Barrett: Tax Relief for Working Families Is Benefiting Lansing Area Residents
In case you missed it, Congressman Tom Barrett (MI-07) wrote an op-ed in the Lansing State Journal this week about the historic tax relief Congress passed into law this summer. The congressman spent the month of August traveling across mid-Michigan during the district work period, including visits in Shiawassee County with U.S. Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler. In the op-ed, the congressman highlights what he has heard from workers, small-business owners, and other residents about the positive effects of the working families tax cuts.
You can read the op-ed here or below.
Michigan is known for its good, honest and hardworking people who are responsible for driving its manufacturing economy forward. No one embodies that resilient and entrepreneurial spirit quite like the people of mid-Michigan. They build cars, grow food to feed the world and serve people in their local communities as they strive to build a better life for their families.
This summer, Congress and the Trump administration teamed up to deliver an enormous financial boost to Michigan workers and families: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This historic law ensures the working class will keep more of their money to buy groceries, fill the gas tank, and pay the electric bill — instead of sending so much of it to the federal government.
I spent the month of August home in mid-Michigan, hearing from workers about this tax relief. I recently hosted Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler at a meeting with manufacturing workers in Owosso, where we also held a roundtable with small business leaders to hear how this tax relief is directly benefiting the region. There’s no doubt about it. Mid-Michigan workers and businesses not only support this tax relief, they’re counting on it.
While opponents falsely claim this bill is nothing more than a tax cut for the rich, Congress proudly prevented the largest tax hike in history by making the 2017 income tax cuts for working families and small businesses permanent. If Democrats had their way, the average Michigan taxpayer would have been stuck paying $2,151 more in taxes. We avoided this devastating tax hike and secured long-lasting relief for the people of mid-Michigan.
This permanent win not only directly protects employees’ hard-earned paychecks, but it also helps thousands of small businesses in mid-Michigan, preserving their resources so they can invest in the community and keep hiring local workers.
Our tax relief law doesn’t stop there. It builds on the 2017 tax cuts and delivers additional relief for working people. It eliminates taxes on some overtime pay, so those who put in extra hours on the manufacturing line, including the workers we met in Owosso, will take home even more of their income. The bill also removes taxes on some income from tips for waitstaff, bartenders, delivery drivers, and thousands of other workers in mid-Michigan.
Thanks to these new pro-worker tax policies and other provisions like the expanded $2,200 Child Tax Credit, the average Michigan family of four could see their take-home pay increase by as much as $9,900.
All this tax relief will lower costs for families while boosting mid-Michigan’s economy. More money enables people to pay for the child care or transportation they need when they go to work. No tax on overtime will also provide an incentive for recruiting people to fill jobs at local factories, construction companies and other businesses that ask staff to work overtime, and no tax on tips will allow those in the expanding service industry to keep more of what they earn.
On top of working-class tax relief, the new law also encourages employment, promotes the dignity of work, and strengthens Medicaid and food assistance by implementing modest work requirements for able-bodied recipients without children.
As I meet with hardworking people, the message I hear is clear: This historic tax relief is a massive victory for our economy, and working families and small businesses are the big winners.
Whether you work the assembly line in a Lansing factory, harvest crops on a Williamston farm, or wait tables at a restaurant in Grand Ledge, I’ll continue to deliver for you, your family, and mid-Michigan communities.