Burman analysis of House GOP tax plan published in Columbia Journal of Tax Law

Sep 15, 2016

An Analysis of the House GOP Tax Plan

Jim Nunns, Leonard E. Burman, Ben Page, Jeff Rohaly & Joe Rosenberg

Columbia Journal of Tax Law, September 2016

Leonard Burman

Public Administration & International Affairs Department

Center for Policy Research

Taxation

Columbia Journal of Tax Law

Leonard Burman

This paper analyzes the House Republican Party tax reform blueprint, which would significantly reduce marginal tax rates, increase standard deduction amounts, repeal personal exemptions and most itemized deductions, allow businesses to expense new investment, and not allow businesses to deduct net interest expenses. Taxes would drop at all income levels in 2017, but most savings would go to the highest-income households. Federal revenues would fall by $3.1 trillion over the first decade before accounting for added interest costs and macroeconomic effects. Including both those factors, the federal debt would rise by at least $3.0 trillion over the first decade and by at least $6.6 trillion by the end of the second ten years.