Trump’s Tax Plan Could Add Trillions in Debt. Harris’s Is a Mystery.

The New York Times ^ | Aug. 9, 2024, 11:27 a.m. ET | Jim Tankersley

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Former President Donald J. Trump keeps adding new tax cuts to his list of campaign promises, and their projected costs keep piling up.

Independent analyses suggest Mr. Trump’s plans could add close to $4 trillion over the next decade to America’s already fast-growing national debt, even after factoring in additional revenues from new taxes he wants to impose on imports.

It is impossible to make a similar estimate for Vice President Kamala Harris, Mr. Trump’s Democratic opponent this fall. She has not laid out any tax or spending plans, or other economic policy proposals, with enough detail to estimate whether they would add to deficits or reduce them.

Total federal debt is now about $35 trillion, up from about $20 trillion when Mr. Trump took office in 2017, Treasury Department data shows. It grew by about $7.8 trillion on Mr. Trump’s watch and has increased by about $7.3 trillion on President Biden’s watch thus far.

Deficit hawks in Washington warn that a further acceleration would elevate risks of an economically debilitating spiral, where rising debt pushes up borrowing costs in financial markets. That would then cause the debt to further balloon.

“It’s a lot more troubling now, because the overall fiscal and economic environment is a lot worse” than it was before Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden took office, said Marc Goldwein, the senior vice president for the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget in Washington.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Corporate gaslight press article presented under topic "humor" to grant it the respect it deserves.

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[Indy Pendance]

Here’s a clue, STOP SPENDING!!!!!!!

[alancarp]

Oh, so NOW the NYT cares about Federal spending???

[PGR88]

The statist view is: “Government must be maintained with your money, above all else.”

[Amagi]

"It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now ... Cutting taxes now is not to incur a budget deficit, but to achieve the more prosperous, expanding economy which can bring a budget surplus."
– John F. Kennedy, Nov. 20, 1962, president's news conference

Anticipating the Laffer Curve, this was a common theme of JFK speeches at this time, including at the Economic Club of New York on 12/14/62.

The Laffer Curve concept is beyond the comprehension of modern day liberals, as exemplified by the New York Times.

[noiseman]

Sort of like saying if Walmart reduces my hours I won’t be able to afford my payments on my Ferrari, so Walmart can’t cut my hours. The government can’t even come close to affording its current spending, which is why it is deep in debt, so it already should be drastically cutting spending regardless of whether Trump reduces taxes.

As we all know, not a tax problem, a spending problem.

[Kazan]

This nonsense.

Tax revenue increased after Trump's tax cuts in 2017.

[Signalman]

The national debt has exploded under Biden/Harris.

[Liz]

Total federal debt skyrocketed by Biden’s profligate spending and is now about $35 trillion (from about $20 trillion when Trump took office in 2017). Source: Treasury Department data.

It has increased by about $7.3 trillion on President Biden’s watch, thus far.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Hoo Doo Woman gonna rule by JoBu’s Voo Doo.

[Bishop_Malachi]

The NYTs pretends it cares about the National Debt when discussing Trump. How often have they beat this drum during previous Democrat administrations?

[Steve_Seattle]

The NYT has no problem whatsoever with adding trillions to the national debt through additional spending, but woe to the man who proposes a tax cut.

[DPMD]

The alleged “Cost” of tax cuts has always been a democrat canard. “How do we pay for a tax cut” is nothing more than a zero-sum scam wherein taxes are raised here for a cut there. Three card monte.

[Political Junkie Too]

Harris' plan is to "fight to lower prices.

She said that in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

But now she REALLY means it!

-PJ

[bray]

Communists have no concept of Capitalism.

[Omnivore-Dan]

What about the part where we export oil & gas instead of importing it? How about the tariffs? Making other countries pay their fair share to support NATO? Deporting illegals instead of massive handouts? I could go on, but I need a drink.

[bray]

Must have missed these articles when they were voting to increase the debt limits.

[Leaning Right]

> Here’s a clue, STOP SPENDING!!!!!!! <

Yep. But even Trump has no interest in doing that. He did not veto a single major spending bill when he was president. And that’s where the buck stops.

Don’t get me wrong. Harris would be much, much worse. But we’re in trouble no matter who wins in November.

Side note: I was reading about Calvin Coolidge the other day. He was the last president who balanced the budget every year he was in office.

https://www.coolidgeandthebudget.com/

[alloysteel]

NYT only cares about any Federal deficit to the degree with which they can use the issue to beat up on the Trump MAGA plan.

Decreased tax RATES end up INCREASING revenue, and thus are a positive factor. But so long as spending outstrips revenue, the increased revenue cannot in and of itself reduce the deficit at the end of the year.

The answer would appear simple. But obviously, it is not.

[Steely Tom]

Waitresses and bellhops are the backbone of US Treasury revenues.