On filing deadline, GOP blasts Democrats for opposing Trump tax cuts, ‘making life more expensive’

FIRST ON FOX: On the deadline for Americans to file their taxes, Senate Republicans are targeting Democrats for voting against tax cuts the GOP passed and President Donald Trump signed into law last summer.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, on Wednesday launched ads in seven key Senate battleground races highlighting how "Democrat candidates opposed the Working Families Tax Cuts that led to an 11% increase in Americans’ tax refunds this year."

The spots, released on Tax Day 2026, were first shared with Fox News Digital.

The digital ads come as the GOP works to protect its slim 53-47 Senate majority in the midterms when the party in power typically faces political headwinds and loses congressional seats. The GOP also faces a rough political climate fueled by persistent inflation, rising gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran, and Trump’s underwater approval ratings.

EXCLUSIVE: HOUSE REPUBLICANS TARGET 'VULNERABLE' DEMOCRATS FOR VOTING AGAINST TAX CUTS

But Republicans have for weeks spotlighted the tax cuts, which they insist will give them a political boost with voters in the midterms.

"Working families across the country have enough on their plates, but Democrats like Jon Ossoff go to Washington and fight to take more money out of their pockets," NRSC Communications Director Joanna Rodriguez argued, as she pointed to Ossoff, the first-term senator from Georgia whom Republicans view as the most vulnerable Democrat seeking re-election this year.

Rodriguez also emphasized that "President Trump and Senate Republicans are working tirelessly to deliver for working families, including higher take-home pay and lower taxes."

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The spots, backed by a modest buy, will also run in Alaska, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Ohio.

The narrator in the ads emphasized that "President Trump and Senate Republicans delivered real savings for hard-working families" and accused Democrats of "opposing tax cuts for first responders, rejecting tax savings for service workers, and denying more money for senior citizens."

The tax cuts were a key component of Republicans’ massive domestic policy measure, which passed nearly entirely along party lines in the GOP-controlled House and Senate.

The law is stuffed full of Trump's 2024 campaign trail promises and second-term priorities, including extending the president's signature 2017 tax cuts and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday morning, said, "I suspect Tax Day doesn't rank high on Americans' favorite days of the year, but I'd wager that a lot more Americans were pleasantly surprised this year when they went to file their taxes because thanks to Republicans Working Families Tax Cuts bill, a lot more Americans kept a lot more of their hard-earned money this year."

Democrats have criticized the tax cuts, arguing they disproportionately benefit the wealthy and corporations.

Earlier this year, DSCC Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told Fox News Digital that due to the "very harmful climate that President Trump is creating, we have all the makings of a blue wave."

The NRSC’s ads targeting Democrats follow positive spots it released last month spotlighting "the success of the Working Families Tax Cuts."

And the NRSC points to internal polling that it says shows that an overwhelming majority of voters are more likely to support candidates that fight for Republican economic initiatives.

But other surveys indicate that Americans are far from pleased with the amount they pay in taxes.

A record 70% of voters questioned in a Fox News national poll conducted late last month said the taxes they pay are "too high," marking an 11-point increase from a year earlier, and the highest level of dissatisfaction since the question was first asked in 2004.

The new ads from the NRSC are part of a major push by the GOP this week to spotlight the tax cuts.

On Tuesday, as Fox News Digital first reported, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House GOP's campaign arm, launched ads targeting 28 potentially vulnerable Democrats in the midterms for voting against the tax cuts.

Speaker Mike Johnson held a tax cut event on the Capitol steps on Wednesday morning. And hours earlier, in an interview on Fox Business' "Mornings with Maria," Trump touted to host Maria Bartiromo that "the refunds are really significant, and it makes it less complicated to do your tax return. Much less complicated."