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Welcome to The Hill's Business & Economy newsletter {beacon}
Business & Economy
Business & Economy
The Big Story
Labor unions have had enough of Trump’s tax cuts
Top U.S. labor unions are calling for the repeal of former President Trump's signature tax cuts.
© Jake May/The Flint Journal
In a letter to congressional leaders Tuesday, unions including the United Auto Workers, the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union, the Screen Actors Guild and the National Education Association joined dozens of progressive groups in blasting Trump’s cuts as unfairly designed and fiscally irresponsible.
Trump’s tax law, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), “made massive and permanent cuts to corporate taxes and temporary cuts to individual and estate taxes that have largely benefitted the wealthy and eroded tax revenues,” the unions wrote to congressional leadership and the heads of the top tax-writing committees.
With individual provisions in the law set to expire in 2025, the 2024 election will determine whether they are renewed, modified or ditched altogether. Extending the individual cuts will cost $3.3 trillion through 2035, the Congressional Budget Office estimates.
But the unions and progressive groups want to push beyond that will-they-won’t-they framework and overhaul the tax code.
“Tax reform must result in a more progressive tax code that asks higher-income and higher-wealth households, corporations, and Wall Street to pay a greater share of their income in tax than they would in the absence of the TCJA,” they said.
Findings Congressional Research Service (CRS) that “the individual income tax cut largely went to higher-income individuals” substantiate the union claims.
While the TCJA decreased the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent, it did not lead to higher real wages for workers, which lagged behind the overall growth in labor compensation in 2018.
“This … indicates that ordinary workers had very little growth in wage rates,” the CRS determined.
The Hill’s Tobias Burns has more here.
Welcome to The Hill’s Business & Economy newsletter, we’re Aris Folley and Taylor Giorno — covering the intersection of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.
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Essential Reads
Key business and economic news with implications this week and beyond:
DOJ antitrust chief touts blocked mergers
Justice Department antitrust division chief Jonathan Kanter praised his agency’s record of stopping mergers in concentrated markets Tuesday amid ongoing tensions between policymakers and big business that are reshaping party alliances.
Full Story Biden administration releases 1M barrels of reserve gasoline in effort to lower prices
The Biden administration is releasing about 1 million barrels of reserve gasoline supplies as part of an effort to bring down prices at the pump in the Northeastern U.S.
Full Story ChatGPT breaks daily traffic records after launching new features
ChatGPT has been breaking daily traffic records since it recently launched new features, according to Similarweb.
Full Story Fed governor: Further rate increases ‘probably unnecessary’
Christopher Waller, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, said that further interest rate increases will be “probably unnecessary,” pointing to data showing that inflation is not “accelerating.”
Full Story Lobbying Line
The latest moves in some of Washington’s biggest lobbying battles:
- The United Nations’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) has enlisted a longtime House Appropriations Committee staffer to help educate members on the IOM and lobby for “consistent core funding in the FY 2025 appropriations cycle,” according to a new disclosure. The Hill’s Taylor Giorno has more here.
The Ticker
Upcoming news themes and events we're watching:
- The National Association of Realtors releases existing home sales for April on Wednesday at 10 a.m. EDT.
- The Federal Reserve will release the May meeting minutes of the Federal Open Markets Committee, the panel of central bank officials tasked with setting interest rates, at 2 p.m.
In Other News
Branch out with more stories from the day:
Stock market today: Wall Street drifts higher to set more records
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes drifted higher Tuesday to set more records following another quiet …
Full Story Good to Know
Business and economic news we've flagged from other outlets:
- The Highest Paid CEOs of 2023 (WSJ)
- High inflation made finances worse for 65% of Americans last year (CNN)
- Here’s where rents are rising — and where they’re falling (CNBC)
What Others are Reading
Top stories on The Hill right now:
Additional classified records found in Trump’s bedroom after Mar-a-Lago search
Additional classified records were discovered in former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago bedroom after the FBI search of his Florida estate, court records filed Tuesday reveal. Read more
Prosecutors, defense hash out legal issues ahead of Trump trial closing: Live updates
Hours after former President Trump’s defense rested its case-in-chief, the prosecution and defense returned to the courtroom to hash out specifics for moving forward. Read more
What People Think
Opinion related to business and economic issues submitted to The Hill:
- Good intentions, bad results: Don’t take away choices from SNAP recipients
You're all caught up. See you tomorrow!