Technologies
Extending the Trump Tax Cuts? Here’s Who Might and Might Not Benefit
Republicans in Congress have a plan ready to extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts but are already facing major opposition from Democrats.
It’s not just the tariffs. President Donald Trump’s economic plans also call for an extension of his 2017 tax overhaul before it expires. These changes — commonly known as the «Trump tax cuts» — lowered tax rates and increased the value of certain tax incentives but also have been a political lightning rod over the years because of their benefits for corporations and the wealthy. It’s the sort of heated discourse that can leave the basic facts of the bill a bit murky.
That 2017 tax plan, officially known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, was one of the signature legislative accomplishments of Trump’s first term, and passing an extension has been a priority for the president since he entered his second term. While extending the cuts carries a big estimated price tag, Trump administration officials have suggested that newly imposed tariffs could raise enough money to cover the cost of extending the tax cuts, an important consideration in the budget reconciliation process. But the clock is ticking: Many of its provisions are set to expire by the end of 2025 without action from Congress.
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That action is getting underway On April 2, the Republican-led House unveiled a blueprint for an extension of the Trump tax cuts, reigniting the political firestorm surrounding them. While Republicans have characterized this planned extension as a bid for stability and a net-positive for everyone, Democrats have hit back with their longstanding argument that the cuts disproportionately benefit corporations and the wealthy.
For all the details about why there might be some truth to both statements, keep reading, and stick around to the end to find out how much it might cost. For more, find out if Trump could actually abolish the Department of Education.
What would extending the Trump tax cuts mean?
While the phrase «Trump tax cuts» has become a common media shorthand for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the current conversation around it might suggest that new cuts could be on the way. Although Trump has floated ideas for additional cuts, it’s important to note that extending the 2017 provisions would for the most part keep tax rates and programs at the levels they’ve been at since then.
So while it may be a better option than having the provisions expire — which would increase certain tax rates and decrease certain credits — extending the tax cuts most likely won’t change how you’ve been taxed the past eight years. However, some estimates have predicted that extending the cuts would boost income in 2026, with the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation in particular predicting a 2.9% rise on average, based on a combination of other economic predictions combined with tax rates staying where they are.
What would change if the Trump tax cuts expire?
Republicans contend that the tax cuts helped a wide swath of Americans, and the Tax Foundation predicted that 60% of tax filers would see higher rates in 2026 without an extension.
A big part of that has to do with tax bracket changes. The 2017 provisions lowered the income tax rates across the seven brackets, aside from the first (10%) and the sixth (35%). If the current law expires, those rates would go up 1% to 3%.
Income limits for each bracket would also revert to pre-2017 levels. Lending credence to the Democrats’ counterarguments, these shifts under the Trump tax cuts appeared to be more beneficial to individuals and couples at higher income levels than to those making closer to the average US income.
If you’re interested in the nitty-gritty numbers, you can check out the Tax Foundation’s full breakdown. Another point in Democrats’ favor? The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act also cut corporate tax rates from 35% to 21%, and unlike many of its other provisions, this one was permanent and won’t expire in 2026.
The cuts also capped the total amount that taxpayers can deduct based on «state and local property, income, and sales tax,» otherwise known as SALT, at $10,000. There was previously no limit, and as Lisa Greene-Lewis, a tax prep experts and analyst for TurboTax, told CNET in an email correspondence, this is a policy that could be detrimental to certain taxpayers if the TCJA is extended.
«Filers living in states with high state and property taxes are capped at a $10,000 deduction for total state and local property, income and sales tax — even when many of them may pay way beyond that amount,» Greene-Lewis explained. «If this part of the provision went back to the way it was prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) without caps, filers in states with high state and property taxes would be able to deduct the full amounts paid.»
Greene-Lewis also noted that there is talk about removing the SALT cap from the plan to extend the TCJA.
What would happen to the standard deduction?
This is another area in which a lot of people would be hit hard. The standard deduction lets taxpayers lower their taxable income, as long as they forgo itemizing any deductions.
For the 2025 tax year, the standard deduction is $15,000 for individual filers, and $30,000 for joint filers. If the tax cuts expire, these numbers will drop by nearly half, down to $8,350 for individuals and $16,700 for joint filers.
What would happen to the child tax credit?
The child tax credit is one of the most popular credits out there. Its current levels — $2,000 per qualifying child, which phases out starting at a gross income of $200,000 for single filers and $400,000 for joint filers — were actually set by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
If an extension or new bill isn’t passed, next year the child tax credit would revert to its old levels: $1,000 per child, which starts phasing out at $75,000 for single filers and $110,000 for joint filers.
Do the Trump tax cuts really favor the wealthy?
As mentioned above, higher-income individuals and couples made out notably better with the changes the Trump tax cuts made to tax brackets. Overall, numerous estimates have predicted that the wealthiest Americans would experience a greater proportion of the benefits, with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center specifically estimating that households making more than $450,000 a year would reap around 45% of the tax cut benefits.
How much would extending the tax cuts cost?
Tax cuts more favorable to the wealthy are a big part of why some analysts say extension of the Trump tax cuts would add trillions of dollars to the national debt. An early estimate from the Tax Policy Center in 2018 found that extending the provisions through 2038 would add $3.8 trillion to the US deficit. A 2024 estimate from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget predicted that it would add $3.9 trillion to $4.7 trillion to the deficit through 2035, depending on which provisions were included.
The blueprint passed by the House last week included about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, to be supported by $1.5 trillion in further government spending cuts. The rest would either go to the deficit or have to be made up for with additional cuts, adding fuel to the concerns that Republicans intend to substantially cut funding for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security to pay for their tax plans.
