The House Republicans Getting Rich Off Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill

But it’s unlikely he’ll notice. Bresnahan’s net worth is about $48 million, according to Accountability.US, and his tax bill next year will drop by up to $23,600 thanks to the One Big, Beautiful Bill. Perhaps half of that savings will come from the “pass-through” provision in the bill, which, as I explained in July, is both eye-glazingly boring and very necessary to understand because it was the oligarchs’ big prize. The short description is that it’s a 20 percent deduction on income that goes untaxed as corporate income and instead is taxed as personal income. Bresnahan’s income last year was up to $1.97 million, and his pass-through income was up to $715,000. (The “up-to” calculations reflect the fact that members of Congress make public their financial information only within a certain range.) Nationwide, the pass-through provision will next year reduce taxes for the top 1 percent in the income distribution by an average of $27,000, according to ITEP.

Bresnahan is a piker compared to Representative Robb Wittman, Republican of Virginia. Wittman too has arranged for his pay to be withheld during the shutdown. As with Bresnahan, Wittman’s sacrifice won’t cramp his style because he’s worth about $6 million, according to Quiver Quantitative. The $10,000 Wittman would lose in a three-week shutdown is dwarfed by the $59,000 maximum his tax bill will go down next year thanks to the One Big, Beautiful Bill. (It’s also about half the minimum amount his tax bill will go down.) The tax’s pass-through provision is doing most of the work here. Bresnahan reported earning up to $883,000 in 2024, of which $508,000 was pass-through income.

Other maximum tax savings next year from the One Big, Beautiful bill: Representative Thomas Kean, Republican of New Jersey: $17,900; Representative Nick Begich, Republican of Arkansas: $10,000; Representative Ryan Zinke, Republican of Montana: $51,000; Representative Bill Huizenga, Republican of Michigan: $50,000; Representative Ken Calvert, Republican of California: $35,000; Representative Mike Carey, Republican of Ohio: $50,000; Representative John James, Republican of Michigan: $12,400; and Representative Ann Wagner, Republican of Missouri: $18,700. The pass-through tax break plays an outsize role in the biggest of these tax reductions.