What's less clear, though, is whether it will be a run-of-the-mill tax cut or a once-in-a-generation tax reform. Well, tax cuts are just about lowering tax rates, while tax reform is usually about lowering tax rates even more and paying for it by getting rid of tax breaks. In other words, tax cuts are easy because everyone is a winner, but tax reform is hard because there are losers. And voilà, your $3 trillion tax cut would only look like a $1.8 trillion tax cut. The Trump tax cuts, then, might end up being a slightly classier version of the Bush tax cuts: more regressive, more red ink, and just as temporary.

Source: Washington Post February 22, 2017 16:07 UTC