Happy Tax Day, America. You're (still) being robbed. | Opinion
Even with recent tax changes under President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Americans are still paying too much.
Nicole RussellI helped my teenage son file his taxes after his first year at a real job. As he read the amount withheld, he winced.
“Just wait until you start earning more,” I told him. He groaned.
It was his first lesson in how much the government takes. The burden only grows as you move into higher tax brackets – and stings even more if you're writing the check yourself, as many small business owners do.
Even with recent tax changes under President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Americans are still paying too much. The federal government collected $5.23 trillion in fiscal year 2025, according to the Cato Institute.
Happy Tax Day. Americans are still paying too much in taxes.
Trump's tax cuts helped, but not enough
Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act did cut taxes. It made his 2017 tax cuts permanent and, on average, saved working families about $1,300 instead of hitting them with a $1,700 increase.
The law also expanded the standard deduction and added targeted breaks, including no taxes on tips up to $25,000 and deductions for overtime and car loan interest. Americans 65 and older can claim an additional $6,000 deduction through 2028.
High earners benefited, too. The top 1% saw significant tax relief under the bill. Critics argue that’s unfair, but lower taxes at the top can also encourage investment, hiring and economic growth.
Even with those changes, the overall picture hasn’t improved much. Americans are still paying too much in taxes and they know it.
Gallup finds that nearly 60% of Americans say they pay too much in taxes. Pew Research Center puts that number at 65% among adults ages 30 to 64.
It’s not hard to see why. In 2022, the top 1% of earners paid more than 40% of federal income taxes.
Small business owners feel that burden directly. Many middle-class owners pay about 20% of their revenue in federal income taxes.
Americans subsidize government misuse
Supporters of higher taxes argue they are needed to fund essential services like education, health care and infrastructure. That’s true up to a point. But requiring higher earners to pay more may discourage personal responsibility.
Some taxpayer subsidies go toward programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that can create dependency. A 2024 study by the Economic Policy Innovation Center found that from 2017 to 2019, a majority of able-bodied adults receiving food stamps were not working.
High tax rates also force Americans to fund a federal government that spends more than it takes in, promoting further misuse of funds. As noted earlier, in fiscal year 2025 the government collected $5.23 trillion and spent $7 trillion. That $1.8 trillion gap doesn’t come from nowhere. It’s borrowed against the future.
The harder Americans work, the more they pay. At some point, that stops feeling like a civic duty and starts feeling like a penalty for success. It’s not hard to see why the libertarian argument that taxation is theft resonates with many Americans.
The federal government does need tax revenue to function. But too much of it disappears into waste and programs with little accountability. Trump's effort to address that through the Department of Government Efficiency was imperfect, but he deserves credit for trying.
High taxes limit what Americans can do with their own money. The freedom to earn, spend and invest shouldn’t feel this constrained. Trump’s changes helped, but taxes are still too high. And until Washington gets serious about spending, that’s unlikely to change.
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.