By U.S. Rep. Mike Bost (IL-12)
Too many in Washington, D.C., think the answer to every problem is raising taxes on working families and wrapping small businesses in red tape. I disagree. The answer isn’t to make life harder for folks who are already forced to do more with less.
That’s why I voted for the President Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This is a conservative plan that delivers real tax relief, reins in federal spending, and puts working families first. It provides funding to finish the border wall and hire thousands of new Border Patrol agents. It strengthens work requirements for healthy, working age SNAP and Medicaid beneficiaries to ensure benefits are preserved for those who truly need them, and it empowers families to keep more of what they earn.
Unfortunately, if you listened only to the D.C. Democrats’ spin machine, you wouldn’t know all the good this bill will do and why President Trump fought so hard to sign it into law. Liberal politicians have gotten real comfortable tackling 80/20 issues and alienating the 80 percent. Let them argue on behalf of record tax hikes, taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal immigrants, and a weakened border.
The numbers don’t lie: if Congress hadn’t voted to make the Trump Tax Cuts permanent, 84 percent of American families would have seen their taxes go up at the end of this year, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. It would have been the largest tax hike in American history. In Southern Illinois, families would have faced a 27 percent tax hike. For a typical family of four, that would have been a $1,229 increase – the kind of hit that could wipe out an entire month’s grocery budget or heating bill. Nearly 68,000 families could have seen their Child Tax Credit cut in half and 94 percent of taxpayers would have lost half their standard deduction.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act locks in the largest tax cuts for working Americans in our nation’s history. It preserves the double standard deduction and boosts the Child Tax Credit to $2,500. Roughly two million Illinois seniors could benefit from provisions like reducing taxes on Social Security.
The bill also delivers on another Trump promise: no taxes on tips and overtime. That’s real relief for workers putting in extra hours, sometimes working more than one job in the service industry. We’re also expanding Health Savings Accounts, giving families more flexibility to take charge of their health care.
Economists estimate the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will protect over 250,000 full-time jobs in Illinois alone. Job creators benefit too, with the 20 percent small business deduction made permanent – helping nearly 39,000 Southern Illinois businesses avoid a tax hike that could stifle growth.
The bill also strengthens our manufacturing sector and rewards companies for investing in places like Herrin and Murphysboro instead of outsourcing to China. And it expands Opportunity Zones, which are areas created to encourage investment and job creation in economically distressed communities. They give local businesses and developers tax incentives to invest in areas that have been left behind. Illinois has 327 of these zones, including in places like Anna and Mounds, and they’ve already helped create 44,000 jobs and build 13,000 housing units since 2018.
We were at a crossroads. We could have gone down the road of higher taxes and bigger government. Instead, we fought for a simpler, fairer system that protects families, encourages growth, and respects your hard work.
I didn’t come to Washington to defend the status quo. I came here to fight for Southern Illinois – for our workers, our farmers, our small business owners, and our families. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act reflects our commitment to delivering on the mandate the American people gave us last November. At the end of the day, it’s your money – not Washington’s. And I’ll never stop fighting to make sure you keep more of it in your pocket, where it belongs.
