1. It is, as David Stockman says, the smallest, not the biggest (as Trump says), individual tax cut in history.
2. It was approved in the early morning hours after lawmakers received a 500-page rewritten version that contained significant changes from the bill that was approved by two Senate committees. Sounds like the Republican version of the passage of Obamacare.
3. It has significant differences from the House tax bill that will have to be reconciled in a conference committee.
4. It is ultimately revenue neutral. Even though it supposedly cuts taxes enough to increase the deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next ten years, the bill is ultimately revenue neutral because of the increased taxes it will generate from economic growth. Said Senator Mitch McConnell: “I’m totally confident this is a revenue-neutral bill. I think it’s going to be a revenue producer.” See my article “The Implications of Revenue Neutral Tax Reform” for the problem with this.
The only Republican senator to vote against the bill was Bob Corker of Tennessee.
9:20 am on December 2, 2017
