$5 trillion question for Trump tax plan: How to pay for it?

[eppur_se_muova]

By JOSH BOAK, AP Economics Writer
Published 15 Hours Ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — How do you pay for an estimated $5.8 trillion tax cut?

For President Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders, that is the mostly unanswered $5,800,000,000,000 question.

The plan they released Wednesday took a first step toward outlining how Republicans propose to cover some of the monumental cost over the next 10 years, mainly by removing certain tax breaks. But even those proposed changes were left vague — and wouldn't remotely pay the full cost of the tax cut.

The administration says it would eliminate most personal tax breaks. Possibly gone would be people's ability to deduct state and local taxes as well as eligible medical expenses. But doing so would still leave the tax cut more than $2 trillion shy of paying for itself.

The Trump administration argues that it can accelerate the economy's growth far beyond its current pace and, in doing so, generate enough federal revenue to cover the shortfall. Most economists have called that wishful thinking.
***
more: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/28/the-associated-press-5-trillion-question-for-trump-tax-plan-how-to-pay-for-it.html

[northoftheborder]

1. Others have called it "trickle down"

[democratisphere]

3. Trickle down never does.

[Chasstev365]

5. Trickle "On".

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. Uh, that is the win win for these criminals. They give them our money, yes our money

AND they simultaneously destroy our ability to do anything about it, kill the government.

It is our money, we do the work, they dont.

[Beakybird]

6. They work!

It's stealing, and they're working hard at it.

[Chasstev365]

4. Easy:

A Cut the military budget by 30%.

B. Self righteously scream about deficits the next time a Democrat occupies the White House.

C. Not worry because all future elections will be fixed so that Republicans always win.

D. Have a nice day!

[Eliot Rosewater]

7. Too complicated, end SS and Medicare, give the money to the 1%.

the 99% now have no time to worry about politics let alone vote.

[BigmanPigman]

9. I think Ryan already has that in mind...

it was his "college dream". That is SICK and TWISTED!

[NCjack]

8. The beauty and power of the GOP plan is:

It pays for itself !!! NOT

By the time the proof is in that this plan is just another "trickle-down" swindle of the middle-class and poor, the rascals will have disappeared the money.

[hedda_foil]

10. Easy. By cutting ever inch of the safety net...

They're already talking about Medicare, working on Medicaid, haven't funded CHIP. No doubt they'll try to give Social Security to Goldman Sachs.

[pandr32]

11. Eliminating medical expense deduction altogether?

How can this be?
People already pay way too much for medical care and if they cannot deduct these costs on their taxes there will be a whole lot more people going under financially.

[jmowreader]

12. Among other things, that deduction will be going away

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029646638 lists all the deductions he wants to kill.

I heard rumor that Trump wants to move premiums for employer-provided medical insurance into after-tax income, not before-tax income...which was one of the things that was done to make medical insurance more afforfable.

[pandr32]

13. OMG--Impairment related expenses for a disabled person, too :-(

We have a monster in the White House and a band of sociopaths in Congress.