Several Democratic members of Congress raised concerns about the economic impact of the extending the 2017 tax law passed during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Citing an estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation, the lawmakers said that the Republican plan to extend the 2017 Trump tax law will cost $5.5 trillion including interest over the next decade, and $4.6 trillion not including interest.
“The Republican handouts to billionaires and corporations will come at a staggering cost, and it’s unconscionable that their plan to pay for those handouts includes kicking millions of Americans off their health insurance, hiking the cost of living with tariffs, and driving up child hunger. Even after making painful cuts that will inflict hardship on typical American families, Republicans will still risk sending us into a catastrophic debt spiral that does permanent harm to our economy. What Republicans are trying to jam through Congress right now is a level of economic recklessness we’ve never seen before,” the Democratic lawmakers said in a statement.
The statement was made by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, along with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), and Brendan Boyle (D-PA).
These new estimates are even higher than previous estimates, which indicated that cost of extending the Trump tax law would be $4.6 trillion with interest and $4 trillion without.
Further, the Democratic lawmakers pointed out that budget resolution Senate Republicans introduced last week allocates an additional $1.5 trillion for tax breaks to be crafted by Finance Committee Republicans and the Trump administration.
This would brings the total potential 10-year cost of the Republican tax plan to more than $7 trillion.