Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation, joined by many other nonpartisan and even Republican experts, has estimated that the Trump-Republican tax plan could not pay for itself, and that it would significantly increase the U.S. budget deficit.
Now, after suspicious delays and repeated promises from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Department has released a one-page “analysis” that concludes this deficit-busting tax proposal might pay for itself if not yet written plans for “regulatory reform, infrastructure development, and welfare reform” were also later implemented.
“This is a joke. It’s like saying, ‘I could fly if I could grow wings,’” said American Bridge Vice President Shripal Shah. “The fact that the Trump Administration had to doctor a study with fake calculations about major plans that don’t even exist yet is a glaring admission of guilt. They know their tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations will come at a serious cost to the deficit, so they’re lying to try and cover this up. Credible analysis after analysis has made clear that this is a tax cut for the wealthy and corporations at the expense of everyone else.”
The Treasury Department’s inspector general is currently investigating the delays behind release of this analysis, as well as whether political interference has occurred.