Speed Reads

GOP tax plan

U.S. Treasury's one-page tax plan analysis slammed by tax experts, Democrats

After a delay, the U.S. Treasury Department finally released on Monday a one-page document it called an "analysis of growth and revenue estimates" of the Republican tax plan, agreeing with the Trump administration that there will be an annual economic growth of 2.9 percent, more than enough for the plan to pay for itself over 10 years.

Most economists do not expect growth to be that robust, and congressional tax analysts estimate the plan would add $1 trillion to the federal deficit over a decade. The Treasury's brief report said growth would come from tax cuts and "a combination of regulatory reform, infrastructure development, and welfare reform as proposed in the administration's Fiscal Year 2018 budget."

The conservative Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said the document "makes a mockery of dynamic scoring and analysis," while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it "nothing more than one page of fake math." The Senate has approved one tax bill and the House another, with both delievering the bulk of tax cuts to businesses and the wealthy. A Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that almost half of all Americans are opposed to the plans, which Senate and House Republicans are trying to reconcile.