Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” – How the Working Class Is Fooled Into Thinking They’re Winners

They call it a historic victory. Fox News is jubilant. MAGA supporters celebrate. Donald Trump stands at the podium and proudly declares that his new “Big Beautiful Bill” will finally relieve the working class. Tax relief, he promises, for “those who deserve it.” But when you file your taxes in 2026, you’ll realize: the ones who profited most from this law were others. Because while headlines focus on tips and overtime, the fine print reveals a gift of historic proportions – but not for waiters, sales clerks, or warehouse workers, rather for those who never had anything to fear in the first place: people earning over 600,000 dollars a year. For them, the top tax rate drops from 39.6 to 37 percent. For the majority of Americans earning under 100,000? A few percentage points here and there – technically yes, noticeably no. And much of it has been in effect since 2017 anyway. Trump’s bill simply extends it and sells it as a miracle. Trump and Republicans create new breaks for tipped workers, but the fine print tells a different story. These are cash tips that in most cases were never reported to begin with. A friend of mine worked as a bartender in Raleigh for six years – and he says no one there ever reported cash tips. Only credit card tips. And here’s the thing: the only way to deduct them is if you itemize – which most low-income workers don’t. Even then, the deduction maxes out at 25,000 dollars – but you also lose the standard deduction of 15,000. Net benefit? Almost zero. Did Americans in the lower and middle class get a tax cut? Technically, yes – by three percent. But only on paper. The lowest bracket drops from 15 to 12 percent, the middle from 25 to 22 percent. But these changes were already introduced in 2017. Trump’s new bill just extends them – and markets them as a great deed. They are not. In contrast, the Democratic proposal would have brought real relief: refundable child tax credits, direct tax benefits, tangible effects. Up to 5,000 dollars annually for families earning under 91,000 dollars. Under Trump? Around 1,300 dollars – theoretically. Practically: nothing. Because the savings were already baked in since 2017. The difference? Now they’re telling you it’s something new. That’s how the trick works: they sell you something you already have, or something that benefits someone else – and claim it’s for you. Meanwhile, the culture war rages. Drag queens, border caravans, “crime waves.” And while your attention is elsewhere, your money disappears.

For five decades, working Americans have felt like they’re falling behind. Not just since COVID, not just since the housing crisis or 9/11. This feeling is older. And it’s not an illusion – it’s reality. In the richest country in human history, those who keep it running are barely getting by. Meanwhile, wealth at the top is exploding. Rockets for billionaires, existential fear for millions. The question is not whether the system is broken – but whether it was ever meant for you. A look at the data shows: wages have stagnated since the 1970s. Productivity, on the other hand, has risen. So have profits. Just not for the workers – but for the owners. The shareholders. The executives. You’ve done more – and someone else took the reward. At the same time, taxes for the richest dropped dramatically. In the 1950s, the top federal income tax rate was over 90 percent. And the economy thrived. The rich didn’t leave the country. They built it. Today, the rate is 37 percent – and most billionaires pay even less. Thanks to loopholes, offshore models, legal gymnastics. Meanwhile, the middle class carries more and more – through payroll and consumption taxes. And then there’s the stock market. It has grown. If you had money, you got more. If you had nothing, you got nothing. The wealth gap hasn’t just grown – it has exploded. Meanwhile, the cost of living rises. Rent, child care, health care, education – necessities, not luxuries. But long out of reach for many. Families are being crushed from all sides. So what happened? Unions were weakened. Factories outsourced. Corporations merged. Wages stagnated. And at the same time, a strategy emerged – economic and political. The richest Americans knew: if the working class ever united – across race, religion, and party lines – they’d have a problem. Because the workers are the majority. So they created the culture war.

Instead of talking about wages, health care, and taxes, they stoked fears: of immigrants, trans kids, critical race theory. You were told to be angry – but in the wrong direction. Against the poor, not the rich. And it worked. For fifty years. Every time poor people on the left demanded better wages, poor people on the right were made to vote against it – out of fear of godlessness, gender issues, gun control. The result? Nothing changes. Except the rich keep getting richer. So how do we create change? Not with revolution. Nobody wants chaos. We need smart, gradual reform. A real progressive tax system – not the caricature we have today. In the 1950s, there were over 20 tax brackets. Today, only seven. Not because society got simpler – but because it was bought. Let’s start: 40 percent on income over one million. 50 percent over five million. 60 percent over ten million. Not across the board – only on what goes beyond. And no one earning ten million a year is going to starve. Then: close loopholes. Tax capital gains like income. Introduce a minimum tax rate for billionaires. End the games. And: bring power back to work. Strengthen unions. Unlink health care. Universal child care. Higher minimum wage. Affordable housing. Retirement security. Above all: rewrite the narrative. No more culture wars. Focus on wages. Not God or gender – but justice. We don’t have to agree on everything. But we can agree that working people deserve a better deal. Maybe poor Republicans will never vote in their own interest, because they’ve been told the party that would help them wants to destroy everything they believe in. That lie is powerful. And old. But we can offer an alternative. What we need is a new party. Not a culture party. A party of labor. A real workers’ party – like every other advanced country already has. Not left. Not right. But where life actually happens: in the hands of those who carry this country.