Trump Signs His Legacy Tax Megabill in a July 4 Ceremony

President Donald Trump was hailing the passage of his signature tax bill on social media. (Getty Images)

President Donald Trump signed his legacy tax and spending bill in a White House ceremony on Independence Day.

“We’re adding the biggest tax cuts in the history of our country,” Trump told the crowd on the South Lawn, filled with members of his cabinet and Republican lawmakers.

“It was supposed to be in five, six, seven bills. And I said, ‘Let’s put it in one big, beautiful bill,’ and we did.”

“Today’s really a day of promises made and promises kept,” the president said. “We kept them.”

“This is the singular most popular bill ever signed.”

The pomp and circumstance included a flyover by the Air Force. The show featured the B-2 stealth bomber, which carried out the mission to destroy Iran’s nuclear sites two weeks ago.

Trump praised the military, giving a shoutout to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, home of the B-2 bomber.

The president ran down a laundry list of the bill’s provisions, including changes to the child tax credit, the estate tax, and lifting taxes on tips and overtime.

On Thursday, House members passed the measure just in time to meet the president’s self-imposed July 4 deadline. The overall vote in the chamber was 218-214, with all Democrats opposed.

The law will have sweeping consequences. It reduces health insurance for many low-income Americans, increases the budget deficit, and cuts government support for clean-energy projects. Some economists also said the legislation may not provide a meaningful boost to economic growth.

All of those issues may still be hot topics when Congress faces voters in midterm elections next year, as well as for the next presidential vote in 2028.

“Trump called it his big, beautiful bill, but it risks ending up in an ugly debt spiral,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown. “Fans of the tax plan claim it will help boost activity and the tax take but forecasts vary widely about the long-term effect. The Congressional Budget Office estimates it’ll only increase growth by 0.5% over 10 years.”

The next worry for investors is Tuesday’s deadline for trade negotiations so that countries can avoid higher tariffs.

For now, though, the economy looks like it’s in decent shape. The latest employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics exceeded expectations on Thursday. That prompted markets to scale back the odds of an interest-rate cut from the Federal Reserve as soon as this month.

Write to Brian Swint at brian.swint@barrons.com