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It’s official: Trump’s tax cuts paid for themselves
Washington Examiner ^ | January 20, 2023 09:05 AM | by Stephen Moore

Posted on 01/20/2023 6:15:52 AM PST by Red Badger

How many times have you heard President Joe Biden or Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) berate the Trump tax cuts as “a giveaway to the rich?”

Biden and congressional Democrats now want to let expire major planks of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, former President Donald Trump's signature domestic achievement, particularly the incentives for American businesses to invest more here at home.

We now have incontrovertible evidence that after five years since they took effect, the Trump tax rate cuts of 2017 raised revenues over this time period. For full disclosure, I should note that I worked with fellow economists Larry Kudlow, Arthur Laffer, and Kevin Hassett together on that plan, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2018.

The latest Congressional Budget Office report released earlier this month calculated that the federal government collected $4.9 trillion of federal revenue last year. This was up — ready for this? — almost $1.5 trillion since 2017, the year before the tax cuts became law.

In other words, revenues were up 40% in five years. The evidence through the first three years of the tax cut finds that the share of taxes paid by the wealthiest 1% rose as well. So much for this being a tax giveaway for the rich.

I compared these numbers with the estimates of what the Trump tax cuts were expected to “cost.” Instead of an expected $1 trillion revenue “loss,” the tax receipts over this period were almost precisely what they would have been if we didn’t cut taxes at all. And remember, that estimate in 2017 never anticipated the two-year hit to the economy from COVID-19 lockdowns — which depleted the Treasury.

In other words, there was a giant Laffer Curve effect from Trump’s tax cut. We got higher growth and higher tax payments with lower tax rates.

This shouldn’t be a giant surprise. The same thing happened when Democratic President John F. Kennedy cut tax rates in the 1960s and when Republican President Ronald Reagan cut tax rates in the 1980s. Lower rates and more revenues.

None of this seems to matter to the White House or congressional Democrats. They want to monomaniacally repeal a tax cut that worked. This would be like firing a coach who wins every game.

One of the most important and successful features of the Trump tax plan was reducing the tax rate on American businesses from 35% — the highest in the world — to 25% while closing special interest loopholes. This brought businesses and jobs back to these shores and helped fuel the Trump economic boom.

An obvious question is, why are we running a $1.4 trillion deficit if we have an all-time high in tax payments?

Because under Biden, federal spending has exploded to more than $6 trillion. Washington doesn’t have a revenue problem. It has a problem of runaway spending. It’s almost as if Congress is pleading for help: Stop us before we spend again.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; History; Politics
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 01/20/2023 6:15:52 AM PST by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Explaining oneself means you’re getting nowhere when up against a one-line cliche. The only thing missing from the cliche is the rhyme-unnecessary in this case.


2 posted on 01/20/2023 6:27:14 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: DIRTYSECRET

10% of the government could disappear without anyone noticing. Take the left to the mat that one. Be willing to shut down the government on that one.


3 posted on 01/20/2023 6:29:00 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: Red Badger

He would be far better off admitting that he was wrong as he had listened to and trusted people who he now knows deliberately deceived him and asking people to forgive him for that, then to keep digging his heels in and insisting the jabs worked and are safe.


4 posted on 01/20/2023 6:31:23 AM PST by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith….)
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To: Red Badger

Why do our laws always expire, and theirs keep on chugging?


5 posted on 01/20/2023 6:32:24 AM PST by Dr. Sivana (But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth? (Luke 18:8))
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To: Red Badger

“Washington doesn’t have a revenue problem. It has a problem of runaway spending. “

So, here’s the question no one seems to know the answer to: Since the Federal Reserve has abandoned all pretense of actually selling T-bonds to fund the deficit and has instead just printed money by the trillions, why do we owe them for this invented money?


6 posted on 01/20/2023 6:36:17 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Blacks have placed stronger chains on themselves than the slave masters of old ever forged.)
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To: Dr. Sivana

They want permanent misery..............😳


7 posted on 01/20/2023 6:36:22 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Eventually the dollar will fall into the Zimbabwe hole of worthlessness...............👿


8 posted on 01/20/2023 6:38:55 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger
How many times have you heard President Joe Biden or Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) berate the Trump tax cuts as “a giveaway to the rich?”

for lefturd loon emotionalism, envy has primacy over reality

9 posted on 01/20/2023 6:40:25 AM PST by mjp (pro-freedom & pro-wealth $)
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To: Red Badger
How many times have you heard President Joe Biden or Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) berate the Trump tax cuts as “a giveaway to the rich?”

About as often as I hear Biden read "Bottom up and middle out". Which doesn't even make any sense.

10 posted on 01/20/2023 6:41:49 AM PST by 1Old Pro
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To: Red Badger

Sustained class envy, pure and simple. Gotta keep the people divided and pitted against each other.


11 posted on 01/20/2023 6:58:05 AM PST by telescope115 (Proud member of the ANTIFAuci movement. )
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Just like the Dems are saying on Biden and the classified document ‘problem’, if you’re explaining, you’re losing.


12 posted on 01/20/2023 7:14:44 AM PST by ro_dreaming (Who knew that in 2022 "1984", "Enemy of the State", and "Person of Interest" would be non-fiction?)
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To: Red Badger

The lefties don’t care - they’ll continue to claim that the “Trump tax cuts” only benefitted the rich - who also do not pay their fair share.

And the lefty media will run with it.

When have the Democrats and media ever let truth, facts and hard data get in their way?


13 posted on 01/20/2023 7:23:18 AM PST by Bon of Babble (Rigged Elections have Consequences)
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To: Red Badger

bump


14 posted on 01/20/2023 7:43:14 AM PST by Albion Wilde ("There is no good government at all & none possible."--Mark Twain)
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To: Red Badger
Democrats squeal "TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH!!!" whenever a proposal for cutting taxes is brought up. This time is no different. They've been squealing this noise since 1980.
15 posted on 01/20/2023 1:48:05 PM PST by SkiKnee
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To: Red Badger

That is what I am afraid of. I’m thinking of converting a portion of my IRA to physical gold.


16 posted on 01/20/2023 5:42:03 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Blacks have placed stronger chains on themselves than the slave masters of old ever forged.)
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To: SkiKnee

1880...............😉


17 posted on 01/23/2023 5:03:39 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

My company stopped supporting 401ks back during the Great Recession.

I had to transfer/rollover the funds to an IRA at my local Credit Union.

When doing so, I used part of the money to pay off my 30 year mortgage in 16 years. Thanks to President Trump’s Tax Cuts!

Saved a ton of interest!...............


18 posted on 01/23/2023 5:24:41 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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