The Big, Beautiful Con: Why Extending Tax Cuts Hurts America

There’s a marketing blitz insisting that if we don’t extend the 2017 tax cuts, it’ll be the “largest tax increase in history”. That’s pure fear-mongering. Letting those Trump-era tax breaks expire isn’t a new tax hike at all, it’s just the law working as intended. Extending them now would simply keep draining public revenue just to benefit corporations and the ultra-wealthy.

I’ve spent my career in the business world, and I am certain that our economy thrives when regular people are thriving, not just when a few get richer. An economy with a hollowed-out middle class is fragile. It’s far healthier when folks have good jobs, homes, education, healthcare, i.e., the basics. When millions lack these basics, everyone suffers. No tax cut for billionaires can make up for a workforce that’s sick or struggling to get by.

We have tried “trickle-down” for decades, and every time we’re told tax breaks for the rich will benefit everyone. It never happens: the benefits just trickle up. Over the last 30 years, U.S. billionaires’ combined wealth exploded from about $240 billion to roughly $4.5 trillion. Did working families see their wealth grow 19-fold? Of course not. Riches ballooned at the top while everyday Americans got stagnant wages, rising costs, and a shredded safety net.

In my world, people complain about the homeless crisis in Austin, they point at tent camps and shake their heads. But suggest using public funds to actually fix it (build housing, fund mental health services), and suddenly that’s “too expensive” or “communism.” Ensuring a basic floor of dignity for everyone isn’t communism; it’s what a compassionate society chooses to do. In a country as wealthy as ours, no one should be left starving, sick, or on the streets. Healthcare, education, shelter… these should be fundamental rights because we have the means to provide them.

Where would the money come from? Look at those who’ve made out like bandits. Billionaires and big corporations have seen record profits while often paying very little in taxes. For years we’ve shoveled wealth upward and assumed it’d trickle down, it never did. It’s time to reverse the flow and make the ultra-rich pay their share so we can lift everyone up.

The “Big Beautiful Bill” is anything but beautiful for average Americans. The truly insane part is believing that making the rich richer will somehow help everyone. Instead of hollowing out the middle class and starving public resources, let’s build an economy where prosperity is widespread, from the bottom up, not the top down.

Ultimately, it’s about what kind of country we want. I want one where success isn’t measured by how many billionaires we have, but by how many families can live with dignity. Let’s not fall for the trickle-down lie again. We can afford to care for our people, what we can’t afford is another giveaway to those at the top, sold as “beautiful.”