In pushing the plan through a divided Congress — no Democrat in either the House or Senate backs it — Republicans have insisted that the economic virtues they envision from the tax-cut package outweigh the risks that many analysts are warning about.
“This is going to be one of the greatest gifts for the middle income people of this country that they’ve ever gotten for Christmas,” President Donald Trump said Saturday as he prepared to leave the White House for the weekend. “Jobs are going to come pouring back into this country.”
The legislation would add at least $1 trillion to federal deficits that were already sure to swell as baby boomers retire and draw on Social Security and Medicare. And the tax-cut’s gains are skewed toward wealthy taxpayers, who historically are less inclined to spend additional money than are households of more modest means. One likely result is that corporations and rich individuals will widen the economic gap between themselves and everyone else.
Even the political calculus for the Republicans looks questionable: A Quinnipiac University poll found that American voters, convinced that the benefits will flow mainly to corporations and the wealthy, oppose the plan 55 percent to 26 percent.
