2025 could bring financial changes, tax adjustments as President-elect Trump returns to Washington

WASHINGTON — At the start of the new session of the United States Congress, lawmakers will be making critically important decisions that will impact taxes in 2025.

Next year, Congress will debate trillions of dollars in expiring tax policies from the first Trump administration’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that will affect workers, families and businesses around the country.

Lawmakers will be able to vote to extend or change the tax law, or they can choose not to act and let the law expire.

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The 2017 tax law cut federal income taxes for most Americans and increased the child tax credit, but Democrats have been critical of the 2017 Trump tax measures as disproportionately benefiting the wealthy.

President-elect Donald Trump has proposed changes including no taxes on tips and increasing tariffs among other measures.

“No tax on Social Security for seniors, no tax on tips,” Trump said while campaigning.

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The incoming president-elect also said he wants to increase tariffs on imported goods.

however, the tariff increases are a move that Democrats and some economists warn could lead to higher prices for Americans for things like clothing, furniture and other items.

“If Donald Trump is to be believed about what he says he’s going to do with tariffs, with national security, with so many other things. That’s a pretty scary thought,” Rep. Jim Hines (D-Conn.) said.

With a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate and possibly one in the U.S. House of Representatives, tax policies are expected to reflect Republican policies while Democrats will likely have little room to include their priorities.

Earlier this year, Channel 2 Action News reported on a Democrat-backed proposal to bring back a provision which allows victims to not pay taxes on money they lost to scammers, which was temporarily repealed under the 2017 tax cuts law.

With some congressional races still undecided as votes are counted, and a razor-thin margin when it comes to which party controls the House, the difference between passing major legislation or not could come down to just a few votes.

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