Big Businesses Are Cashing In on Trump's Tax Cuts

[In It to Win It]

NYT - Gift Link

For most people, the tax cuts that President Trump signed into law this summer have yet to materialize. Only after Americans file their taxes next year will the savings become apparent, launching what Republicans hope will be a “refund boom” that lifts the public’s view of the economy.

Many of America’s largest companies have not had to wait. In the months since the law’s passage in July, corporations like Walmart, Amazon, Verizon and Eli Lilly have all disclosed in securities filings that the law would reduce their cash tax payments in the near term. AT&T Inc. projected that it would save as much as $2 billion in taxes just this year.

Those corporate tax savings have already started to have an effect on the federal budget. Between July and November, the last full month of data, revenue from the corporate income tax has dropped by roughly a third, or $52 billion, compared to the same period the year before, according to Treasury data.

Driving the cash savings is not a change in the corporate tax rate, which Republicans kept at 21 percent. Instead, a constellation of tax breaks has given companies a better ability to reduce the amount of income subject to tax. Rather than writing off the costs of new investments and research projects bit by bit over several years, companies are now able to deduct the full cost of these expenses in one year.

A tale of two New York Times headlines from August 24, 2024 and December 12, 2025.

— Larry Glickman (@larryglickman.bsky.social) 2025-12-12T17:23:59.738Z

[CentralMass]

1. Its an Oligarchy feeding frenzy.

Low taxes and replacing humans with AI.