Sunday, June 29, 2025

Zero revenue cost from any and all tax cuts, forever and ever

I gather that the GOP score of the Senate tax bill DOES show budgetary costs as being lowered by the expiration of new provisions (such as the higher standard deduction) that it would add to the Internal Revenue Code. This blatantly contradicts its use of a "current-policy" baseline for 2017 provisions.


The Senate GOP's refusal to use a current-policy baseline for NEW provisions means that, the day after enactment, they could pass a new law making all of those expiring provisions permanent, and claim a budgetary cost of zero.


But why stop there? From now on, they should simply make ALL new tax breaks that they enact expire in a week. This would create next to zero revenue loss no matter what they were doing. Then, the next day, they could pass a new law making the same provisions permanent, at a zero revenue cost under the current-policy baseline. They could even, under this approach, repeal all U.S. federal taxes, and claim a zero budgetary cost.


Good work, guys.

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