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Earlier this week, Judge Amit Mehta issued a tailored remedies decision in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust case against Google Search. The ruling was good news for consumers and delivered a blow against the government’s most overreaching remedies proposals—such as divestiture of Chrome or Android—as disproportionate and unrelated to the specific liability finding. Instead, Judge Mehta emphasized targeted remedies that address harms identified in the court’s liability finding. Judge Mehta’s decision recognizes two obvious facts of which the DOJ and other populist antitrust advocates remain astoundingly unaware. First, a narrow liability finding provides no cause for full-scale efforts to rearrange entire markets or force divestments. Second, gerrymandered market definitions and myopic, outdated views of innovation and competition ought to be dismissed as economically dangerous and anti-consumer. The decision is a welcome pushback against the DOJ’s radical antitrust theories. Commanding a divestment of Chrome or forbidding routine business operations (such as paying slotting fees) might have shrunk Google’s market share. But it would also have damaged the wider tech sector and deprived consumers of the digital services on which they have come to rely. The DOJ was stubbornly blind to that which is unseen; Judge Mehta, thankfully, kept it in full view. However, Judge Mehta erred in his initial liability finding against Google Search and believes it likely to be reversed on appeal. Google Search remains dominant because it provides the best search service. However, its market share is not immovable. Artificial intelligence tools, social media, and specialized online platforms increasingly have attracted users away from general search services. This is a welcome part of the process of competition and innovation—of companies, old and new, contending against one another to meet consumers’ wants and needs. If the DOJ’s demands had been met, this market process would have been smothered or outright extinguished. Judge Mehta was right (on the whole) to reject the government’s radical anti-tech, anti-innovation, anti-market, and anti-consumer theories.
Back to School: Congress Edition
Lawmakers have made their way back to Washington, D.C. for a busy September and fall. And there’s a lot of work to be done on Capitol Hill, ranging from tax reform to spending cuts to regulatory revamps. The clock is ticking, and the to-do list is a mile long. But fear not, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is here to ensure that members of Congress have their priorities straight and homework reading completed as they get back to business for the American people. First on the list for September is ensuring that there is no government shutdown. To do that, Congress must pass all appropriations bills (not likely to happen) or pass a continuing resolution before October 1 in the very few legislative days it has. Any short-term spending bill must last until after the new year, be clean (meaning a straight funding of the federal government without any policy riders), and critically, not include earmarks.
Any renewed attempt at tax reform should also lend a helping hand to the millions of American expats who face an onerous system of double taxation. Back in 2018, TPA Senior Fellow Ross Marchand described the ridiculous global tax regime that persists to the present day. According to Marchand, “under American law, citizens working abroad must report their income to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and pay their “fair share” to Uncle Sam in addition to host country government levies. This global assertion of US taxation power puts America in league with Eritrea as one of the only countries to subject citizens to taxation regardless of location. ... A majority of Americans pay income tax for military expenditures that will protect the country. But for Americans living abroad, little to no benefits accrue from American tax dollars.” Joining the vast majority of other countries and switching to a territorial system of taxation—as President Trump has called for—would be the fair approach and bolster American prosperity worldwide.
It’s also critical for lawmakers to cut spending and make a meaningful dent into the $37 trillion national debt. One key area of focus needs to be Medicaid, the federal health insurance program that costs Americans nearly $1 trillion annually. The OBBB stipulates that, to receive Medicaid benefits, individuals must be working, engaged in community service (e.g., volunteering) or receiving education or work training at least 80 hours per month. Taxpayers will save about $30 billion per year from the enactment of Medicaid work requirements, and about $100 billion per year once other Medicaid provisions of the bill (e.g., more frequent eligibility checks, curtailing state-directed payments) are taken into account. Even more ambitious reforms could add significant savings to these welcome reforms. One approach would be a means-tested, refundable tax credit of approximately $550 per month for individuals to go out and purchase the private healthcare plan of their choice. This would allow households to purchase mid-tier “silver” health insurance plans (which typically cost less than $550 monthly in low-income states such as Mississippi). Assuming a beneficiary population base of 75 million, this would save taxpayers $300 billion per year. Even if Congress used half of those annual savings to reimburse miscellaneous expenses (e.g., high co-pays, out-of-pocket medication costs), taxpayers would still save $150 billion annually on top of OBBB savings. Alternatively, policymakers could pursue some combination of lower tax credit subsidies (say, $400 per month) and direct reimbursements to hospitals providing free care. These alternative policies would not only be better for taxpayers but would also give low-income households a far better (private) insurance product.
Budgetary savings need not be limited to Medicaid. When Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) tried to insert an amendment into OBBB that would have introduced limits on income for farmers receiving federal farm subsidies, pushback was swift, and Sen. Grassley was forced to table the amendment. Surely, it isn’t too much to ask Congress to ensure that millionaires aren’t nabbing billions of taxpayer dollars’ worth of farm subsidies. As members of Congress go “back to school,” they have their work cut out for them. TPA will be calling for tax and spending reform every step of the way.
BLOGS:
Tuesday: Right to Repair Laws Cannot Become a Backdoor for Price Controls
Wednesday: Taxpayer Watchdog Responds to Remedies Ruling in Google Search Case
Thursday: Granting the President Power Over the Fed is a Recipe for Disaster
Friday: Back to School: Congress Edition
MEDIA:
August 29, 2025: Inside Sources ran TPA’s op-ed, “The WHO’s Sin Tax Crusade, A Money Grab Aimed at Consumers.”
August 29, 2025: The Daily Pouch ran TPA’s op-ed, “The Prohibitionist Delusion, Vaping is for Enjoying Nicotine, Not Just Quitting”
August 30, 2025: WZTA (West Palm Beach, Fl.) quoted TPA in their story on tariffs.
September 1, 2025: I appeared on WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) to talk about Maryland’s tax competitiveness.
September 2, 2025: Tobacco Asia ran TPA’s op-ed, “WHO Pushes Global “Sin” Taxes.”
September 2, 2025: National Review ran TPA’s op-ed, “President Trump is Right to Fight Tech Overreach.”
September 2, 2025: The Blaze ran TPA’s op-ed, “Why the nicotine myth might be the most lethal public health lie.”
September 3, 2025: Real Clear Markets ran TPA’s op-ed, “A Hidden Tax That Could Price Us Out of Our Homes.”
September 4, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted TPA for their story on Maryland’s financial state.
September 4, 2025: I appeared on WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) to talk about where Baltimore City ranks on the best cities to retire.
September 4, 2025: I appeared on WBOB 600AM (Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk about tariffs and government spending.
Have a great weekend!
David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
1101 14th Street, NW
Suite 500
Washington, D.C.
Office: (202) 930-1716
Mobile: (202) 258-6527
www.protectingtaxpayers.org
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