Sure, the 2017 tax cuts benefited all Americas or at least those who pay any taxes.
Yes, the highest income Americans received the greatest benefit in terms of dollar amounts – they also pay the highest dollar amounts in taxes.
But all that doesn’t mean much. What matters in my opinion is the impact the tax cuts had on the national debt.
Both political parties insist on spending money we don’t have. Americans look the other way while putting their hand out for more.
Jim Tankersley is an economics reporter who covered the 2017 tax debate in Congress and has followed the effects of the law ever since.
March 4, 2024
The corporate tax cuts that President Donald J. Trump signed into law in 2017 have boosted investment in the U.S. economy and delivered a modest pay bump for workers, according to the most rigorous and detailed study yet of the law’s effects.
Those benefits are less than Republicans promised, though, and they have come at a high cost to the federal budget. The corporate tax cuts came nowhere close to paying for themselves, as conservatives insisted they would. Instead, they are adding more than $100 billion a year to America’s $34 trillion-and-growing national debt, according to the quartet of researchers from Princeton University, the University of Chicago, Harvard University and the Treasury Department.
The researchers found the cuts delivered wage gains that were “an order of magnitude below” what Trump officials predicted: about $750 per worker per year on average over the long run, compared to promises of $4,000 to $9,000 per worker.
New York Times 4-19-24
Read the full article here
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
The 2017 tax law was a disaster. It raised the deficit and gave money to the very rich. It penalized those who lived in states with high property values. I pay more in taxes now because of the limitation on my mortgage I can write off.
Whether the pandemic spending prevented higher inflation is something we will never really know. More people would have ended up on the dole otherwise.
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That must be a big mortgage.
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“Sure, the 2017 tax cuts benefited all Americas or at least those who pay any taxes.” No, it didn’t. There were trade offs and pay fors in the legislation that negatively impacted some individuals.
More importantly, all you have to do is look at the revenue throughout the Bush II, Obama, Trump and Biden years – we’ve gone from $2 Trillion in federal taxes (income and employment) to almost $6 Trillion. No problem, except we ran deficits totaling $23 Trillion during the Obama, Trump and Biden years. And, the annual deficit is $1.5 – $2.0 Trillion a year for the next ten years – even though projected tax revenue is $6+ Trillion.
We don’t have a tax problem. We have a spending problem. Blaming Bush II tax cuts or Trump tax cuts, … pennies on the dollar of the deficit spending.
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Government spending increased 40% during the pandemic and continues to rise. They could tax everyone 100% and still never pay off the deficit. Too much propaganda, no fiscal restraint, will result in very bad things for everyone.
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The premise is wrong that it’s our grandkids in the future who will experience the negative consequences for the present massive debt accumulation. No…. it’s us now with the inflationary pressures depreciating our dollars spending power. The inflationary pressures are going to expand in more damaging ways though as we negotiate the future. And yes….our children and grandchildren will inherit the worsening inflationary pressures.
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If the Trump tax cuts are so bad, why didn’t Asleep Joe try to reverse them when the Dems had control of both houses of Congress?
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For awhile the Dems believed in the money fairy called MTM. They thought as long as the government could print new money, there would be no worries or repercussions. When inflation hit, it was time to blame the Trump tax cuts.
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Good question. Probably the same reason nobody will raise taxes to address SS funding.
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Without reading all the economic blather in the studies of the tax cut, I can surmise that the tax cut is not the problem. The 100 billion per year cost of the cut amounts to how much of the deficit of the 2023 fiscal year? I know that is the corporate cost only but it doesn’t add up to the reasons for the deficits. You can add the “cost” of the individual tax cuts to it and it still doesn’t come close to the deficits each year. The grandkids will suffer due to the idea that government spending doesn’t matter and the debt doesn’t matter.
The income tax will rise as will the spending and we will still be in the same place. I did a quick back of the envelope estimate last week using the deficit last year and it will take a 33% increase of every tax dollar to break even. Who will agree to that? Go see for yourself at the Treasury website, revenue and spending for the 2023 fiscal year.
Spending must be cut.
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Good replies by James 2 and Paul–we supposedly have the strongest economy known to man thus the coffers are full of money and we have a huge deficit. Any one with common sense would think we might try to get a handle on spending. But our friends on the left salivate at collecting more money and gaining more control over our lives.
In most cases raising corporate taxes means they will charge more for their goods. Raise the gas tax and guess who pays–raise the sales tax and who pays–raise the fee (really a tax) on entering NYC and who pays–do we think the tooth fairy pays taxes?
When someone asks what might my largest expenditure is I always reply TAXES–federal/state/property/sales.
Could not open the NY Times article without a subscription–but we know the Times now does advocacy journalism so I have a good idea where the author is going with taxes.
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