GOP Tax Plan: Government on a Credit Card

The middle class is not getting tax relief under the Senate plan currently under consideration. It’s getting big government on a credit card.
Here’s a fun fact. Did you know virtually all of the individual tax cuts in the Senate version of tax reform are temporary?
Indeed, what the Senate giveth, it also taketh away. Most of the tax cuts for individuals would expire in 2026 under the Senate plan.
So what’s the reasoning behind sunsetting the tax cuts?
Under Senate rules, any bill adding more than $1.5 trillion to the deficit over 10 years must pass the Senate by 60 votes. Republicans have to keep their plan under that figure to have any chance at passing it. They don’t have 60 votes. By allowing the individual tax cuts to expire within that 10-year window, the total deficit increase comes in right under that max amount.
One might pause here to consider that a $1.5 trillion increase in the deficit is somehow considered trivial. As we have reported, many economists say the substantial increase in debt that will occur if Congress passes tax cuts without any accompanying decrease in the size of government will fail to spark the economic growth being promised.

This post was published at Schiffgold on NOVEMBER 28, 2017.