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This blog is connected with the web site at http://www.econdataus.com/budget.html. The main purpose of that web site is to organize and present budget and economic data and provide their sources. The purpose of this blog will be to add some commentary and perhaps to promote some discussion of that data.

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Do the Trump Tax Cuts Mostly Pay for Themselves?

On April 9, 2018, the Congressional Budget Office released The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2018 to 2028 . The next day, the Investor's Business Daily ran an editorial titled It's Official: Trump Tax Cuts Are Boosting Growth And Mostly Paying For Themselves . That editorial begins: When the Congressional Budget Office released its updated budget forecast, everyone focused on the deficit number. But buried in the report was the CBO's tacit admission that it vastly overestimated the cost of the Trump tax cuts, because it didn't account for the strong economic growth they would generate. Further on, the editorial states: The CBO report also makes clear that this faster-growing economy will offset most of the costs of the Trump tax cuts. In a table buried in the appendix of the CBO report, it shows that, before accounting for economic growth, the tax cuts Trump signed into law late last year would cut federal revenues by $1.69 trillion from 2018-2027. But it goes on ...
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From Record Monthly Surplus to the Largest Annual Deficit in 6 Years

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On May 25, 2018, Judy Woodruff interviewed Marc Short, White House Director Of Legislative Affairs, on the PBS Newshour. The video and transcript can be found at this link. At 2:43 in the video, Marc Short states the following: And, lastly, in April, we had the largest surplus on record in American history. That is a result of the growth and the revenues coming into the federal government because of the tax plan. READ FULL REPORT
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Who Will See Their Taxes Go Up under the Final GOP Tax Bill? (Part 2)

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Taxpayer Examples Cited by Supporters of the Tax Bill In my last post , I looked at several groups of taxpayers who would pay higher taxes under the new GOP tax bill. The Committee on Rules has posted a Summary of the bill , a Joint Explanatory Statement , and the full bill . Since then, however, it seems like Republican members of Congress are focusing more and more on just a couple of examples that show taxpayers who will receive large tax cuts. For example, a Washington Examiner article quotes Mitch McConnell reading an outline of a possible script for an advertisement that he expects will air: “Here’s the commercial against Joe Manchin: ‘Head of household, family of four, making $73,000 a year, gets a $2,000 tax reduction. Now maybe Sen. Manchin that doesn’t sound like a lot of money to you, but for me it’s a 58 percent reduction in my taxes; 58 percent,’” McConnell said, playing the role of ad voiceover. “Or Sen. Heitkamp: ‘Maybe $1,300 doesn’t sound like a lot to you, bu...
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