Weekly Column: A Stronger Future For Idahoans

My goal since being elected has been to serve my fellow Idahoans by protecting your autonomy and making sure you, not an overreaching federal government, can keep more of your hard-earned money to build your dreams.  The enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act prevents the largest tax hike in U.S. history, provides additional tax relief and permanently extends critical business provisions that will drive a stronger economy you deserve.

Sweeping Tax Relief: Throughout the past few years, I have fought to extend the 2017 Trump tax rates, as expiration would have cost the average Idaho family $2,600 per year while small businesses tax rates could have shot up to 43 percent. 

• The law makes the 2017 Trump tax rates permanent, giving families and businesses the certainty they need to plan, save and invest in the future.

• The law locks in and boosts the standard deduction to $31,500 for families, providing more than $200 billion in new tax relief to the 90 percent of taxpayers who claim it.

• The law delivers tax benefits to Idaho’s workers, thousands of whom will benefit from no tax on tips and overtime for tipped and hourly workers like waitresses, hairdressers and taxi drivers.

• The law deliberately invests in Idaho’s families and works to make raising a family more affordable.  For example, more than 220,000 Idaho families will benefit from the preserved and expanded child tax credit, which the law increases to $2,200.

• The law includes new and enhanced child care credits and an employer-provided child care credit.  These credits give families options to choose the child care that works best for them, at home, via their employer or with family support. 

• The law creates a pilot program to give savings accounts to Idaho’s newborns, investing in the next generation and ensuring they have a stake in continued American success. 

• The legislation introduces a new $6,000 bonus exemption to ease the tax burden for our low- and middle- income seniors.  By alleviating their financial burden—in addition to the boost they receive from permanently lower rates—seniors will have more financial freedom.

Backing Idaho Agriculture and Small Businesses: For Idaho’s farmers, ranchers and small business owners, the law makes permanent the doubled death tax exemption, a key provision that ensures the government is not forcing land sales or intervening in family businesses.

• It also allows small businesses to expense up to $2.5 million in equipment purchases, a measure that will help capital-intensive industries like farming and manufacturing in Idaho.

• The law also makes permanent the small-business deduction—claimed by over 200,000 Idaho business owners—to allow them to continue to compete with larger corporations.

• The Opportunity Zone program, which drove millions of dollars of investment into disadvantaged parts of Idaho, is also enhanced and made permanent. 

• Critically, it also makes permanent key expensing provisions for businesses investing in the U.S., allowing them to expense research and development costs and new capital investments like factories, machinery and equipment. 

Idaho Energy: Enhancement and extension of tax credits for nuclear energy will also be crucial for Idaho’s nuclear energy industry, which this bill supports as a consistent domestic energy source. 

• The law also increases the semiconductor tax credit, ensuring chipmakers are able to strengthen their domestic supply chains in Idaho and around the country.

Responsibility to Idaho Taxpayers: The law also achieves the most significant spending reductions in history by slashing Green New Deal spending, eliminating tax loopholes, and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending programs.  When combined with the pro-growth elements of President Trump’s economic agenda, the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) estimates the United States will achieve nearly $4.5 trillion in deficit reduction over ten years.

The CEA also says this legislation will drive over 4 percent higher GDP growth, boost wages, take home pay and power investment.  In Idaho, the CEA predicts the legislation will increase take home pay for an average Idaho family by over $7,000.

Straightforwardly, this law allows hardworking Idahoans to keep more of their money while investing in our families, workers and communities—fundamental to building a stronger future for Idahoans and all Americans.

(U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Crapo stands next to

President Trump at the signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.)

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