The debate still rages. Were the Trump tax cuts good or bad? While there were some short-term benefits for some people, including people without mortgages like me, the massive federal revenue decline created a big long-term negative with increases to the federal deficits.
In my opinion the tax cuts were a bad idea just as increased and unfunded spending is bad. Just as tax increases spent on new programs and not to reduce the deficit are a bad idea.
Some politicians favor higher taxes on billionaires and on companies as if American business is a unique entity unrelated to average citizens. As the following explains, that is not the case.
Any American with a pension, any American saving for retirement or college should understand how their financial security is linked to American business and how taxes, laws and regulations on business may affect them.
It’s all one big linked system folks and don’t let politicians make you believe otherwise.
Everyone expected that the owners of American public companies would benefit—and they did. The stock market surged in 2017 in anticipation of the tax cuts and, in 2018 and 2019, in response to them. Who owns American corporations? According to Tax Notes, 72% of the value of all domestically held stocks is owned by pension plans, 401(k)s, individual retirement accounts and charitable organizations, or held by life insurance companies to fund annuities and death benefits.
Corporate tax rates, which were the driving force behind the permanent part of the 2017 tax cuts, receive less attention than individual income-tax rates only because Americans don’t understand that corporations don’t pay taxes. A corporate entity is a “pass through” legal structure—a piece of paper in a Delaware filing cabinet. When the corporate tax rate increases, corporations try to pass the cost on to consumers. To the degree that the entire cost of the tax increase can’t be passed on to consumers, those costs are borne by employees and investors. Most economic studies conclude that 50% to 70% of a corporate tax increase not passed on in higher prices is borne by workers, while 30% to 50% is borne by investors.
Wall Street Journal 4-29-24
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Maybe Sleepy-time Joe should have repealed the tax cuts when the Left leaning group controlled the Congress.
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My theory is they couldn’t because their rhetoric all claimed only corporations and the wealthy benefited and that’s not true. Nevertheless, in the best interest of the country it should not have happened IMO.
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Computer modeling is great but it won’t ever be verified because 10 years from now everything will have been changed and we won’t know whether it was 1 trillion or 2 trillion or perhaps a negative number which would be my guess. Either way, 1 or 2 trillion won’t cover even one year of deficits. I stand by my original assertion, which is it’s the spending.
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There wasn’t a massive federal revenue decline following the Trump tax cuts, it continued to increase until COVID shutdowns knocked it back a bit and then it continued upward. Look at the tremendous increase in federal spending and you will find deficits. The increased spending was justified for a Covid shutdown year but not continuing as Biden had done.
We can only theorize what revenue would have been like had there been no tax cut. I am positive that economic activity picked up though as a result of the cut. There is more economic investment and people spend more when they have the money instead of forwarding it to Washington.
What you are shilling for is higher taxes, both then and even more now. It is not in the best interest of this country to turn over every dollar to Washington, you are on the wrong road.
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The Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office have published several estimates of TCJA’s expected budget impact. These estimates all show TCJA substantially reducing revenues and increasing deficits over its first decade. The specific amount varies—from about $1 trillion to $2 trillion—for three reasons.
First, the agencies estimated budget impacts using both conventional methods (which do not account for potential changes to the overall economy) and dynamic methods (which do). Second, the agencies originally estimated the budget impacts against a budget baseline established in 2017, when the act was debated and enacted. They later published updated figures using a 2018 baseline, which included new economic and budget information. Third, official scores typically do not include any new debt service costs resulting from tax cuts or spending increases. Projections for the entire budget, however, do include debt service.
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Hot water is on the left–cold water on the right–effluent runs down hill–life ain’t too complicated nor is our financial situation-
we spend far too much money and those who promote raising taxes have the gall to tell us we need Medicare for all–you know it will really save us money–like keeping your doctor and costs don’t exceed $2,500.
“I’m from Washington and I’m here to help you.” Those words should scare the hell out of you.
Reduce spending–there is nothing that cannot be cut say 1% to 2%–I say start with the small stuff just to prove we can do it–National Public Broadcasting which is totally unnecessary or Planned Parenthood–or reducing farm subsidies that go back to the Depression.
Didn’t Slow Joe tell us (CBS says) he was bringing in folks from Palestine as our newest refugees–who pays for that?
Or, yesterday he decides to increase the deficit by passing more student loans debt to the working class via larger deficits. Satisfies the Hamas wing of the loony left party–watch our future leaders at UCLA–Columbia–Emerson and Harvard–which gives me a great deal of confidence.
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