Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent used Labor Day to highlight wage growth and tax relief under the Trump administration, while cautioning that Democrats could roll back the cuts if given the chance.
“This Labor Day, we celebrate the American worker and the policies that are putting their families first. Under @POTUS, real wages are outpacing inflation and low-income workers have experienced faster wage growth than higher earners,” Bessent said Monday.
He credited the administration with the creation of more than 900,000 private-sector jobs and said working families have claimed $82 billion in tax relief through the Working Families Tax Cuts.
“The radical left wants to repeal these tax cuts. America’s workers deserve to keep more of what they earn, not pay more in taxes,” Bessent said.
His warning points to a broader fight playing out in states like Texas, where Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico has campaigned openly on raising taxes on higher earners.
“I’ve told every wealthy person I’ve come across in this race: If you are ok with getting taxed more, if you’re ok with me limiting your influence in politics, you are welcome to join this movement that we are building,” Talarico said, thanking billionaire Mark Cuban for backing the effort.
Talarico’s platform calls for a “fairer” tax system in which he says “giant corporations and the wealthiest Americans” must “pay their fair share.” He opposed the legislation Bessent referenced, which preserved tax cuts for middle-class Americans and added provisions eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay.
Talarico called the measure the “big ugly bill” and said it was crafted “to cut taxes for their donors.” Had the bill failed, tax rates would have reverted to pre-2018 levels.
House Speaker Mike Johnson made a similar case last month, noting that Democrats voted against lower taxes, no tax on tips, Trump accounts for children, keeping men out of women’s sports, and increased border security.
