Tax Cuts $90 billion giveaway to Corporations
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 11:28 pm
Companies are paying less after the GOP tax cut, and it’s showing in the deficit
There were a lot of numbers in the budget report that the Treasury Department issued this week. Here are a few of them.
2018 budget deficit: $779 billion
The budget deficit compared to 2017: +$113 billion
Government revenue compared to 2017: +$14 billion
Government spending compared to 2017: +$127 billion
Politicians have long decried the rising federal debt, the total amount the U.S. owes and a number that grows after each year’s budget deficit. But few presidents have actually been able to bring the deficit to heel. President Bill Clinton is the only president since Calvin Coolidge to have a budget surplus over the course of his administration.
Early in his presidency, President Donald Trump promised to “swiftly” balance the budget. He also said the Republican tax cut plan, signed into law last December and estimated to cost $1.9 trillion over the next 10 years, would not increase the deficit.
Now, new numbers released this week show the tax cuts, combined with the required payouts for Social Security and Medicaid and increased spending on defense under Trump, are, in fact, increasing the deficit.
Which brings us to one more number that stuck out in the new report: $204.7 billion.
That’s how much corporations paid in taxes in fiscal year 2018. It’s striking because the figure is more than $90 billion less than the $297 billion corporations paid in taxes the previous fiscal year.
There were a lot of numbers in the budget report that the Treasury Department issued this week. Here are a few of them.
2018 budget deficit: $779 billion
The budget deficit compared to 2017: +$113 billion
Government revenue compared to 2017: +$14 billion
Government spending compared to 2017: +$127 billion
Politicians have long decried the rising federal debt, the total amount the U.S. owes and a number that grows after each year’s budget deficit. But few presidents have actually been able to bring the deficit to heel. President Bill Clinton is the only president since Calvin Coolidge to have a budget surplus over the course of his administration.
Early in his presidency, President Donald Trump promised to “swiftly” balance the budget. He also said the Republican tax cut plan, signed into law last December and estimated to cost $1.9 trillion over the next 10 years, would not increase the deficit.
Now, new numbers released this week show the tax cuts, combined with the required payouts for Social Security and Medicaid and increased spending on defense under Trump, are, in fact, increasing the deficit.
Which brings us to one more number that stuck out in the new report: $204.7 billion.
That’s how much corporations paid in taxes in fiscal year 2018. It’s striking because the figure is more than $90 billion less than the $297 billion corporations paid in taxes the previous fiscal year.
