WA Rep. rips Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’: A ‘reverse Robin Hood’ for the rich

President Donald Trump signed his “big, beautiful bill” into law over the Fourth of July weekend, but not without plenty of criticism and pushback, including from U.S. Rep Adam Smith, D-WA, one of the most vocal critics against Trump and the legislation.

“The deficit is one of the biggest concerns. I think it’s one of the most hypocritical,” Smith said on “Seattle’s Morning News.” “You can hear so many Republican members of Congress talk about how bad the debt and the deficit are and the impact they’re going to have. And then they actually argued that we have to vote for this bill because we have to get spending under control.”

Smith stated that approximately $3.4 trillion will be added to the federal debt because of the amount of taxes cut “primarily for the wealthy, but some for the upper middle class, at a time when the concentration of wealth is the single biggest economic problem that we face.”

“It is literally a reverse Robin Hood piece of legislation that’s going to weaken us fiscally and also make it harder for the people in this country who are already struggling economically,” Smith said. “It was an incredibly irresponsible piece of legislation.”

The “big, beautiful bill” reached 900 pages in length, according to The Associated Press. Despite unanimous disapproval of the legislation by Democratic representatives, the House passed it on a 218-214 vote after the Senate passed it on a tiebreaking vote by Vice President JD Vance.

“I think the most offensive part about it, again, is the dishonesty behind it,” Smith added. “That the Republicans are claiming that they’re going to be fiscally responsible in passing this bill.”

Included in the bill is approximately $350 billion for Trump’s border and national security agenda, including for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds.

“Did you and your fellow Democrats just want to kill the whole deal, or did you feel there was room for compromise?” KIRO host Manda Factor asked Smith.

“Probably kill the whole deal because I don’t know what you would really compromise on if the entire goal was to drive up the debt, cut programs for poor people, and give more tax cuts to rich people,” Smith answered. “I’m in favor of a conversation about how we restructure the budget to get us on a more fiscally sustainable path that we could have had a conversation about, but that wasn’t the conversation that the Republican majority was interested in.”

‘Big, beautiful bill’ carries no tax on tips and overtime

As promised on Trump’s campaign trail, the legislation eliminated taxes on both tips and overtime.

The bill includes two provisions that create above-the-line deductions for both tips and overtime pay. Workers can now subtract money earned through tips and overtime from their taxable income, essentially exempting it from federal income tax.

“A fan of the show runs up to me, and he goes, ‘Tell me more about this payroll tax cut.’ Specifically, he was excited about no tax on overtime. This is a thing that I think a lot of people are excited about,” KIRO host Charlie Harger said. “Should people be excited about that?”

“Would you be excited if someone came up to you and said, ‘Here, I’m going to give you $5,000.’ Well, sure, but that’s the way we’ve been governing for several decades now,” Smith replied. “Overtime, tips, they should be taxed. Now, I’m in favor of a progressive tax system, so if you make less money, I want to give you a higher write-off. I want you to have to pay less taxes.

“But the idea that overtime and tips shouldn’t be taxed, as a number of business people have told me, all of a sudden, a lot of things are going to be considered overtime and tips,” Smith continued. “It’s not that hard to restructure that. You’re going to have a 30-hour work week, and we’re going to call it overtime. It is an invitation to undermine our tax system.”

Workers will still be subjected to state, local income, and payroll taxes.

“But look, tip of the hat to Trump,” Smith said. “He understands promising stuff is one of the best ways to get elected. We have to become more disciplined as a country if we’re going to have a more fiscally responsible budget. Governing is about more than giving free stuff to people. It’s about having an effective and efficient government.”

Listen to the full conversation here.

Listen to “Seattle’s Morning News” with Charlie Harger and Manda Factor weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio. Subscribe to the podcast here.