
The numbers tell a different, positive story that will likely only improve.
In March 2022, the Biden White House issued a statement claiming that “even before the pandemic, the Trump tax cuts had added $2 trillion to deficits over a decade. The deficit increased every year of the previous administration.” Just last month, Senator Elizabeth Warren went further, writing that these tax cuts should be repealed to “close that door before the next $1 trillion slips away.”
The assertion that Trump’s tax policy increased federal deficits is not supported by any substantive analysis. Those who have done the math have, indeed, found the opposite. In June 2022, the Heritage Foundation issued a position paper titled “The Numbers Are In: Trump’s Tax Cuts Paid Off.”
As always, there are many things going on in the economy. For example, the dot-com bubble led government revenues to skyrocket under President Clinton, but Clinton’s policies were hardly responsible for that increase. Nonetheless, the numbers for Trump’s tax policy are so striking that it is hard to support Biden’s assertion with reasonable analysis. Biden is talking about a gaping hole in revenue that just isn’t there.