Back in July the IRS was due to issue an annual report with detail tax analysis data. The Trump administration said there would be a delay. Ok, there can be legitimate reasons any administration might need a little more time. Now, with the midterms only a few weeks away Team Trump is saying sorry, but it’s still not ready. It seems reasonable to assume that if the report had information that backed up Team Trump’s claims about say how his BBB had cut taxes for the masses (instead of the rich) it would be published. If not then it isn’t a stretch to think Trump has ordered it covered up for as long as possible.
What we’ve learned today however is that the Treasury Dept., not the IRS has announced the release of the tax data analysis will be delayed. Again. As Politico explains, the report will include data on how Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, the “BBB” affected people’s 2025 taxes. Basically, this is the kind of detailed anaylisis that will show which tax breaks were claimed by people in different income brackets, AND something else you know Trump (and the GOP) wants to be able to tout as the campaign enters the final stretch – how much people paid in taxes:
The IRS typically releases the data in the wake of each filing season, but this year’s rollout is more anticipated because it’s expected to provide the first detailed look at how taxpayers are taking advantage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including its new deductions for overtime wages and tipped income.
The data was scheduled to be released in July, and then updated again in September, as the IRS processed more people’s returns —but the agency hasn’t published either. The IRS said it is awaiting approval from the Treasury Department to publish the figures. But the delay has already irked some who complain it is part of a pattern of the administration withholding otherwise routine releases of tax data.
“I think they are hiding stuff that doesn’t line up with all the crowing the CEO has been doing,” Nina Olson, a former national taxpayer advocate, said of Frank Bisignano, the IRS’s day-to-day leader who has joined Republican lawmakers in touting the breaks to voters.
if the report is being held back because voting for the midterms is underway and Trump (and the GOP) doesn’t want still more bad news revealed to an already unhappy, if not angry electorate. More specifically, one has to ask if the report confirms what critics of Trump’s infamous “Big, Beautiful Bill” have said – that the tax benefits flow much more to the already wealthy instead of regular Americans.
Affordability is arguably the most important thing voters minds, even in MAGA places around the country. Trump has tried the FAKE NEWS! schtick about both the (according to him) tax relief he gave good ole ‘Real Americans’ and that grocery and gas prices aren’t as high as what everyone’s paying. Basically he’s told folks their wallets are lying to them as the try to meet daily expenses. At times he’s pivoted to saying he’s been told things are ‘kind of tough’ lately but ‘it will get better’ (checks his notes) ‘soon.’ That hasn’t worked either. He’s even tried admitting the cost of the war in Iran has driven up prices but that (so he claims) the war is already won/will be over ‘soon’ and that not only hasn’t worked but even with his MAGAs backfired. After all, one of the biggest promises their Trumpty made and which they totally believed he’d keep was ‘No more forever wars’ and the Iran war won’t be ending anytime soon.
Trump needs good news to report to keep him from facing a Democratically controlled House (highly likely) and worse, a Democratically controlled Senate (odds tilting that way) too. That’s why it’s easy to believe he’d hold back, or to be blunt cover up the IRS report, at least until after the election. Let’s get real here – if he had data even critics would have to admit backed up his claims of his policies and the BBB in particular had enriched not just already rich folks but average Americans it would be all he talks about. Instead, he’s using his Treasury Secretary to cover up an IRS report that Treasury should have no ability to stop from coming out. As Politico goes on to point out, that’s not the only thing being held back:
The lack of detailed numbers on the 2026 filing season comes as the agency is also under fire for withholding a periodic report on the so-called tax gap, which is the share of taxes owed but not yet paid.
During the filing season, the IRS publishes weekly top-line statistics documenting how many returns it processed, how many refunds it issued and how much money taxpayers typically got back — figures the administration hyped earlier this year as evidence of the benefits of their tax cuts.
But the delayed data is far more granular, showing the uptake of individual provisions in the code as well as things like how much more people in different income groups reported earning, and how many people still owed money to the IRS at the time of filing.
All my life (and I’m a senior citizen) I’ve heard the expression about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Even in normal times when the average person who just wants to get through month to month hears terms like ‘Wealth Gap’ their eyes glaze over. Somehow I think that in this moment, it would get people’s attention enough they’d decide since it’s time to vote they might decide to punish those in power. Which is the GOP which controls all three branches of government. The WH, Congress (both chambers) and even SCOTUS which has three Justices appointed by none other than Trump.
In the end, the fact is that Trump is a boastful blowhard who constantly self-promotes the tiniest of positive news about what he’s accomplished and how great he is for having done it through a megaphone. Hell, if he has to (and he has to an awful lot) he’ll make stuff up! With his approval rating, including on the economy sitting at the bottom of his fake gold toilet dragging both federal and state candidates down with him he’s desperate. Part of him knows even some of his MAGAs don’t believe him anymore.
When Democrats talk about affordability they already point out it’s Trump and his Congressional enablers who are responsible. Now, with early voting underway they can and should use covering up government reports that should have already been released! Now is not the time to ease up. Trump and a lot of GOP Congress Critters are down so Democrats should do what we all know damn well Republicans would do if the situation was reversed – Kick em when they are down. Again and again!
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
