The scheme is designed to support firms that are high energy users in sectors such as automotive and aerospace, steel producers, metal fabricators, pharmaceutical and medical supplies companies, recycling businesses, plastic producers, nuclear fuel processors, and cooling and ventilation equipment manufacturers, the government said.

Today is April 15, tax day, and it should be a day of celebration for nearly all taxpayers because of President Trump’s one, big, beautiful bill that was signed last July 4. It not only avoided a $4.5 trillion tax hike proposed by Democrats, but it also provided substantial pro-growth tax cuts for the vast majority of American taxpayers. And 53 million people claimed one of Mr. Trump’s new deductions. And some 51 million seniors will pay no tax on their Social Security under the law. No taxes on tips and overtime will boost take-home pay by about $1,400 per person.

And here are some more factoids: more than 6 million people have filed for no tax on tips. The average deduction is higher than $7,100. More than 25 million people have filed for no tax on overtime. The average deduction is more than $3,100.  And more than 30 million senior citizens have filed for no tax on Social Security. The average deduction there is more than $7,500.

Small business tax deductions remain in place. 100 percent immediate cost expensing for business and factory building is financing millions of new jobs at higher wages to boost kitchen table middle class family incomes. It’s all there. But for some reason, most Americans don’t seem to know about it.

The highly regarded accurate TIPP poll shows that 40 percent of Americans think their taxes are going up, and only about 10 percent think they’re going down. Thirty-seven percent think there’s been no change.

So the Republican party has itself a marketing problem. When I sat down with Mr. Trump last February and raised this issue, he acknowledged that he and his team had to do a better job of getting the message out. The TIPP poll, just completed, shows that the message is still not getting out. And other polls may agree with that one.

I know the president is a busy guy, obliterating Iran and winning the war, which is terribly important, but he and his team and congressional leaders have just got to do a better selling job on tax cuts.  Republicans should put together another economic growth plan. There’s plenty of time to do it through reconciliation which requires 50 votes plus the vice president. And I’m not interested in a small plan. 

I’m not interested in an anorexic plan, I’m advocating a wide-bodied plan with tax cuts, especially inflation-adjusted capital gains.Huge savings from waste, fraud, and abuse, we need funding for real voter ID, and the Pentagon’s wartime supplemental. It should all be in there. And I am hopeful this growth plan can come to pass. I had a colloquy about this with the majority leader, Senator John Thune, yesterday.

“You’re talking about a very skinny anorexic, I love that, anorexic, very skinny, anorexic reconciliation bill,” I said, but  “Mr. Thune, you’re not an anorexic kind of leader.” Mr. Thune replied: “If we want to do a budget resolution and do a more comprehensive approach and use reconciliation in the way that you described, there will be an opportunity to do that.” I asked: “This year?” Mr. Thune replied: “Obviously, it depends.” I repeated: “This year, sir? Big, beautiful.” “Big and beautiful,” Mr. Thune responded. “Big, Beautiful 2.0 bill,” I said. “It depends on getting the votes,” Mr. Thune said. When I asked if he was open to such a measure, Mr. Thune replied: “Yeah, absolutely. I’m for doing more, not less.”

Hopefully Speaker Mike Johnson will be as open to a wide-bodied growth plan as Mr. Thune appears to be. And hopefully the whole Republican Party will just get behind it. Yes, today is tax day. Let’s make it a pro-growth tax cut day. Mr. Trump will win the war in Iran. Yet he and the GOP have to win the domestic economic war, in other words, the midterm elections.

Snap on Wednesday announced plans to lay off roughly 1,000 employees, as the tech company adopts artificial intelligence (AI) and looks to streamline its operations.

The parent company of Snapchat will also close over 300 open roles as part of its workforce restructuring, which comes after Irenic Capital Management pushed Snap to optimize its portfolio and performance. The firm is an activist investor with an economic interest of roughly 2.5% in the company.

Snap explained that advancements in AI are helping it streamline operations and function with smaller teams as AI generates over 65% of new code, while the company assigns more critical work to focused teams and AI agents.

The tech company had about 5,261 full-time employees as of December, and the layoffs will impact about 16% of the company’s full-time staff.

