'Big Beautiful Bill' mostly benefits Minnesota's wealthiest

Yahoo

23-05-2025

The Minnesota State Capitol, April 28, 2025. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
The tax provisions in House Republicans' so-called 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' would overwhelmingly benefit Minnesota's wealthiest families, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a progressive think tank in DC.
If the bill passes the Senate and wins the signature of President Trump, the bottom 20% of Minnesota households, with incomes of less than $36,000, would see an average tax benefit of about $250, or 1.3% of household income. Families in the middle of the distribution, with incomes between $63,000 and $100,000, would get an average benefit of $2,000, or 2.4% of household income.
But Minnesota's one-percenters, with incomes of $928,000 and above, would receive an average tax break of $66,000, adding up to 3.5% of their typical income.
All told, more than two-thirds of the bill's benefits flow to the richest 20% of Minnesota families, according to ITEP's estimate.
Those changes are measured against the baseline of current law, in which the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions expire at the end of the year.
'For working-class Americans, the tax cuts in the House bill are extremely modest and overall taxes would rise for these families when the impact of higher import taxes, or tariffs, are accounted for,' ITEP's authors write.
At the national level, for instance, the poorest 20% of households can expect to see their take-home pay increase by 1% as a result of the changes. But that's more than offset by a roughly 2.4% decrease in spending power due to the effects of the Trump administration's tariffs.
The law's provisions are also relatively favorable toward wealthy overseas investors. 'Foreign investors who own shares in U.S. companies would benefit more than the poorest fifth of Americans,' ITEP's authors write. 'These foreign investors would enjoy $23 billion in tax cuts in 2026 compared to just $4 billion for the bottom 20% of Americans.'
Because Republicans are using a procedural known as 'reconciliation,' the bill cannot be filibustered in the Senate. Republicans control 53 Senate seats, meaning they can lose three votes and still pass the bill with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance.