00:00This is a tax season that's taking place in a difficult year, I think, for a lot of Americans, working
00:05class Americans in particular.
00:07The health care tax credits are expiring. There's an affordability crisis across the country.
00:12A lot of questions about sort of where their tax dollars are going at the state and the federal levels.
00:18What are you hearing particularly from working class Americans as they file taxes this year about how they're feeling?
00:22The tax situation is sort of a sideline to other issues that seem much more present in people's minds about
00:31the economy right now.
00:33You might be getting a couple thousand dollars from your tax refund that you didn't expect, but your utility bills
00:39are up at least as much.
00:40Because, first of all, it's been a cold winter in parts of the United States, but also just the utility
00:44costs have gone through the roof.
00:47And I think that's emblematic of the fact that like there's this tax, like the Republicans are really hoping for
00:54a political benefit from this tax season.
00:56And they may get a small one, but their problem is that there are these other issues.
01:02We have like it's hard to get a job right now.
01:05Inflation is looking pretty hot. Gas prices are high.
01:08Those kinds of things that are taking money away at the same time.
01:12You mentioned the politics. Let's get into that a little bit here.
01:15So the midterms will be here before we know it, just a few months away from now.
01:19How are these tax policies, the ones that President Trump pushed for, impacting his base in particular?
01:25You know, I think Republicans learned something from the 2017 law, which Democrats really painted as a giveaway to the
01:34rich.
01:35And there was reason to think that.
01:37I mean, a lot of benefits were directed to wealthy people and to business owners, especially.
01:44This law, I think they learned that they wanted to send a different message.
01:49And so the no tax on tips and no tax on overtime and the senior benefit, they, in a lot
01:56of cases, they're small numbers of people affected.
01:58But it's symbolic. It's saying we're not just the party of the wealthy.
02:05We're the party of a broader group of people.
02:08And and so we'll see how that plays out.
02:12And so we'll see how that plays out.
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