Paul Krugman: “It’s important to understand, however, the nature of the looming crisis. It won’t be an economic crisis. It won’t even be a serious fiscal crisis. Whatever you may have heard, Social Security isn’t in danger of going bankrupt.”
“What we’re facing, instead, is potential political crisis. Congress and the White House could easily take action to sustain America’s retirement system. But given the current state of our politics, there’s no guarantee that they will.”
Bloomberg: “The U.S. Treasury refunded nearly $22 billion in tariff revenue collected from importers in May, the first swath of such repayments since the Supreme Court struck down a major component of President Donald Trump’s trade policy.”
“The amount was roughly equal to tariffs taken in during the month, according to a Treasury Department statement Wednesday, meaning that refunds essentially cancelled out the government’s duties revenue.”
Wall Street Journal: “Social Security is expected to deplete the fund that helps pay out retirement benefits by late 2032, the program’s trustees said Tuesday.”
“That is earlier than their projection last year of 2033, partly because the fund expects to collect less revenue after President Trump’s new tax law. Passed last summer, the law gave senior citizens an extra deduction that reduced taxes on benefits for many Social Security recipients.”
New York Times: “San Francisco voters appear to have rejected a significant tax increase on highly paid corporate executives that had been opposed by some of the most powerful people in the tech industry.”
Washington Post: “As grocery prices continue to rise nationally, the House on Thursday passed an appropriations bill that would cut funding for a program that helps pregnant women and children purchase healthy foods.”
“By a vote of 213-210, the House passed an appropriations measure to fund the Agriculture Department among other agencies.”
New York Times: “The Trump administration is resisting a court order that requires the government to refund the full $166 billion collected from illegal tariffs, raising the possibility that only some importers will be completely repaid.”
“In a series of recent legal maneuvers, the administration has indicated that it could hold up the return of potentially tens of billions in those previously paid duties. The government collected the revenue under a slate of tariffs first enacted by President Trump last year and struck down by the Supreme Court in February.”
The Trump administration is diverting at least $90 million from entry fees to national parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite to D.C. to fund a $1.6 million fireworks display — more than five times as much as what is usually spent on the Fourth of July pyrotechnics display — and $76 million to repair fountains including the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the Washington Post reports.
New York Times: “The White House is seeking to exert more control over billions of dollars in annual government grants, aiming to restrict a vast swath of funding — in health, housing, science and transportation — so that it primarily serves the purposes and organizations politically aligned with President Trump.”
“While the administration says that its primary goal is to safeguard taxpayer money, its proposal amounts to a major escalation in its attempt to reimagine the nation’s spending, even as Congress and the courts continue to rebuke the president for abusing such powers.”
“President Trump’s extraordinary no-audits promise from his acting attorney general operates far outside normal tax administration, with tax lawyers saying the deal likely exceeds the Justice Department’s authority to close tax cases,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The May 19 arrangement ends pending audits of Trump, his family and his businesses, and it blocks future audits of already filed returns. That creates a protective blanket that will be difficult—but not impossible—for Trump’s opponents or future tax authorities to pierce. The shield goes far beyond what other taxpayers typically get when resolving disputes with the Internal Revenue Service.”
New York Times: “A year ago, the Trump administration withdrew from a global effort to curb offshore tax-dodging by multinational companies. That decision has been a huge gift to corporate America, enabling companies to avoid at least $40 billion in income taxes since the beginning of 2025.”
“A New York Times review of securities filings from nearly 500 companies showed that they avoided taxes by attributing hundreds of billions of dollars in earnings to low- or no-tax foreign locales like Cyprus, Bermuda, Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. Often, corporations funneled the profits through subsidiaries in places where they had no employees, offices or customers.”
“President Donald Trump isn’t supposed to directly profit from the dismissal of his lawsuit against the IRS,” Politico reports.
“And yet, he could still owe taxes on the money going to set up a central feature of that deal — the $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund.”
“Some tax practitioners say the way that the fund, which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced May 18, is structured likely makes it an income tax liability for the president, potentially costing hundreds of millions of dollars.”
“President Trump’s return to office has been an unforgiving crucible for the hidebound Internal Revenue Service. He and his aides have decimated its ranks, fired and replaced its leaders and made repeated attempts to enlist the agency in his quest for political retribution,” the New York Times reports.
“Now, as part of an arrangement drawn up this week by Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, the I.R.S. faces its most profound legal and ethical test yet: a demand to drop any audits of Mr. Trump, his family members or their affiliates.”
“Tax lawyers and former I.R.S. officials said such expansive protection would cut to the core of the agency’s mission to collect taxes in a disinterested, nonpartisan way — and could potentially run afoul of the laws governing how it does so.”
Fortune: “It wasn’t even a year ago that fiscal hawks were wringing their hands over a new national debt milestone: The debt had hit $38 trillion, and interest payments on an annual basis would be 13 figures.”
“A little over 200 days later, the U.S. national debt stands at more than $39 trillion. According to Treasury data, updated retrospectively for May 18, the debt landed at $39,008,999,901,378.68.”
“Republican senators are warning that any request from President Trump for tens of billions of dollars to pay for the Iran war will have a tough time passing the Senate, as patience wanes over what they say is a lack of a clear plan to end the conflict,” The Hill reports.
“GOP senators say additional funding likely won’t have the votes to pass unless Trump comes to Congress with a formal request for authorization, or at least a clear plan to end the war soon.”
Punchbowl News: “Trump’s push for a federal gas tax holiday isn’t going over well with Senate Republicans. Thune was more critical of the idea on Tuesday than he was even the day before.”
“Thune wouldn’t commit to holding a standalone floor vote on a gas tax suspension, saying it was more likely that a vote would occur as an amendment to a different bill.”
Said Thune: “That does, obviously, impair significantly the highway trust fund, which is already getting transfers from the general fund because it’s not keeping up. I’m not discounting it, but I’m saying there are implications around that that we need to think about.”
“The Pentagon put the cost of the war on Iran at ‘closer’ to $29 billion, roughly $4 billion more than two weeks ago,” the New York Times reports.
“President Trump’s endorsement of suspending federal gas taxes pushes the idea higher on the political radar, but it still faces long odds,” Axios reports.
“Why it matters: Some Republicans rushed to introduce bills, and a few Democrats have already endorsed the idea — but there are still serious obstacles that could keep Trump’s comments from becoming reality.”
President Trump told CBS News that he would like to pause the federal 18.4 cents a gallon tax on gasoline “for a period of time” — though it’s unclear how much of the tax cut would reach consumers at the pump.
Bloomberg: “The average national price for regular gasoline has surged since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February, reaching $4.52 a gallon as of Sunday.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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