The legislation President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4 (celebrated by Republican Sen. Tim Scott as a milestone of “fiscal responsibility” and “opportunity”) is in fact, a sprawling blueprint for further concentrating wealth, destabilizing public schools, and stripping resources from Black communities. While Scott touted the bill as a transformative achievement for American families, independent analyses paint a different picture. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projects the law will add trillions to the deficit over the next decade, driven by permanent corporate tax cuts and expanded defense spending. That debt load will almost certainly trigger future demands to slash Medicaid, SNAP, and housing assistance programs essential to millions of Black families.
Scott, who is Black, repeatedly claimed that the law delivers tax relief to working people; however, the Tax Policy Center estimates that the wealthiest one percent of households will collect the majority of tax benefits, averaging more than $60,000 per year. By contrast, the average middle-income household (where most Black families fall) will see only temporary, modest reductions, many of which expire in five years. Among the most dangerous provisions is the permanent expansion of the Opportunity Zone program, which Scott called “maximizing community impact.” Multiple studies, including those by the Government Accountability Office and the Brookings Institution, have found that Opportunity Zones have largely failed to reduce poverty or lift incomes for residents. Instead, they have accelerated gentrification, pushing long-time Black families and small businesses out of their neighborhoods as investors rush in to extract profit.
The law’s new permanent school choice tax credit has been framed as a lifeline for low-income children, but the reality is that it primarily benefits those who are already able to afford private school tuition. Public education researchers have warned that this diversion of public funding will deepen educational disparities that trap Black students in under-resourced schools while wealthier families receive tax subsidies. The repeal of Section 899, a tax provision that imposed penalties on certain foreign-owned corporations, was labeled by Scott as a job creator. Yet tax policy experts agree there is no evidence this giveaway will generate employment. What is certain is that multinational corporations will pocket billions in tax savings, while Black workers are left to hope for trickle-down benefits that rarely materialize.
Even as lawmakers made corporate tax cuts permanent, they allowed the expanded Child Tax Credit (responsible for record reductions in Black child poverty in recent years) to remain expired. In its place, the law provides structural tax advantages to investors and business owners, making it more difficult for Black families to build wealth or afford rising housing costs. The result is a sweeping law that strengthens systemic inequities under the banner of prosperity. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries put it bluntly: “The One Big Ugly Bill hurts everyday Americans and rewards billionaires. It’s the largest attack on healthcare in American history. More than 17 million people will lose their healthcare as a result. Folks are going to die across the United States of America.”
