'Dirty little secret': Trump's tax cuts may be here to stay — here's why

Some begin expiring as soon as 2025.

But as Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell observes today, don’t expect either political party to do anything about the damage those tax cuts for the wealthy continue to pose to the economy in the form of higher deficits.

“Here’s a dirty little secret about those expensive, unpopular Trump tax cuts: We’re probably stuck with them for good, because neither party seems to have the political courage to let them lapse. Not the Republicans who supposedly care about fiscal responsibility, and not the Democrats who are on record as hating them.”

Rampell argued that the tax cuts failed to produce the economic growth that its supporters had claimed they would. And that the new tax law “definitely didn’t pay for itself” as promised.

Rampell cited estimates that extending Trump’s individual tax cuts in full “would add around $3 trillion in federal deficits over a decade.” And she argues that “by far the biggest benefits (to extending the cuts) would go to higher-income households.”

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But she noted that it’s highly unlikely that the Democrats would dare to end the Trump tax cuts because “a whole lot of Americans’ tax bills will rise — and whoever stands in the way of extending those provisions will inevitably get blamed for “raising taxes.” And the Republicans are the ones wanting to extend them, she notes, even though that would increase the very deficits they’re criticizing more loudly today.

She also noted that Biden’s promise not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 might be jeopardized by ending the tax cuts. But he continues to criticize those cuts while not acting to end them.

As Rampell concluded:

“Once upon a time, when both parties pretended to care about fiscal responsibility, Republicans generally favored addressing budget challenges through spending cuts, and Democrats through tax increases. Today, everyone’s on record as opposing just about anything that might make a significant dent in the deficit.”

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