Tag Archives: The Big Beautiful Bill

Where Our Tax Money Has Gone

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At one point there was a meme going around suggesting that Congressmen wear logos on their suits like the ones race drivers wear so that we would know who sponsors them. In looking at some of the expenditures by Congress in recent years, I think that would be a really good idea. Particularly in the area of renewable energy. How much of our tax money used to subsidize green energy wound up in China?

On Monday (updated Tuesday) Just the News posted an article about the distribution of the energy subsidies provided by our federal government.

The article reports:

A new report from the National Center for Energy Analytics (NCEA) finds that 90% of subsidies for the energy sector in 2025 went to renewable energy. The analysis also shows that oil, gas and coal industries’ subsidies come mainly in the form of tax expenditures as opposed to direct subsidies.

Using data from the Department of the Treasury, Paul Tice, senior fellow with the NCEA, calculates that in fiscal year 2025, explicit government subsidies in the form of tax expenditures for the entire energy sector totaled $64.1 billion. This was more than all other domestic industries. The NCEA was created by The Texas Public Policy Foundation as a national energy think tank.

The total fossil fuel-related tax expenditures came to $2.6 billion in revenue losses for the federal government in fiscal year 2025. 

By comparison, the total amount of federal tax money subsidizing renewable energy, electric vehicles and energy-efficient equipment in fiscal year 2025 was $57.9 billion, which exceeds the total for fossil fuels over the entire fiscal year 1994-2025 period, according to the report. 

The article notes that “Big Oil” is not gobbling up all of the energy subsidies:

The analysis disputes claims from other sources that “Big Oil” is gobbling up trillions of dollars in subsidies every year. The International Monetary Fund pegs the global figure at $7 trillion. A report in September from the climate advocacy nonprofit Oil Change International estimated that oil, gas and coal in the U.S. receive approximately $34.8 billion per year. 

The article concludes:

Tice concluded that repealing all subsidies for fossil fuels would have no meaningful impact on the profitability of the industry or the demand for its products. The main driver of energy-sector subsidies are tax credits for renewable energy. 

“Income tax expenditures for renewable energy producers and clean energy users will continue to dwarf those for the traditional energy sector for the foreseeable future,” Tice wrote. 

While the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Trump signed in July will phase them out, it will be another decade before that happens. And there’s no certainty they will. The tax credits were originally established in 1992 as a means to boost a fledgling industry. They’ve been renewed 11 times since. 

This is another place where Congress needs to act to save the taxpayers’ money.

Undermining The Tax Cuts President Trump Put In Place

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The Big Beautiful Bill provided tax relief for certain groups of people. A major portion of Social Security will not be taxed, tips will not be taxed and overtime pay will not be taxed. Those are targeted tax breaks given to the people who work hard (or have worked hard) and were hit hard by President Biden’s economic policies. Unfortunately, there are those in some states who really don’t care about helping those of us who work for a living.

On Monday, The Daily Signal reported:

The Trump/GOP “One Big, Beautiful Tax Cut” includes no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and a new tax-deduction for Social Security benefits. These promises helped Trump secure the White House and Republicans the U.S. House and Senate.

The GOP’s huge win in November 2024 gave Republicans a solid mandate to keep these promises. And they did.

Nonetheless, the Democrat-mismanaged states of Colorado, Illinois, Maine, and New York are rigging their tax codes so that this Trump/GOP tax relief does not reduce corresponding state levies. The same holds for Democrat-smothered Washington, D.C., which will keep higher taxes on 13 of the GOP’s 84 federal tax-cut provisions.

Colorado’s House Bill 25-1296, decoupled its state taxes from these federal tax reductions. So, next April 15, factory workers will have to render unto Democrat Gov. Jared Polis the overtime pay break that Trump and Republicans let them enjoy.

Among other things, this requires taxpayers to keep two separate records of taxable income. What a mess.

The article notes:

So, at last, Republicans deliver concrete relief to the “affordability crisis” that has become the Democrats’ latest obsession. The Trump/GOP tax cuts will help Americans pay their bills, buy groceries, fill their gas tanks, and maybe even get out of town, to pursue happiness. What could be more wonderful?

Rather than celebrate with everyday people, Democrats decrease taxpayers’ additional income and diminish their economic security. For Democrats, making Americans poorer is a bargain compared to the bonanza of denying Trump and Republicans any credit for feeling and easing the people’s pain.

Anyone who votes Democrat at this point is simply not paying attention!

Deflecting From The Actual Problem

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One of the Democrat talking points about ‘The Big Beautiful Bill’ is that the changes in healthcare policies present a threat to rural hospitals. The changes in the bill are actually not the problem, but there is something that does need to be fixed in order for rural hospitals to survive.

On Wednesday, Red State reported:

The Democrats have decided that they want to make the One Big Beautiful Bill their primary campaign talking point in 2026. They think that by focusing on Medicaid cuts, they can scare voters away from the Republican Party and back toward them for the midterms.

One of their focus points is how Medicaid cuts might impact rural hospitals. But the Democrats are also big proponents of doing away with the 340B drug program that those same hospitals rely on, and they aren’t lifting a finger to stop big pharmaceutical companies from trying to gut it however they can.

What’s Really Happening

Five major pharmaceutical companies—Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, and Sanofi—are pushing to fundamentally change how rural hospitals get discounted drugs. Instead of getting upfront discounts through the federal 340B program, these companies want to switch to a “rebate model” where hospitals pay full price first, then wait for pharmaceutical companies to maybe pay them back later.

Sound like a scam? That’s because it is.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

A new national survey by 340B Health shows just how devastating this change would be. The average critical access hospital—these are the small rural hospitals with 25 beds or fewer that serve communities across Louisiana and the rest of rural America—would have to float an extra $1.7 million per year to pharmaceutical companies.

Think about that for a minute. Rural hospitals that are already operating on razor-thin margins would suddenly have to come up with nearly $2 million in upfront cash, then wait for drug companies to process their rebate requests “using their own criteria and timelines.”

The article concludes:

But while Washington argues about Medicaid work requirements that might affect rural hospitals down the road, Big Pharma is actively working to destroy rural healthcare right now. And they’re counting on nobody paying attention.

The 340B program isn’t perfect—no federal program is. But it’s a lifeline for rural hospitals that serve the patients nobody else wants to treat. If we let pharmaceutical companies turn it into just another profit center, we’ll lose more than hospitals. We’ll lose entire communities.

It’s time to call this what it is: corporate greed masquerading as healthcare reform. And it’s time to stop it before it’s too late.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. This might be a really good time to examine the campaign contributions from pharmaceutical companies given to the Congressmen pushing this idea.