If you listen to the debate over affordability, you’d think the Working Families Tax Cuts had failed. Critics point to today’s cost-of-living challenges as proof that they aren't working.

No one bill was ever going to solve every affordability challenge facing this country. If we’re going to judge this law, we ought to judge it by what it was actually designed to do.

After knocking on more than 27 million doors nationwide, Americans for Prosperity volunteers have heard one concern more than any other: the cost of living. Families feel squeezed. In fact, our polling found that the cost of living is a top concern for four in 10 American voters.

They’re not asking Washington to promise overnight transformation. They’re asking it to stop making life more expensive. Families want their paychecks to go a little farther. Small-business owners want to be able to make payroll with confidence. They want to hire another employee, invest in their business, and keep their doors open for years to come.

After all those conversations, one thing that has become clear is that families don’t expect Washington to fix everything. They do expect it to stop making things harder. Letting people keep more of what they earn is a good place to start.

When groceries, gas and just about everything else cost more than they used to, every dollar families get to keep matters that much more. That’s exactly what the Working Families Tax Cuts were designed to do, and that’s how it ought to be judged.

Helping families keep more of what they earn is one of the simplest ways Washington can make life more affordable. That’s what the Working Families Tax Cuts did. It prevented a tax increase that would have cost the typical family of four $1,500 a year. Tax Foundation estimates show the typical taxpayer is paying nearly $2,300 less in federal taxes this year.

For families already feeling squeezed, keeping more of what they’ve earned means something simple: breathing room. It means a little more cushion when the grocery bill is higher than expected or when the utility bill comes due.

I’ve heard the same thing from small-business owners. They need breathing room, too. Some months, making payroll is hard enough. Adding another employee, buying a new piece of equipment, or expanding into a larger space all become harder when the tax code penalizes those investments.

The Working Families Tax Cuts changed that. By restoring full expensing for equipment purchases and research and development, the law lets businesses invest in growing instead of taxing those investments. That’s not just good tax policy; it's another owner with a little more room to put another name on the payroll.

That shouldn’t surprise us. When families have a little more breathing room, and when businesses are free to invest in new equipment, new ideas, and new jobs, good things tend to happen. The broader economic projections point in the same direction.

The Congressional Budget Office projects stronger economic growth under the law. By restoring full expensing for equipment purchases and allowing businesses to immediately deduct research and development costs, the Working Families Tax Cuts remove barriers to investing, innovating and growing. When we bet on Americans and trust them to invest in themselves and their businesses, our economy benefits.

There’s still more work to do to make life affordable. Helping families keep more of what they’ve earned and giving small businesses more room to grow is real progress. We shouldn’t lose sight of that.

The Working Families Tax Cuts were never designed to solve every economic challenge. It was designed to help families keep more of what they’ve earned and give small businesses the confidence to grow. By that standard, it is working.

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ABOUT THE WRITER

Kent Strang is the managing director for Americans for Prosperity. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.

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