this tax increase; I’m going to get hit multiple times over.”

FACTSHEET: Tax Hikes Looming for Americans Across the Country if Washington Democrats Get Their Way
READ: Averting the Biden-Harris Tax Hike