New York Times: “The Trump administration on Monday is set to take its first steps toward returning more than $166 billion collected from tariffs that were struck down in February. Just over a year after imposing many of the duties, the government is expected to begin accepting requests for refunds, surrendering its prized source of revenue — plus interest.”

Axios: What to know about tariff refund site that launches Monday.

“Senate Republicans have one big, beautiful problem on their hands as they struggle to streamline messaging about the party’s tax cut law and overcome President Donald Trump’s international spats, which are casting a long shadow and doing little favor to the extended sales pitch,” NOTUS reports.

“Even amid a worsening political environment, Republicans have hung their hats on their hopes of being able to sell what they consider to be popular items of last year’s tax cut package to voters. Those hopes, however, are running headfirst into reality as the midterm elections wind closer and they struggle to break through an avalanche of news, much of it headlined by the Iran war.”

CBS News: “The U.S. government is set to launch an online portal next week that lets businesses request refunds for tariffs deemed illegal by the Supreme Court. But payouts won’t be automatic, and legal experts said businesses could face other obstacles getting their money back.”

The Economist: “Democrats and Republicans alike seem to be concluding that swathes of Americans should pay almost no income tax at all. To fund the state, many on the left would squeeze the richest few, while many on the right would hit foreigners with tariffs. Neither revenue pool is likely to cover America’s expenses, so the result would be even larger budget deficits.”

White House budget director Russ Vought told lawmakers Wednesday that the Trump administration hasn’t settled on “a ballpark” range for how much funding it will ask Congress to approve for the Iran conflict, Politico reports.

“Republicans hoped that last year’s tax cuts would offer giant political benefits, with taxpayers receiving super-sized refunds and then rewarding them at the ballot box,” Politico reports.

“That doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.”

“Refunds haven’t jumped as much as Republicans as hoped, which underscores a broader problem for the party. Many taxpayers remain unaware of last year’s tax cuts and aren’t feeling much relief, even though their ‘big, beautiful bill’ offered substantial benefits to a good portion of them.”

The Guardian: Republicans struggle to highlight Trump’s cuts as Americans see little effect on Tax Day.

Bloomberg: Tax refunds are up but many Americans aren’t feeling it.

Gallup: “Americans’ belief that they pay too much in taxes remains elevated for the fourth consecutive year, with 59% saying this. Most others, 37%, say their taxes are ‘about right,’ while 3% think they are too low.”

Semafor: “Nearly six in 10 Americans think they pay too much in taxes, despite the tax bill that President Donald Trump signed into law last year.”

“The share of US adults who told Gallup that their taxes are too high has remained consistent since 2023 during Joe Biden’s presidency; just 37% now say their taxes are about right, according to the March poll. And 47% say the income tax they face this year is fair, near the record low from 1999.”

Time: “As part of the deal to restore funding for most of DHS, Democrats agreed to forgo the reforms they had been demanding for nearly two months, winding down a shutdown that has inconvenienced thousands of travellers and prompted resignations by hundreds of TSA workers. There is still no ban on masked agents, no requirement that immigration officers obtain judicial warrants to enter homes, and no new use-of-force standards.”

“The episode has raised a central question that cuts through the party’s claim of success: What, exactly, did Democrats win?”

Axios: “A sharp rise in defense spending. Steep cuts elsewhere. All against a backdrop of rapid growth.”

“That is the Trump administration’s formal 2027 budget proposal, in a nutshell.”

“As always, the presidential budget is more of a statement of the White House’s goals than a road map that is likely to be enacted by Congress. This one shows a president who is eager to spend big on the military while bringing austerity to the rest of the federal budget.“

Bloomberg: “Maine Governor Janet Mills now supports increasing taxes on the state’s richest residents, reversing her past opposition after lagging in recent polls for a key Democratic Senate primary.”

New York Times: “Senate and House Republicans announced an agreement on Wednesday to move ahead as early as Thursday morning with legislation to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, resurrecting a bipartisan deal that President Trump and the House G.O.P. angrily rejected last week.”

“The plan would fund the department through Sept. 30 but omit money for the agencies carrying out Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown. Republicans said Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol would continue to be paid for out of funds they pushed through Congress last year over Democratic objections. This year, Democrats have refused to approve spending for those agencies without new restrictions on federal immigration agents’ conduct.”

President Trump said on Truth Social that he wants Republicans to send him a reconciliation bill for ICE funding by June 1.

He added that the process should be “fast” and “focused,” as some Republicans want to use the reconciliation bill as a vehicle for unrelated priorities.

Fortune: “Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell offered a sobering assessment of America’s fiscal health on Monday, telling a Harvard economics class that while the nation’s $39 trillion debt load is not immediately dangerous, the path the country is on demands urgent attention from lawmakers.”

Bloomberg: “Some of the country’s wealthiest corporations are calculating they owe far less to the Internal Revenue Service as a result of President Donald Trump’s overhauled tax code, underscoring how a law billed as a middle‑class cut also turned out to be a big win for Corporate America.”

“Nearly a dozen of the 50 biggest US-listed companies attributed a drop in federal cash income taxes last year as a direct result of Trump’s $3.4 trillion sweeping tax law, according to a Bloomberg analysis of regulatory filings. In all, annual corporate tax revenues dropped by $65 billion following the law’s passage.”

Wall Street Journal: “Washington State on Monday enacted a tax on income over $1 million, the latest Democratic state to levy a tax aimed squarely at the wealthy.”

“The law, signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson, creates an income tax for top earners beginning in 2028. The 9.9% tax will apply only to income over $1 million, and will be used to fund child care programs, free school meals, tax credits for working families and tax breaks for small businesses. Until now, Washington hasn’t had any state income tax.”

Punchbowl News: “Let’s be abundantly clear — this record-breaking, 44-day DHS funding impasse has turned into a political disaster for Republicans.”

“At one point, Republicans seemed to be breaking through with their message that Democrats instigated the DHS fight over undocumented immigrants. But now, House and Senate Republicans are publicly warring with each other over who’s at fault for last week’s debacle. The GOP-run Congress has left town until mid-April, while President Donald Trump was forced to issue an executive order to pay TSA employees.”

Washington Post: “Republicans in the House are now actively bucking every member of their party in the Senate who agreed to go along with the Senate bill, which passed unanimously, giving Democrats a significantly larger cudgel to use in blaming them for the shutdown.”