Booker Just Proposed Making the First $75,000 Tax-Free. Here's What That Means for Your Clients.

Sen. Cory Booker just introduced the Keep Your Pay Act. If it passes, the standard deduction for married couples filing jointly jumps to $75,000. That's more than double the current $32,300.

Here's what your clients need to know.

The Numbers

Booker's bill would raise the standard deduction across all filing statuses:

Married filing jointly: $75,000 (up from $32,300 in 2026).
Single filers: $37,500 (up from $16,100).
Head of household: $56,250 (up from $24,150).

That means the first $75,000 a married couple earns would be completely tax-free. For a single filer, it's $37,500. For heads of household, $56,250.

Booker's office estimates this would cut federal income taxes by about 85% for the median American family. That family currently earns around $83,730, according to the Census Bureau. Under this plan, only $8,730 of that income would be taxable.

The bill also expands two big tax credits:

Child Tax Credit: Increases to $3,600 per child aged 6-17 and $4,320 for kids under six. Add a $2,400 "baby bonus" for the birth year. The credit would be fully refundable, meaning you get it even if you don't owe taxes.

Earned Income Tax Credit: Triples the current EITC amount and extends eligibility to workers aged 19-24 and those 65 and older. Right now, those age groups are mostly excluded.

How It Gets Paid For

Booker says the plan is "fully offset" by closing corporate tax loopholes, raising the corporate tax rate, and tightening rules on executive compensation deductions. He also wants higher taxes on stock buybacks.

The bill doesn't include specifics on those revenue offsets yet. No line-by-line breakdown of which loopholes get closed or how much revenue each change would raise. That's typical for early-stage proposals, but it's going to be the sticking point when this thing hits the Senate Finance Committee.

What Are the Odds This Passes?

Not great.

Republicans control both the House and Senate. They're generally not interested in massive standard deduction increases paired with higher corporate taxes. Booker's bill would need bipartisan support to move, and there's no indication that's happening.

This is more likely a positioning move — putting a big, headline-friendly tax proposal on the table before budget negotiations or the 2028 election cycle. But stranger things have happened.

What CPAs Should Be Watching

Even if this bill dies in committee, it's useful to know what's on the table. Clients are going to ask about it. Here's what to tell them:

If you're under the income thresholds, this is a huge tax cut. For median-income families, it's basically eliminating federal income tax. That's real money.

If you're above the thresholds, the impact depends on your bracket. The bill doesn't touch marginal rates, so high earners still pay the same rates on income above the standard deduction. But they get the higher deduction too, which means a bigger chunk of income sheltered from tax.

The child tax credit and EITC expansions matter more than the standard deduction for some clients. If you've got clients with kids or clients in lower income brackets, those credit changes could deliver bigger refunds than the standard deduction increase.

Corporate clients should watch the offset provisions. If this bill picks up steam, the details of how Booker plans to pay for it will matter a lot. Tighter rules on executive comp deductions, higher stock buyback taxes, and a corporate rate increase could hit business owners hard.

The Big Picture

This is one of the most aggressive tax cut proposals for working families in years. Whether it goes anywhere or not, it's setting the terms of the conversation.

And if your clients are already asking about it, now you know what to say.