Biden on Economic Growth and Trump’s Tax Cuts

Former Vice President Joe Biden wrongly says “most of the conservative think tanks,” including the Heritage Foundation, agree that the tax cuts championed by President Donald Trump “generated virtually no growth at all.”

There are many economists who might agree with Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, that the tax cuts have not generated much, if any, economic growth, but most conservative think tanks, including the Heritage Foundation, are not among them.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed by Congress and signed by Trump in December 2017, was billed by Republicans as a catalyst to accelerate economic growth and in turn, to create more jobs and higher wages. The law lowered many individual tax rates, nearly doubled the standard deduction, eliminated personal exemptions and increased child tax credits, among other changes. It also cut the top corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. It is expected to add $1 trillion to $2 trillion to the federal debt over 10 years.

In an open letter to Congress in November 2017, more than 100 economists in support of the tax cuts predicted the tax cuts would “ignite our economy with levels of growth not seen in generations.”