Aren’t Reduced Revenues the Whole Point of Tax Cuts?

Washington is buzzing right now with talk of tax cuts. There’s good and bad in what the Republicans are proposing, and odds are that what looks and feels like tax reform will be signed into law by President Trump before 2017 closes.

So while it constitutes progress that Congress is talking reductions in the tax burden, it is unfortunate that the projected revenue implications of tax cuts have been so central to the discussion. We say this while fully cognizant of the limited wiggle room the Republicans have. Long gone are the days when members of both parties could work side by side on more ambitious reform, as they did in 1986.