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University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

Abstract

On June 3, 2023, Congress enacted the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2023. In addition to green-lighting the U.S. Treasury to finance ongoing federal government debt through the 2024 calendar year, the legislation adopted a four-prong approach to “fiscal responsibility.” First, it rescinded unspent COVID funds. Second, it imposed spending freezes on defense spending and social safety net programs. Third, it reduced by $21.4 billion the $80 billion allocated by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to the IRS for tax enforcement. And fourth, it required all “able-bodied persons” in the 51 to 55 age bloc to meet mandatory work requirements or risk relinquishment of federal aid. None of these four measures alone, or together, did anything to significantly reduce the large and growing U.S. debt.

Then, on July 3, 2025, Congress enacted the One Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) of 2025, increasing the expenditures on defense and immigration enforcement, extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and again, imposing work requirements (now up to age 65) for recipients of both SNAP and Medicaid. The BBB is expected to add $3.4 trillion to the federal deficit, reducing taxes on the rich and shifting the burden of the national debt to the poor. Neither the FRA nor the BBB increased taxes on wealthy companies and billionaires, nor did they significantly reform Social Security or Medicare. Instead, these two acts notably damage the poor by eliminating their federal aid if they cannot find market work. An approach that focuses on the “personal responsibility” of the poor has proven to be counterproductive. To adequately address the deficit and relieve future generations of this growing debt burden, this Article proposes a two-pronged tax approach: (1) modify the existing tax system to make it fair and more effective, and (2) add new taxes, specifically a wealth tax and a carbon tax.

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