If we’re “so broke we have to cut Medicaid and fire federal workers,” history shows that big tax cuts—especially for the wealthy—are a poor solution.
We’ve tried this before.
📉 The Reagan tax cuts in the 1980s and the Bush tax cuts in the early 2000s didn’t pay for themselves—they ballooned the national debt.
📉 The Trump tax cuts in 2017 promised growth, but they mostly benefited the wealthy and added nearly $2 trillion to the deficit.
Now, with the “One Big Beautiful Bill”, Congress is at it again—projected to add $3.8 trillion to the national debt while proposing work requirements for Medicaid that could cost 7.7 million people their coverage (CBO report).
And who benefits from all this?
The top 1% of earners, again—while lower-income families face benefit cuts and
stagnant wages. Meanwhile, states are left trying to administer complex work-reporting systems that have historically failed, like in Arkansas, where 17,000 people lost coverage mostly due to paperwork.
The bottom line? These …
