In a new policy brief, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) analyzes the impact of roadworthiness regulations by federal, state, and local lawmakers. This report ([link removed]) is a follow-up to TPA’s 2023 report on the same issues, assessing what, if any, progress has been made. The state of America’s roads remains a pressing issue that impacts millions of Americans daily. Taxpayer money continues to flow despite continued infrastructure and safety issues. The brief investigates multiple types of roadworthiness regulations – including, but not limited to vehicle weight restrictions, dimensions, and tire specifications. Within this investigation, TPA analyzes the relationship between federal regulations, state regulations, locality regulations, as well as their relationship with private industry. The report explores the benefits and costs of each. TPA concludes that federal, state, and local governments should pursue
policies that keep infrastructure costs low for taxpayers and roads safe for all users.

Congress Must Save the Tax Cuts

The expiration of provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) at the end of 2025 presents an opportunity for Congress to foster continued economic growth and protect working families from higher taxes. If lawmakers fail to extend these provisions, 62 percent of filers would see a tax increase. A failure to extend the TCJA’s provisions would reverse tax cuts for small businesses. It would also lead to a more complex tax code for American families. The TCJA was a landmark piece of tax reform policy. It lowered rates and broadened the tax base. This resulted in a more efficient and equitable tax code. In simplifying the tax code for individual filers, the TCJA made it easier for working families to navigate their taxes while reducing their overall tax burden. Such provisions include lowering marginal tax rates, creating limitations on itemized deductions, and expanding standardized deductions. Each of these provisions simplified the tax code for individual filers. These tax cuts
directly increased disposable income, increasing investment and economic stimulus. Should these provisions expire in 2025, the reduced marginal tax rates would be changed to higher pre-TCJA levels.

Additionally, the TCJA fostered a 4.7 percent increase in corporate investment, a significant achievement. This is due to the TCJA lowering the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. This had the dual effect of making American corporations more competitive globally and allowing them more liquid assets to invest back into the economy. As policymakers create and analyze new tax legislation, they should continue to prioritize opportunities for corporate investment and encourage consumer participation. The TCJA enhanced competitiveness among American businesses, specifically small businesses. One of the provisions that helped small businesses thrive is the 20 percent business deduction, or 199A deduction, for pass-through entities (businesses where profits flow through individual owners for taxation). Without this deduction, small-business owners would face significant tax increases. More than 33 million businesses are organized as pass-throughs, meaning that a crucial portion
of the U.S. economy would be negatively affected. Extending the 199A provision would allow small businesses to continue to invest in expansion, innovation, research and development. This is critical in a high-inflation environment. Additionally, the 199A deduction gives these pass-through businesses a greater ability to compete with larger corporations. Smaller companies would lose their advantage if the 199A deduction is not extended, as larger corporations would still operate with the 21 percent rate. Another provision set to expire in 2025 that benefits businesses and working families is the cap on the state-and-local tax (SALT) deduction. The TCJA limited the deduction to $10,000 for individuals and pass-through businesses. The SALT deduction allows taxpayers to deduct state and local taxes from their federal returns. This part of the tax code is a subsidy for high-tax governments nationwide, with the rest of the nation taking the hit. Beyond retaining the cap, lawmakers should
continue to investigate lowering the cap for individuals and businesses beyond $10,000 or zeroing out the deduction altogether.

Maintaining the changes to the alternative minimum tax (AMT) is crucial for taxpayers. The AMT system is complex and requires taxpayers to calculate their liability under two tax systems and pay the greater of the two. The TCJA effectively expanded exemptions from this complex system, aiding small businesses and the individual taxpayer. Allowing these AMT exemptions to expire would create significant burdens for taxpayers and open the door for litigious auditors at the IRS to seize on the confusion. Lawmakers have an opportunity to build on the successes of the TCJA and make these tax cuts permanent. Keeping the tax code stable is a foundational element of tax reform. Stability is vital to working families and small-business owners who depend on a simple tax code when making economic decisions. Permanently extending pro-business and pro-worker provisions from the 2017 law will ensure the years ahead will be marked by financial stability and vibrancy.

The Path Forward for the Federal Trade Commission

Andrew Ferguson has assumed the chairmanship at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Ferguson rises with one mandate: to be unlike his predecessor. After a mostly placid and pacific half century of bipartisan consensus, outgoing Chair Lina Khan attempted to revivify long-buried antitrust theories. This initiated a fierce struggle over the very purpose of antitrust enforcement and the identity of the institution she led. A revanchist, she sought extend the FTC’s dominion to reclaim powers long since wrested from it. She operated less as a disinterested umpire of competition policy disputes or a protector of consumers than as a de facto central planner. To gain the policy ground she coveted, Khan had to lay claim to new legal powers. To that end, her FTC advanced expansive, vague, and thoroughly dubious interpretations of its statutory authorities, with respect to both enforcement and rulemaking. The nature of this campaign was essentially political, not legal. Khan has admitted to stretching
existing law to bring suit against the disfavored. She added that she hoped her courtroom failures might spur Congress to grant new powers. According to agency staff, Khan seemed happy to trade operational effectiveness for attention, as outlined in a 2024 House Judiciary Committee report. Public relations have trumped economics and the rule of law.

