“The 2017 Trump tax cuts gave a boost to workers. The new 2025 Trump tax cuts will provide even more tax relief by delivering on President Trump’s promises to hardworking Americans.”

Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) delivered the following remarks during markup of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill.

As prepared for delivery.

“Today, this Committee will move forward on President Trump’s promise of delivering historic tax relief to working families, farmers, and small businesses. The One Big Beautiful Bill is the key to making America great again.

“This moment has been years in the making. While Democrats were defending IRS audits on the middle class and tax carveouts for the wealthy, Republicans on this Committee got on the road, to hear from real Americans about how the 2017 tax cuts benefited them. This bill wasn’t drafted by special interests or K Street lobbyists. It was drafted by the American people in communities across the country. 

“We heard from a mother in Iowa, Sarah Curry, who can afford the care required for her son living with disabilities because of lower taxes and the doubled Child Tax Credit the 2017 tax cuts delivered. We met another Iowan, a farmer named Jolene Riessen, who takes comfort knowing her sons won’t have to sell off the family farm’s acreage thanks to a doubled death tax exemption. An accountant for small businesses in Georgia, Alison Couch, shared how the small business tax deduction helps her clients create jobs. And a North Carolina manufacturer, Courtney Silver, was able to give every employee a raise, expand her workforce by 20 percent, and start an apprenticeship program training the next generation because of the tax relief delivered in 2017. 

“After the Trump tax cuts went into effect, real household incomes grew by $5,000, prices were stable, 5 million jobs were created, investment poured into every corner of America, and the economy grew faster than the so-called experts in Washington predicted.

“If the Trump tax cuts expire, every single American will face an average tax increase of 22 percent. Democrats who vote against this tax relief will be voting for the largest tax hike in American history. The loss of the small business deduction would destroy jobs and shutter doors on Main Street. Working-class communities would be devastated by the loss of more than one million manufacturing jobs. Family farms would be sold off. 

“This bill makes the 2017 tax cuts permanent, locking in lower tax rates for workers, small businesses, and farmers. These provisions offer the certainty and support small businesses and manufacturers need to invest in America and bring back the economic prosperity of President Trump’s first term. 

“The 2017 Trump tax cuts gave a boost to workers. The new 2025 Trump tax cuts will provide even more tax relief by delivering on President Trump’s promises to hardworking Americans. And it provides that relief immediately. A single mom waiting tables will no longer owe taxes to the federal government on her hard-earned tips. The linemen who worked countless hours restoring power in the aftermath of devastating natural disasters in places like North Carolina and my home state of Missouri will no longer pay taxes on overtime pay. Seniors, like my aunt who had to take a job as a door greeter at Walmart to supplement her Social Security income after the loss of her husband, will receive much needed tax relief. 

“Working families will be spared from a $1,700 tax hike. Parents will benefit from a 25 percent increase in the Child Tax Credit that will grow with inflation and get help with the high costs of childcare, adoption, and education. Americans will pay less for health care through expanded eligibility for health savings accounts, the elimination of bureaucratic waste and abuse, and the end of illegal immigrant access to Obamacare’s premium tax credits.

“Main Street will grow again. This legislation makes the small business deduction permanent and increases it to 23 percent, helping small businesses compete with large corporations. Mom-and-Pop businesses will power the economy to new heights, adding 1 million new jobs annually and over $750 billion in growth over the next decade. Opportunity Zones will ensure low-income and distressed communities, especially those in rural areas, share in this surge of new investments, new jobs, and new possibilities. 

“Two million family-owned farms and small businesses will benefit from a death tax exemption that is larger, permanent, and indexed to inflation – keeping the legacy of family farming alive in America. 

“This tax bill will jumpstart a revival of manufacturing in our country. We are delivering on the President’s pledge of lower taxes for companies who make the smart choice to build new factories in America. Working class families buying American-made cars will pay no taxes on their auto loan interest. And business will boom with a restored R&D credit, full expensing, and interest deductibility, creating jobs here at home and helping America compete abroad. The story of American manufacturing will transform from one of lost jobs, abandoned factories, and forgotten towns to good paying jobs for Americans in new, state-of-the-art facilities. 

“This bill also means the end of Washington’s special treatment of wealthy elites.  

“Exclusive universities with the largest endowments, many of whom have failed to protect their Jewish students, will pay an endowment tax as high as the corporate tax rate. Democrats’ bad tax policies that shower the wealthy, big banks, and China with billions of dollars of special interest tax breaks will be replaced by good tax policy helping the working class. Illegal immigrants will no longer be able to claim refundable tax credits. Foreign nations will no longer profit from the Biden-era surrender of our tax revenues. 

“Hard-working Americans like waitresses, mechanics, nurses, and farmers are the winners of this tax bill. Pro-growth tax policy will shift our economy toward one that serves them, not the wealthy and well-connected. A 3.2 percent boost in long-run GDP will translate to $4,500 of more income for the average family.

“My Democrat colleagues will continue to ignore the facts and make false claims about who benefits from this bill. These are the same falsehoods they repeated after the 2017 tax cuts – under which the share of taxes paid by the wealthy increased, while lower-income American paid less. 

“I come from a community in Missouri of less than five thousand people. Today, 1 in 6 people there live in poverty. I grew up, a family of four, in a single wide trailer. My priority is the working class because I am a product of the working class. This bill delivers for those American families, just like mine, who have struggled to get ahead for far too long.

“Where I come from, you work until the job is done. The American people expect it. They voted for it. They deserve it and they are tired of political grandstanding. They want real relief, and Congress must deliver it as quickly as possible. 

“I urge all of my colleagues: put aside the politics, focus on the people, and vote to advance this bill. Remember the Americans we met traveling on the road and the people in your district who are better off today thanks to the Trump tax cuts. 

“Together, with the one, big, beautiful bill, we can ignite the second Trump economic boom and improve the lives of millions of our neighbors back home.”