For more, find out if IRS layoffs will hurt your tax return.
Technologies
Google Discover Gains Follow Button and Expands Content Sources
Google’s personalized news feed will feature a wider variety of content in the coming weeks.
Google Discover, Google’s personalized news feed, has largely remained the same since its introduction in 2018, but it’s now receiving some new and helpful features.
On Wednesday, Google announced that Discover will soon expand the type of content found within the feed and allow you to follow publications and creators. You can find Google Discover in the Google app, and it will be built into the home screens of some Android phones.
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
Instead of just seeing a list of web pages to visit on your feed, you’ll soon see a mix of web articles, YouTube videos and social media posts from X and Instagram, effectively widening the net of content shown in Discover.
Along with expanding content from more sources, Google Discover is allowing users to follow specific publishers and content creators using a «follow» button at the top right of each content card.
Google says that tapping the publication’s or creator’s name will open a new page previewing the content that’s typically shared before you choose to follow the outlet. From our testing across multiple phones so far, it appears the feature is still rolling out.
Your Google Discover feed should now allow you to follow content creators. A more diversified mix of content will roll out over the coming weeks.
Technologies
New Bill Aims to Block Both Online Adult Content and VPNs: How Your VPN Could Be Affected
A proposed bill in Michigan has a broad reach that covers everything from adult AI content to manga and even depictions of transgender people. It includes a VPN ban to avoid workarounds.
If you live in Michigan, you might not be able to legally use a VPN soon if a new bill is passed into law. On Sept. 11, Michigan Republican representatives proposed far-reaching legislation banning adult internet content.
The bill, called the Anticorruption of Public Morals Act and advanced by six Republican representatives, would ban a wide variety of adult content online, ranging from ASMR and adult manga to AI content and any depiction of transgender people. It also seeks to ban all use of VPNs, foreign or US-produced.
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
VPNs, or virtual private networks, are software suites often used as workarounds to avoid similar content bans that have passed in states like Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and the UK. VPNs can be purchased with subscriptions or downloaded and are also built into some browsers and Wi-Fi routers.
But Michigan’s bill would charge internet service providers with detecting and blocking VPN use, as well as banning the sale of VPNs in the state. Associated fines would be up to $500,000.
What the ban could mean for VPNs
Unlike some laws banning access to adult content, this Michigan bill is comprehensive. It applies to all residents of Michigan, adults or children, targets an extensive range of content and includes language that could ban not only VPNs but any method of bypassing internet filters or restrictions.
That could spell trouble for VPN owners and other internet users who leverage these tools to improve their privacy, protect their identities online, prevent ISPs from gathering data about them or increase their device safety when browsing on public Wi-Fi.
Read more: CNET Survey: 47% of Americans Use VPNs for Privacy. That Number Could Rise. Here’s Why
Bills like these could have unintended side effects. John Perrino, Senior Policy and Advocacy Expert for the nonprofit Internet Society, mentioned to CNET that adult content laws like this could interfere with what kind of music people can stream, the sexual health forums and articles they can access and even important news involving sexual topics that they may want to read.
«Additionally, state age verification laws are difficult for smaller services to comply with, hurting competition and an open internet,» Perrino said.
The Anticorruption of Public Morals Act has not passed the Michigan House of Representatives committee or been voted on by the Michigan Senate, and it’s not clear how much support the bill has beyond the six Republican representatives who have proposed it. As we’ve seen with state legislation in the past, sometimes bills like these can serve as templates for other representatives who may want to propose similar laws in their own states.
Could VPNs still get around bans like these?
Could VPNs still get around this type of ban? That’s a complex question that this bill doesn’t really address.
«From a technical standpoint, ISPs can attempt to distinguish VPN traffic using deep packet inspection, or they can block known VPN IP addresses,» said NordVPN privacy advocate Laura Tyrylyte. «However, deploying them effectively requires big investments and ongoing maintenance, making large-scale VPN blocking both costly and complex.»
Also, VPNs have ways around deep packet inspection and other methods.
«Some VPNs offer obfuscation — which tries to disguise VPN traffic as standard web traffic — using dedicated servers or custom VPN protocols, like NordVPN’s NordWhisper or Proton VPN’s Stealth,» said CNET senior editor Moe Long. «But note that obfuscation isn’t foolproof.»
There are also no-log features offered by many VPNs to guarantee they don’t keep a record of your activity, and no-log audits from third parties like Deloitte that — well, try to guarantee the guarantee. VPNs can even use server tricks, such as RAM-only servers that automatically reboot to erase data after every browsing session.
If you’re seriously concerned about your data privacy, you can look for features like these in a VPN and see if they are right for you. Changes like these, even on the state level, are one reason we pay close attention to how specific VPNs work during our testing, and recommend the right VPNs for the job, from speedy browsing to privacy while traveling.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Sept. 19 #565
Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Sept. 19, No. 565.
Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Do you drink your coffee black? If so, today’s NYT Strands puzzle might be a puzzler. If you need hints and answers, read on.
I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far
Hint for today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strands theme is: Pour it on.
If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Wow, no cow.
Clue words to unlock in-game hints
Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:
- NONE, CONE, RICER, SHEW, FAIR, FAIRY, DRAY, YARD, MILK, CASH, DONE, DRAM, MADAM
Answers for today’s Strands puzzle
These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:
- RICE, FLAX, ALMOND, CASHEW, COCONUT, MACADAMIA
Today’s Strands spangram
Today’s Strands spangram is NONDAIRYMILK. To find it, look for the N that’s four letters down on the far-left row, and wind across and down.
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