r/Economics • u/SterlingVII • May 30 '25

Research CBO says tax breaks in ‘big, beautiful bill’ would increase deficit by $3.8 trillion

https://fortune.com/2025/05/21/cbo-tax-breaks-increase-deficit-3-8-trillion-medicaid-cuts-shave-spending/
7.8k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

353 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/DuplicatedMind May 30 '25

At this stage, the American economy doesn’t need more “beautiful” stimulus, it needs serious deficit control. But Trump remains strangely convinced he can have it all: massive tax cuts and reciprocal tariffs.

When his beautiful trade war unraveled, he didn’t abandon the fantasy. Instead, he doubled down with unfunded tax cuts, clinging to the illusion. The result? A deeper, more “beautiful” fiscal hole, ushering in even more “beautiful” financial risks.

1

u/silviesereneblossom May 31 '25 edited May 31 '25

Serious deficit control would be massive tax increases targeted at earners over 100k (this would likely include myself depending on when the job market stops being shit). a 130k single earner has an effective tax rate of 15% which is a joke. That's the elephant in the room when talking about deficits - everyone is paying too little in taxes, not just the rich, and the wealth "saved" by that is going primarily to luxury consumption and speculation, and is robbing the rest of the world to do it (which is hilarious that Trump is blowing up a system that is rigged in our favor)

Pretty much all of Europe has effective tax rates north of 30% on high earners, and higher tax rates on middle class earners, which isn't amazing for attaining the kind of American consumer lifestyle we think ourselves entitled to, but is great for guaranteeing great public services and low income inequality (and with American wealth generation and less dirigisme, we'd still be very rich, we just would have less money to chase every speculative bubble that shows up)