Said Biden, "The last administration enacted a $2 trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the very wealthy and the biggest corporations and exploded the federal deficit."
This is both false and demagogic.
One, federal revenue has risen substantially since the Trump tax cuts, going from $3.3 trillion in 2016 to $4.7 trillion in 2023, a whopping 41% increase.
Two, runaway federal spending has canceled out the huge revenue increase generated since the Trump tax cuts. If we had maintained federal spending at 2016-Obama levels while only allowing spending to increase at the rate of inflation, we would have no deficit and would be paying down the national debt.
Federal spending has exploded from $3.85 trillion in 2016 to $6.1 trillion in 2023.
Three, the Trump income tax cuts were heavily weighted to the middle class. The year the tax cuts were passed, 2017, the tax rate for married couples was 15% in the second tax bracket, 25% in the third bracket, 28% in the fourth bracket, 33% in the fifth bracket, 35% in the sixth bracket, and 39.5% percent in the seventh bracket. The Trump tax cuts reduced those rates as follows:
Middle Income
2nd bracket -- from 15% down to 12% (3 percentage points)
3rd bracket -- from 25% down to 22% (3 percentage points)
4th bracket -- from 28% down to 24% (4 percentage points)
High Income
5th bracket -- from 33% down to 32% (1 percentage point)
6th bracket -- No change
7th bracket -- from 39.5% down to 37% (2.5 percentage points)
So the three middle-income brackets--the second, third, and fourth brackets--had their rates reduced by a total of 10 percentage points, while the high-income brackets--the fifth, sixth, and seventh brackets--had their rates reduced by only 3.5 percentage points.
This is both false and demagogic.
One, federal revenue has risen substantially since the Trump tax cuts, going from $3.3 trillion in 2016 to $4.7 trillion in 2023, a whopping 41% increase.
Two, runaway federal spending has canceled out the huge revenue increase generated since the Trump tax cuts. If we had maintained federal spending at 2016-Obama levels while only allowing spending to increase at the rate of inflation, we would have no deficit and would be paying down the national debt.
Federal spending has exploded from $3.85 trillion in 2016 to $6.1 trillion in 2023.
Three, the Trump income tax cuts were heavily weighted to the middle class. The year the tax cuts were passed, 2017, the tax rate for married couples was 15% in the second tax bracket, 25% in the third bracket, 28% in the fourth bracket, 33% in the fifth bracket, 35% in the sixth bracket, and 39.5% percent in the seventh bracket. The Trump tax cuts reduced those rates as follows:
Middle Income
2nd bracket -- from 15% down to 12% (3 percentage points)
3rd bracket -- from 25% down to 22% (3 percentage points)
4th bracket -- from 28% down to 24% (4 percentage points)
High Income
5th bracket -- from 33% down to 32% (1 percentage point)
6th bracket -- No change
7th bracket -- from 39.5% down to 37% (2.5 percentage points)
So the three middle-income brackets--the second, third, and fourth brackets--had their rates reduced by a total of 10 percentage points, while the high-income brackets--the fifth, sixth, and seventh brackets--had their rates reduced by only 3.5 percentage points.