Letter to the Editor: Submitted by Ann Hart

To the Editor:

I can finally feel the impact of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill that his party’s senators and representatives so proudly passed last year. I got a $1000 tax refund. However, it wasn’t the many thousands that Trump and his party promised.

In fact, my household seems to be losing money. Even on Medicare our health insurance climbed by $1400. Our car and home insurance increased $700. Gas prices are up, food prices have skyrocketed, and inflation is up. I’m further in the hole than I was a year ago. The USA is further in the hole thanks to Trump and his party’s Big Beautiful Bill adding $4 trillion to the national debt.

Who has benefited from Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill? Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon, made 45% more last year and paid 87% less in taxes. Elon Musk’s company Tesla reported zero federal income tax on $5.7 billion of U.S. income in 2025. I don’t know what President Trump paid in taxes, as he has never released them. But he brags he doesn’t pay taxes because taxes are for suckers. Individuals like Bezos, Musk, and Trump pay lower taxes than typical wage earners due to Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill and “gaming the tax system” using asset growth, shifting residency, avoiding selling stock indefinitely. All things that you and I have no ability to even comprehend.

To give billionaires permanent lower taxes, Trump and his party cut Medicaid, ACA health insurance subsidies that many relied on to afford health insurance, and cuts in SNAP benefits for the elderly and children. Healthcare clinics and nursing homes are closing due to Medicaid cuts. The jump in gas, diesel, food and energy, and insurance prices has eaten up what little help raises, and tax refunds have given.

At least millionaires and billionaires are happy and richer because of their low tax rates. They simply could not afford to be taxed at the same percentages that the other 99% of us pay…or should I say their greed does not allow them to pay more taxes. It’s time for us to stand together and elect men and women at all levels of office who will look out for the rest of us. There are more of us than there are of them. We can do it if we try. Let’s get to work.

Ann Hart
Waukon