A New Gilded Age
“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were
a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”
Mark Twain
Mark Twain’s novel, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, was published in 1873. Twain’s term “Gilded Age” was later adopted by historians to refer to the period between the 1870s and about 1900 when industrial tycoons, real estate developers, financiers, and robber barons built huge fortunes while even skilled workers earned modest wages, and unions were relentlessly fought by moneyed interests. Twain lampooned the greed, graft, racism, and widespread political corruption.
The Gilded Age was not a Golden Age. Most wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few while the gap between the rich and the rest widened significantly. According to historian Howard Zinn, “Most of the fortune building was done legally, with the collaboration of the government and the courts. Sometimes the collaboration had to be paid for. Thomas Edison promised New Jersey politicians $1,000 each in return for favorable legislation.”
Now we find ourselves in a new Gilded Age thanks to Congressional Republicans who passed, and Trump signed, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act with massive tax cuts, about 60 percent of which will go to the richest 20 percent of Americans, leaving only 40 percent for 80 percent of the people. The independent Tax Policy Center estimates that for taxes filed in 2026, households making from $217,000 to $318,000 will have a 2.6% rise in after-tax income, about $5,400. Those making between $318,000 to $460,000 (the 90th to 95th percentile) will have an after-tax increase of about $8,900, or 3.1%.
The biggest percentage tax break goes to households making $460,000 to $1.1 million: 4.4%, or about $21,000. The 1 percent making from $1.1 million to $5 million will have a tax break of 3.5%, while the ultra-rich .1 percent making more than $5 million will enjoy a 3.2% break.
Middle-income households will have much smaller percentage breaks. Those making between $100,000 and $200,000 will have after-tax income about $3,000 more, or 2.5%. Incomes from $75,000 to $100,000 will gain about $1,700, or 2.3%. Incomes between $50,000 to $75,000 will have a $1,000 break.
Low-income earners will have the worst deal of all. Those making between $40,000 and $50,000 will have a cut of about $630; after-tax gains of 1.9% and 1.5%, respectively. Earners in the lowest 20 percent, making less than $34,600, will have a tax decrease of about $150, a .8% increase in after-tax income.
However, tax breaks for many low- and middle-income Americans will be offset by the Act’s sweeping cuts to nutrition assistance, Medicaid, and ACA health insurance. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 10.9 million will lose Medicaid or ACA coverage.
Polls repeatedly show that the Act is historically unpopular, with nearly two-thirds of voters opposed. The Act will cause the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in U.S. history and will add $2.8 trillion to our debt by 2034. Among many other provisions, it also rolls back clean energy incentives and promotes fossil fuels as if Earth’s climate—and our future—just doesn’t matter.
Why would Republicans vote for an Act so unpopular? To please their leader and, importantly, their major donors. In Twain’s day, they were called bribes, but in our time, they are large campaign donations. A bribe by any other name would smell as corrupt.