ORACLE LYING OFF THOUSANDS OF WORKERS TO CUT COSTS AMID AI PUSH: REPORT

Snapchat is laying off about 16% of its full-time employees as it restructures its workforce. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Snap’s stock rose nearly 8% on Wednesday amid the news, leaving shares down about 25.7% year to date despite a 29% increase over the last month.

The company expects to cut more than $500 million in annualized expenses by the second half of the year, driven significantly by the recently announced layoffs, as well as broader efforts to reduce operating costs and stock-based compensation, CEO Evan Spiegel said. He asked employees in North America to work from home on Wednesday.

AMAZON CUTS JOBS IN ROBOTICS UNIT AS LAYOFFS CONTINUE: REPORT

Snap anticipates $95 million to $130 million in layoff-related charges, most of which will fall in the second quarter, according to a regulatory filing.

Snap’s layoffs come after the company invested heavily in its augmented reality glasses unit, known as Specs, and is planning to launch the product this year.

META’S BAY AREA LAYOFFS AFFECT ROUGHLY 200 WORKERS AS COMPANY POURS BILLIONS INTO AI INFRASTRUCTURE

Snapchat has invested heavily in augmented reality glasses. (Alisha Jucevic/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Irenic Capital has urged Snap to either spin off or shut down the business unit, which has received $3.5 billion in investment, as a means of conserving cash while the company pursues broader cost cuts.

“Cutting costs may appease an activist in the near term, and give long-suffering shareholders some relief, but whether it really leaves the company with a defensible business model and competitive position that it can defend, develop and turn into profits and cash flow is still unclear,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

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Reuters contributed to this report.

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Outstanding mortgage payments reached a new high at the end of last year when the typical mortgage holder’s monthly payment exceeded $2,000 for the first time.

While the average monthly payment for new homebuyers crossed the $2,000 threshold in September 2022, the rise in the average monthly payment for all outstanding mortgages to $2,005 in the fourth quarter of 2025 for the first time underscores the affordability challenges facing buyers, according to Realtor.com data.

The uptick covers the full portfolio of mortgages in the U.S., including a large group of borrowers who took out loans before 2022 and have mortgage rates of 4% or lower – whereas new buyers face significantly higher payments given the elevated mortgage rates.

Average mortgage payments rose to the highest level on record at the end of last year. (Getty Images)

“New borrowers entering the market today face substantially higher payments than the existing portfolio average implies, which is keeping many potential sellers locked in place,” wrote Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst for Realtor.com. 

THESE 8 HOUSING MARKETS FAVOR BUYERS

The report noted that the average payment was $1,255 in early 2013 and increased gradually to $1,456 by early 2020, before it accelerated sharply amid surging home prices and new mortgage originations.

The average mortgage payment increased by more than $600 in just the last several years, rising from $1,390 in early 2021 to $2,005 at the end of 2025 – which amounts to a 44% increase in roughly four years.

NEW JERSEY OUTPACES US HOUSING MARKET, TOPS NATION IN PRICE GROWTH

The report found that a little more than half of all outstanding mortgages, or 50.6%, still carry interest rates of 4% or lower. More than three quarters of all mortgages, or about 78%, have a rate below 6%.

The share of mortgages with a 6% or higher share now stands at 21.9%, an increase of 3.9 percentage points from the 18% reading at the end of 2024, which shows a meaningful year-over-year acceleration that was driven by sustained buyer activity even amid high borrowing costs.

HOUSING MARKET GAINING MOMENTUM AS SPRING SEASON BEGINS

Life events are helping drive activity by sellers despite high mortgage rates and home values. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Even in today’s high-price, high-rate market, homebuying activity around major life events, such as having kids, a job change, or a divorce, keeps the market in motion,” Jones wrote.

“Easing inflation and mortgage rates will be key drivers of seller activity as well, which will relieve some of the price pressure and competition in today’s undersupplied market,” she added.

The Realtor.com report also noted that while rate lock-in “remains substantial” with about 78% of mortgages carrying rates below 6%, the steady erosion of the cohort of mortgage holders with rates below 4% and the acceleration in the growth of the population with mortgage rates at or above 6% suggests the “market’s center of gravity is gradually shifting.”

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“The question for 2026, now complicated by renewed rate volatility tied to geopolitical uncertainty, is whether relief arrives fast enough to unlock reluctant sellers before another spring slips by,” Jones said.