President Donald Trump signed the Republican tax cut bill into law on Friday, the first big legislative win of his presidency.
“It’s going to be a tremendous thing for the American people. It’s going to be fantastic for the economy, it’s going to keep companies from leaving our shores,” the president said. “I consider this very much a bill for the middle class, a bill for jobs.”
Calling it the “biggest tax cut, the biggest reform of all time,” Trump celebrated the $1.5 trillion tax cut and applauded corporations like AT&T that announced employee bonuses because of it.
Polls have shown that the bill is not popular with Americans, but Trump told reporters that Americans would see its effects in their February paychecks. “I don’t think I will have to do much selling,” he said.
Joined by aides, including Chief of Staff John Kelly and Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn, Trump signed in the Oval Office at the White House before departing for his Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, where he will spend the Christmas holiday and remain until the new year with his family.
The law gives the GOP a major legislative achievement to trumpet heading into the midterm elections next year, and the president a much-needed win after a year of failed attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Related: Trump calls tax bill ‘historic victory for the American people’
Democrats say the law is a gift to corporations and the wealthy, with little to help average Americans. “Republicans will rue the day that they pass this tax bill because it’s so unfair to the middle class,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday.
The bill reduces the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent that supporters argue will make American business more competitive overseas. Many pass-through businesses also receive a 20 percent deduction.
It lowers individual tax rates, including trimming the top bracket to 37 percent from 39.6, while doubling the standard deduction and replacing personal exemptions with a $2,000 partly refundable child tax credit. The law eliminates various deductions while limiting others on state and local taxes and mortgage interest.
The measure also exempts larger inheritances from the estate tax, doubling the thresholds to $11 million for individuals and $22 million for married couples.
It has significant implications for health care, abolishing the Affordable Care Act’s penalty for Americans who don’t purchase insurance. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that change would lead 13 million more people to go without coverage after a decade and cause premiums on the individual market to rise 10 percent per year.
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The Joint Committee on Taxation, the official congressional scorekeeper, estimates every income group would receive an average tax cut next year. But the JCT also found taxes would go up for lower incomes over time, in part because fewer eligible taxpayers would choose to receive health care subsidies through the ACA. By 2027, every income group making less than $75,000 would see a net tax increase.
Despite Trump’s claims, polls show voters are skeptical about whether they’ll gain from its temporary cuts to individual rates in comparison to shareholders, business owners and the wealthy.
An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll on Tuesday found 24 percent of respondents support the bill, versus 41 percent opposed. And 63 percent say it was designed primarily to benefit corporations and the rich, versus 22 percent who say it’s aimed at all Americans equally, and just 7 percent who say it’s for the middle class.