WASHINGTON – The Republicans’ massive tax and spending policy bill would do more than extend income tax cuts, remove millions of Americans from Medicaid and food stamps and surge funding into Trump’s deportation campaign.
The nearly 900-page bill, which the House is expected to vote on July 2, includes a rash of lesser known provisions that would directly impact Americans’ lives, from increasing the child tax credit to punishing new solar energy facilities.
Some House Republicans are not happy with the changes the Senate made to the bill, so modifications are possible, but to pass the measure by July 4, as Trump wants, the House has to swallow the Senate version without revisions.
The White House has declared it a must-pass bill, meaning it has become a place for pet projects to land in order to secure the votes of nervous senators and representatives.
Here are some provisions in the bill that haven’t received much attention so far:
Benefits for the rich
Wealthy Americans benefit far more from the tax package than those lower on the income scale, according to a Tax Policy Center analysis of the Senate bill. The bill preserves the current 37% top marginal individual income tax rate, set by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Republicans passed in 2017, which would otherwise expire ‒ and go up ‒ at the end of the year.
While all households would see their taxes reduced, some 60% of the benefits would go to those making $217,000 or more (the top 20% of income earners). In 2026, those people would receive an average tax cut of $12,500, or 3.4% of their after-tax income, the analysis found.
In contrast, the lowest-income households who earn about $35,000 or less would receive an average tax cut of only $150, less than 1% of their after-tax income. On average, middle-income households would see their taxes reduced by about $1,800, or 2.3% of their after-tax income.
Other provisions in the bill with direct benefits for the wealthiest Americans include a reduction in the estate tax imposed on large inheritances and pass through business incomes.
Child tax credit
The legislation would permanently increase the child tax credit to $2,200 per kid, up from the current $2,000.
Single parents earning up to $200,000 and married couples earning up to $400,000 would qualify. The credit would phase out for those with higher incomes.
Cheaper gun silencers
Republicans added a provision to the bill that would eliminate a nearly-century-old tax, now $200, for purchasing or making silencers, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and other weapons. They also removed a requirement for gun owners to register their silencers.
Moving space shuttle to Houston
The bill would move the Space Shuttle Discovery from its current home at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, a goal of legislation brought earlier this year by Texas Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn.
The bill sets aside $85 million to relocate to the Johnson Space Center a space vehicle that meets three criteria: it has flown into space, has carried astronauts; and is selected by an organization picked by NASA’s administrator.
There are only four space vehicles that meet the first two criteria: Enterprise, which belongs to the Intrepid Museum in New York; Endeavor, which belongs to the California Science Center in Los Angeles; Atlantis, which is on display at the Kennedy Space Center, and Discovery at the Smithsonian. Only Atlantis and Discovery are still owned by the United States government.
The Smithsonian estimates it would cost between $300 million and $400 million of taxpayer dollars to move Discovery across the country.
Last week, at an event at Space Center Houston, Cornyn said Houston’s role in the space program is deserving of the Discovery and that the space shuttle should “come back home,” although it wasn’t manufactured in Houston, nor did it launch from Houston. The Johnson Space Center served as Mission Control for the space shuttle program.
Mars mission
The bill sets aside $9.995 billion for the Artemis moon mission and the exploration of Mars.
Tax credits for whaling captains
The Senate increased the deduction that whaling boat captains can claim for whale-hunting-related expenses to $50,000 from the current $10,000.
The addition is seemingly a move to get the vote of Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
First added to the tax code in 2004, it allows people to deduct the cost of maintaining boats and weapons as a charitable contribution. According to the IRS, the recipient has to be recognized as a whaling captain by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and must be engaged in the sanctioned, subsistence hunting of bowhead whales.
‘Trump accounts’ for kids
The bill would create new savings accounts dubbed “Trump accounts” in which babies who are born between January 2025 and January 2029 can benefit from a one-time $1,000 payment from the federal government placed in the account.
Parents would then be able to contribute up to $5,000 a year. The savings would be invested in a stock fund that would grow with the stock market.
The child could be able to access a portion of the money when they reach age 18 for education, training or buying their first house. They can use the full balance at age 30.
Student loan changes
The bill places a new cap on the amount students can borrow in federal student loans for graduate school and how much parents can borrow to help pay students’ tuition.
There would be fewer opportunities for deferments or forbearance and new limits on lending for part-time students.
The bill also has much more limited set of repayment options, ending loan forgiveness programs that have been in place for years, as well as a Biden-era program that tailored payment requirements to the person’s income. It would be replaced with a new fixed-rate program, which would disadvantage lower-income families.
Green energy programs
The bill would dramatically roll back Biden-era tax breaks designed to boost clean energy projects fueled by renewable sources such as energy and wind.
Democrats say it will devastate wind and solar industry growth, cause a spike in Americans’ utility bills and jeopardize hundreds of renewable energy projects slated to boost the nation’s electric grid, along with the jobs those would have created.
It also ends a tax break on Sept. 30, instead of at the end of 2032 for people who buy new or used electric vehicles.
The GOP bill also increases oil and gas leases on public lands and revives coal leasing in several states.
Charging foreign workers
Migrants often move to other countries in part to send money home to their family or community abroad. The United States is the world’s largest source of these transfers, known as remittances.
The Republican bill would implement a 3.5% tax on those transfers, which must be paid by the person sending the money. It would include an exemption for American citizens.
This article has been updated.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Student loans to a space shuttle: Surprises abound in Senate tax bill
