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While President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans used Tuesday's tax filing deadline to promote the changes Americans will see when submitting their federal tax returns next year, Democrats continued to voice concerns about the GOP-backed tax overhaul law's impacts on the middle class. 

Trump and Republicans in Congress touted the sweeping $1.5 trillion "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" signed into law in December, contending that Tuesday should mark the last Tax Day Americans are taxed at such high levels or fill out complicated returns. 

Democrats, however, offered a drastically different take on the future impacts of what they called the "GOP tax scam," arguing that the lower tax rates Americans will see when filing next year could be paid for by cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. 

Trump, who sent his daughter Ivanka and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to New Hampshire for a "Tax Day" town hall to highlight the new law, contended in a USA Today Op-Ed that "this is the last year Americans will fill out outdated, complicated tax forms."

The president, who took aim at Democrats for opposing the bill, offered that a "typical family of four earning $73,000 a year can expect to see an income tax cut of more than $2,000 when they file their tax return in 2019" thanks to the measure's near-doubling of the standard deduction and other changes. "On this Tax Day, America is strong and roaring back," he wrote. "Paychecks are climbing. Tax rates are going down. Businesses are investing in our great country. And most important, the American people are winning."

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, touted the law's lowered tax rates, higher standard deduction, doubled child tax credit and simplified filing process during a Tuesday appearance on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

"These are good things. People know it, people see it. And they know that having this unified Republican government is making a big positive difference in our economy," he said.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, contended that "this year, the grey clouds of 'Tax Day' have a silver lining."

"Today is the last time American families will have to file under the unfair, outdated tax code that Congress and the president got rid of a few months ago," he said in a statement. "Out with the old, and in with the new."

U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, a Springfield Democrat and the ranking member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, however, argued that the GOP-backed changes will disproportionately benefit wealthier Americans.

"Because of the 'GOP tax scam,' the middle class in Massachusetts gets left behind. Meanwhile, the top 5 percent of earners in our state receive 64 precent of tax breaks," he tweeted.Arguing that "tax cuts don't pay for themselves," Neal offered that "crucial benefits like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security" could see cuts to help pay for the reduced tax rates. 

"Instead of adding $2.3 trillion to our debt to provide the wealthy and big corporations with tax cuts, and then vilifying American workers who are trying to get ahead, we should fight to raise wages and invest in the skills that lead to opportunity," he said in a statement before the Ways and Means Committee Tuesday.

Congresswoman Katherine Clark, D-Melrose, joined Neal in speaking out against the GOP tax bill, arguing that it "is bad policy that widens the already large gap between billionaires and the middle class." Clark further called the GOP-backed tax policy "a despicable $2.3 trillion money grab to benefit the wealthy on the backs of middle class Americans."Trump signed the $1.5 trillion GOP tax overhaul bill into law in late December, capping his and the Republican-controlled Congress' first major legislative victory of 2017.

The bill, which represented the largest change to the American tax code in 30 years, made sweeping adjustments to the individual and corporate tax structure.

For individuals, it modified the previous seven tax brackets and set a top tax rate of 37 percent for single filers earning more than $500,000 and joint filers earning more than $600,000. 

The bill also nearly doubled the standard deduction from $6,350 for single filers and $12,700 for married couples; increased the child tax credit to $2,000; and allowed taxpayers to take a property tax deduction in addition to deducting either income or sales taxes up to a total of $10,000, among several other things.

For businesses, meanwhile, it reduced the corporate tax to 21 percent starting in 2018. The legislation also proposed giving pass-through businesses a new 20 percent deduction for the first $315,000 of joint income. 

The GOP tax bill further took aim at the Affordable Care Act -- a law Republicans were unsuccessful at repealing in 2017 -- by ending the tax penalty for those who fail to obtain health care coverage, known as the individual mandate.