The FTC’s suit against PepsiCo (announced the Friday before Trump’s inauguration) epitomizes the Khan FTC’s dysfunction. In a fiery dissent, Commissioner Melissa Holyoak labeled it “the worst case I have seen in my time at the Commission.” As she outlines, the FTC brought the suit under an inapt statutory provision, a slight-of-hand perpetrated for no purpose other than to free itself from the evidentiary burdens it ordinarily must meet to win this sort of case. Moreover, the agency declined to gather evidence to resolve pressing factual questions, preferring instead to rely on “conclusory allegations,” which “do not make the claims plausible, nor do they provide reason to believe the law has been violated,” Holyoak wrote. In the complaint, the FTC attempts to “revive” the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA). The RPA is a long-dormant law, abandoned by antitrust officials and courts alike for its poor drafting and economic incoherence. This revival, as noted by now-Chair Ferguson in his own disse
nt, is the lawsuit’s political end. “Whether anyone is actually violating the law is not relevant to reviving it,” he argued. “The Complaint will generate much press, which in turn creates opportunities for editorials, speeches, and Tweets.” A fitting coda to the term of a nakedly political FTC.

The FTC’s antitrust powers should — as proposed in the One Agency Act — be removed to the Department of Justice. However, the 119th Congress and President Donald Trump can push further: they should rehouse all FTC activities squarely within the executive branch and terminate the agency. This end would befit an institution that has for more than a century operated — and often abused — an unconstitutional merger of legislative, executive, and judicial powers. Until such time, Chair Ferguson would do well to reverse as much of his predecessor’s legacy as he can manage — a task for which he is well-prepared.

BLOGS:

Tuesday: Fact Check: New Trump Tariffs Will Hurt Consumers ([link removed])

Wednesday: TPA Releases 2025 Report: Roadworthiness and Taxpayer Costs ([link removed])

Thursday: TPA Sends Letter to NJ Board of Public Utilities Against Vineland GON Funding Request ([link removed])

Friday: TPA Signs Coalition Letter Opposing Tax on Digital Advertising Revenue ([link removed]) and Lawmakers can Spread the Love by Ditching Sugar Program ([link removed])

Media:

February 6, 2025: 7News DC (Washington, DC) interviewed David McGarry on the impacts of President Trump's efforts to reshape the federal workforce.

February 7, 2025: FOX Business quoted TPA in their article on Trump's tariffs on Mexico and Canada.

February 7, 2025: OurCommunityNow (Blog) quotedTPA in an article on Maryland's budget proposal.

February 7, 2025: Filter Magazine ran TPA's op-ed, "FDA’s Authorization of Zyn Nicotine Pouches a Step in the Right Direction."

February 7, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted me in their article, "Governor Moore defends hiring spree to improve state services amid $3B deficit concerns."

February 7, 2025: Hoodline quoted TPA in their article, "SENATOR MIKE LEE INTRODUCES BILL TO PERMANENTLY BAN FEDERAL RESERVE'S CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY."

February 7, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted me in their piece on Gov. Wes Moore's management of hiring in Maryland and the state budget.

February 7, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted me again in their piece on Maryland's fiscal scenario.

February 8, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted me in their piece on Maryland's state employee hiring levels.

February 10, 2025: Townhall ran TPA's op-ed, "The Path Forward for the Trump-Era Federal Trade Commission."

February 10, 2025: Utah News Dispatch quoted TPA in their article, "Lawmakers advance bill requiring age verification for app store purchases."

February 10, 2025: The Detroit News (Detroit, Mich.) ran TPA's op-ed, "Most taxpayers lose if Trump tax cuts die."

February 11, 2025: NBCNews mentioned TPA in their article, "Government watchdogs call on Senate to demand answers over Trump's purge of inspectors general."

February 11, 2025: RouteFifty (Washington state) quoted TPA in their article, "Utah lawmakers advance bill requiring age verification for app store purchases."

February 11, 2025: The Washington Examiner (Washington, D.C.)mentioned TPA in their article, "Pence group rallies opposition to Trump Labor pick."

February 11, 2025: Cedar City News (Cedar City, Utah) quoted TPA in their article, "Lawmakers advance bill requiring age verification for app store purchases."

February 11, 2025: Standard Examiner (Ogden, Utah) quoted TPA in their article, "Lawmakers advance bill requiring age verification for app store purchases."

February 11, 2025: Central Utah Daily Herald (Provo, Utah) quoted TPA in their article, "Lawmakers advance bill requiring age verification for app store purchases."

February 11, 2025: Common Dreams mentioned TPA in their article, "'The Senate Must Demand Answers' Over Trump's Purge of Inspectors General."

February 12, 2025: KMXT-FM (Kodiak, Alaska) mentioned TPA in their article, "Sen. Stevens holds out hope to address ongoing issue of high rates of Alaska's vaping teens."

February 13, 2025: USA Today mentioned TPA in an op-ed, "Don't stop at DOGE: Trump can be the transformative president America needs now."

February 13, 2025: RealClear Markets ran TPA's op-ed, "Bringing the SEC Back to the Basics of Good Governance."

February 13, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me in their piece on President's Trump's new tariffs on aluminum and steel.

February 13, 2025: I appeared WBOB Radio (Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk the DOGE Commission.

February 13, 2025: The Daily Wire quoted TPA in their article, "‘You Were Elected To Do Big Things’: GOP Senators Urge Trump To Make Tax Cuts Permanent."

Have a great weekend!

Best,

David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
1101 14th Street, NW
Suite 500
Washington, D.C. xxxxxx

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