'Failure's not an option': Trump budget bill will be 'big' help for seniors, top House tax-writer says
EXCLUSIVE: The top tax-writer in the House of Representatives is arguing that President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" will be "big" for American taxpayers as well – including seniors.
House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., and other Republicans on the panel spent months negotiating behind closed doors on how to enact Trump's tax policies.
Among those is an added $4,000 deduction for Americans aged 65 or older. Seniors with income of less than $75,000 as single filers, and less than $150,000 as joint filers, would be eligible for the full deduction, which then would begin to phase out.
"So, that's on top of their guaranteed deduction, and that's per person . . . anyone who has total earnings of $75,000 a year or less is going to be made completely whole, so all the low-income and middle-income seniors on Social Security will be paying zero on Social Security in the long run," Smith told Fox News Digital, while adding of others, "most of them will be paying much less."
Republicans are using the budget reconciliation process, which lowers the Senate's threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51 for certain pieces of fiscal legislation, to advance a vast bill full of Trump's priorities on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt.
Because the House already operates under a simple majority, reconciliation allows the party in power to pass sweeping legislation while sidelining the other side, in this case, Democrats.
Trump has directed congressional Republicans to permanently extend his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), as well as implement new policies eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay and retirees' Social Security.
But the law that established the reconciliation process, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, also specifically forbade direct changes to Social Security via the process.
Smith said Republicans' had added $4,000 tax deduction as a way to make them "completely whole."
Rather than seeing that tax relief month-to-month, however, Smith said it would come in people's yearly tax returns.
He argued that it was more beneficial for lower-income seniors as well, giving added relief to those whose incomes were too low to pay Social Security taxes in the first place.
"Under the rules of reconciliation, you cannot touch Social Security directly. What we did is to make sure that they get . . . tax relief for any senior who makes less than $75,000 per year," Smith said. "It's not that we didn't want to do it, it's that it cannot be done under the rules of reconciliation, or you wouldn't qualify for the 51-vote threshold over in the United States Senate."
"But the tax relief they will receive is an added tax cut, and that will make up for what they have paid in Social Security tax."
The White House also endorsed Smith's plan despite its departure from Trump's initial campaign pitch.
"The One, Big, Beautiful Bill not only delivers permanent tax cuts and bigger paychecks, but it secures a historic tax break for seniors on Social Security," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said. "This is another promise made, promise kept to our seniors who deserve much-needed tax relief after four years of suffering under Bidenflation."
The $4,000 tax deduction, which would be in effect from the 2025 through 2028 tax years, would be on top of the higher standard deduction that people above age 65 already receive.
It would not be a tax credit, reducing tax liability directly regardless of tax brackets. A deduction reduces taxable income and is dependent on the taxpayer's rate.
But for single seniors making up to $75,000, and married seniors making less than $150,000, qualifying for the $4,000 deduction, it would likely provide some relief for millions of taxpayers across the country.
"It'll be a wash of what their Social Security tax would've been," Smith said, adding later in the interview: "Failure's not an option. We're going to get this done."
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