Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump signing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which features tax cuts that an Arizona congressman says will mean a huge boost for the state’s economy.
Democrats have criticized the law, also known as H.R. 1, for its impact on areas such as healthcare and food assistance. But Republicans have pointed to its numerous tax breaks for individuals and small businesses.
U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, told The Center Square on Thursday that H.R. 1 has already had a significant impact at the federal level. He pointed to small businesses being able to take advantage of tax cuts.
But Biggs said H.R. 1 has not had as much time to take effect in Arizona because the state budget conforming to the tax cuts wasn’t passed until June.
Arizonans will see a nearly $1.5 billion tax reduction over the next four years due to Arizona’s conformity with the H.R. 1 tax cuts, said Biggs, a gubernatorial candidate.
The average Arizona family will save nearly $2,000 in federal and state taxes as a result of H.R. 1’s policies, Biggs said.
If H.R. 1 had not been implemented, Arizonans would have had to pay an additional $1.5 billion in taxes, the congressman said. At the national level, he noted, Americans would have had to pay an extra $4 trillion.
According to Biggs, a misconception about H.R. 1 is that the tax cuts went only to the wealthy. He cited policies such as the elimination of taxes on tips and overtime pay.
The representative noted he has heard from Arizonans who received large tax refunds after H.R. 1 became law.
U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Surprise, told The Center Square by email on Thursday that he has also heard from “countless constituents” who have benefited from H.R. 1.
“Service workers are keeping more of their hard-earned money due to no-tax on tips. Small business owners are hiring, investing and growing because this law puts American workers and American businesses first,” he said.
Hamadeh said Democrats “continue to spread fear and misinformation. The facts tell a different story.”
“The overwhelming beneficiaries of these tax cuts are hardworking American families and workers earning under $200,000 a year, who are the backbone of our economy and the overwhelming majority of my constituents,” he said.
H.R. 1, in fact, has had a positive impact on small businesses in Arizona, according to Chad Heinrich, the state’s director for the National Federation of Independent Business.
Heinrich told The Center Square this week that H.R.1’s policy of making the 20% small-business deduction permanent “was the single biggest win for Main Street Arizona.”
With Arizona conforming to the business tax cuts from H.R. 1, Arizona small business owners have the “certainty they need to invest in their businesses,” he said.
NFIB conducted a study showing that the 20% small-business tax deduction will create 26,000 jobs annually in Arizona over the next decade and increase the state’s gross domestic product by $1.4 billion each year.
“I refer to that 20% small business deduction in Arizona as being really one of the largest invisible mega projects in the state’s history because it literally supports 26,000 jobs every year for the first 10 years of implementation,” Heinrich said.
The small business tax deduction was an attempt “to try to keep some parity with the large corporations whose tax rate is already permanent in law,” Heinrich said, adding that small businesses would have been paying twice as much in taxes as large corporations would have paid.
Arizona is “leading the way in the country” by conforming to the small-business tax cuts included in H.R. 1, he said.
Democrats have a different take on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
According to Arizona Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan, D-Tucson, H.R. 1 “isn’t just bad policy, it’s bad economics.”
“When families lose access to health care, food assistance, and opportunity, small businesses lose customers, struggle to retain workers, and face tougher decisions to keep their doors open,” Sundareshan told The Center Square, answering questions by by email this week. “Meanwhile, permanent tax breaks for the wealthy remain untouched while relief for working families is temporary.”
Sundareshan said it’s “alarming that Arizona Republicans continue to champion the same failed approach here at home, advancing policies that make our state less affordable while protecting wealthy special interests.”
“Arizona Senate Democrats will keep fighting for an economy that rewards hard work, lowers costs, strengthens small businesses, and creates opportunity for every Arizonan, not just those at the top,” she noted.
