The Numbers the White House Is Touting
The Numbers the White House Is Touting
Earlier this month, timed to coincide with the run-up to the nation's 250th birthday, the White House released a lengthy statement touting what it described as the first full year of results from the tax legislation, framing the senior bonus deduction as just one piece of a much broader package of relief that has now worked its way through an entire tax filing season.
"The success of President Trump's widely popular tax breaks, like No Tax on Tips, No Tax on Overtime, No Tax on Social Security, and Made in America Car-Loan deductions, is undeniable," the White House statement declared, according to the release. The administration highlighted that a look at the first year's results shows nearly 70 percent of filers who received a tax cut earned less than $100,000 annually — a figure the White House has used repeatedly to push back against Democratic criticism that the broader tax package primarily benefits wealthier Americans.
The release detailed a specific set of figures the administration says demonstrate the law's reach. Millions of Americans, according to the White House, received historic tax refunds this filing season, with the average refund exceeding $3,400 — an 11 percent increase compared to the prior year. American families and workers together claimed $82 billion in direct tax relief under the new provisions, with the administration stating that 97 percent of filers received some form of tax cut under the legislation.
Breaking the figures down by specific provision, the White House reported that more than 29 million workers claimed the "No Tax on Overtime" deduction, with an average deduction exceeding $3,100 per claimant. Nearly 8 million workers claimed "No Tax on Tips," with an average deduction of more than $7,000. More than 1.4 million filers claimed the "No Tax on Made-in-America Car Loan Interest" deduction, with an average benefit exceeding $1,800.
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The figures specifically tied to older Americans were prominent in the release as well. More than 35 million seniors have claimed the "No Tax on Social Security" benefit — which, again, is implemented through the senior bonus deduction and related standard deduction increases discussed earlier in this piece — with an average deduction exceeding $7,500 per claimant, a figure that reflects many taxpayers combining the new bonus deduction with the pre-existing age-65 additional standard deduction described earlier.
Nearly 40 million families also claimed the enhanced Child Tax Credit under the broader legislation, and nearly 6 million "Trump Accounts" have reportedly been opened for children, with 1.4 million of those accounts eligible for a $1,000 pilot program contribution from the federal government. Taken together, the White House has presented these figures as evidence of a tax law reaching deep into the middle class rather than concentrating benefits narrowly at the top of the income scale — though, as later sections of this piece explore, independent analysts have offered a more nuanced read on exactly which income brackets are seeing the largest gains from the senior-specific provisions in particular.
