There will be pain: Continuing low tax rates for the rich and corporations will hurt working families – Josh Bivens/EPI

Key findings

The U.S. “fiscal gap”—how much taxes need to be raised or spending cut to keep public debt stable as a share of gross domestic product—was entirely created by the Republican tax cuts of 2001, 2003, and 2017.
The “tax gap”—the amount of taxes owed but not paid each year—is currently larger than the overall fiscal gap. It is driven by the richest U.S. households and businesses cheating the law and underpaying taxes.
Extending the expiring provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) would increase the fiscal gap by nearly 50%, from 2.1% to 3.3%.
No matter how these tax cuts are financed, the result will hurt most working families, especially low-income households. The most damaging way to finance TCJA extensions would be with spending cuts for programs like SNAP or Medicaid.
Given today’s historically low unemployment rate, deficit-financed tax cuts are more likely to put a drag on growth going forward.

How Trump Can Achieve Sustained Growth – Michael Strain /AEI/Project Syndicate

“Above-target US inflation and a strong labor market reflect robust economic fundamentals. But the biggest risks to the US economy’s continued growth are Donald Trump’s erratic communication and, perhaps more importantly, his populist trade and immigration policies.“