Washington, D.C. has a penchant for “slick” names on legislation. Names frequently get initiated with acronyms ostensibly descriptive of actual legislative purpose (reality notwithstanding). One recent example is the S.E.C.U.R.E. Act, which was assigned the moniker Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement, an uncomfortable sequence of words at best.

This year, the acronym version of the Trump Tax Plan began with the vision of the President, and the acronym came later. Once the concept of doing a massive overhaul to the Tax Code in “One Big Beautiful Bill” was expressed, very little time passed before the OBBB moniker was ubiquitous. Once the presidential signature activated the changes, OBBB became the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), meaning that it is the law of the land.

Because most Americans are woefully ignorant of Tax Code details, we have been explaining several important provisions of OBBBA. The so-called “headliner” provisions pertain to actual tax rates and brackets, which needed to be made permanent. Failure of OBBBA would have imposed America’s largest ever tax increase on American taxpayers.

Everyone is affected by these and other provisions, some of which are receiving very little attention. Today, we begin with changes to Health Savings Accounts, or HSAs. Covered services have been expanded, primarily in the telehealth and cost-sharing arenas. Avoiding hospital visits was a goal during COVID-19, and many of the conveniences from that era are now HSA available.

Several business-friendly provisions will help everyday Americans by reducing inflationary pressures. Reducing the cost of doing business in the US allows companies to reduce prices, providing relief for families. Full expensing of Research and Experimentation has been restored, thereby encouraging companies to perform these scientific functions domestically. In all likelihood, the results of these efforts will create thousands of American manufacturing jobs.

Paid Family and Medical Leave tax credits created under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) were made permanent. Employer-paid Child Care Credit was expanded and made permanent. Gift Tax and Estate Tax limits, made higher by TCJA, have been made permanent.

OBBBA is a gigantic and far-reaching modification to our massive U.S. Tax Code. In its reported 940 pages, we can find something for everyone. Yet the biggest change (for most people, anyway) was what didn’t happen. In the absence of OBBBA, Americans were scheduled to be hit with a 2026 tax increase in the thousands of dollars annually. Despite the lack of any cooperation from Trump’s opposition, the job got done.

As further provisions get finalized and published, we will cover further topics of interest.