{"id":10370,"date":"2024-05-02T00:02:30","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T21:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=10370"},"modified":"2024-05-02T00:02:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T21:02:30","slug":"would-biden-really-scrap-the-tcja-would-that-raise-everyones-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=10370","title":{"rendered":"Would Biden Really Scrap The TCJA? Would That Raise Everyone\u2019s Taxes?"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Biden set off a kerfuffle when he posted on \u201cX,\u201d formerly Twitter, \u201cDonald Trump was very proud of his $2 trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy and biggest corporations and exploded the federal debt. That tax cut is going to expire. If I\u2019m reelected, it\u2019s going to stay expired.\u201dCritics are blasting him for vowing to allow the individual provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) to expire as scheduled at the end of 2025. This is, in the words of a breathless New York Post headline, a promise of \u201cTax Hikes For All.\u201d\u00a0
\nWall Street Journal<\/em> columnist James Freeman predicted similar dire consequences (paywall). He wrote, \u201cVoters should\u2026understand that failing to extend the expiring provisions of Donald Trump\u2019s signature reform would raise taxes on most Americans, not just the wealthy.\u201d
\nThis would be true if Biden let the TCJA expire and didn\u2019t replace it with anything. And by saying he\u2019d let the law \u201cstay expired,\u201d Biden\u2019s political hyperbole opened the door to such criticism.\u00a0\u00a0
\nWhat\u2019s In A Name?<\/strong>
\nBut there is plenty in the old law that Biden almost certainly would keep.
\nIndeed, his most recent budget included multiple ways Biden could revise the TCJA while not raising taxes for \u201call\u201d or even most households. He could cut taxes for some and raise them for others. He could let the law expire and immediately replace it with a package that retains many provisions of the TCJA, but with a new name.
\nFor months before that tweet, Biden had been vowing to never raise taxes for those making $400,000 or less while paying for extending many of the TCJA\u2019s individual provisions by raising taxes on high-income households and corporations. Biden never made clear whether his pledge applies only to direct taxes on individuals or also includes the share of \u00a0corporate taxes paid by workers and shareholders.
\nStill, even in the heated rhetoric of a presidential campaign, claiming that Biden is flip-flopping on his long-time promise to protect those under $400,000 tax filers seems a stretch. Not raising taxes on 95 percent of households is not the same as preserving in amber every TCJA tax provision for that group. His most recent tweet is consistent with his long-standing pledge, if somewhat dramatic.
\nAn Age-Old Question<\/strong>
\nBut is rewriting parts of the law the same as scrapping it? The answer to that question rests on a premise that philosophers have debated for centuries but barely matters to actual taxpayers.\u00a0\u00a0
\nIt goes back to a mythological Greek vessel called the Ship of Theseus. Two thousand years ago, the Greek philosopher and historian Plutarch explained the problem: If over time each individual piece of a ship is replaced, is it still the same ship?
\nBiden seems to be sailing a similar vessel.
\nHe\u2019d likely retain many key features such as the TCJA\u2019s higher standard deduction and its repeal of the old personal exemption. But in this year\u2019s State of the Union and previous budget proposals, he also said he\u2019d raise the TCJA\u2019s top individual income tax rate, expand its the Child Tax Credit, raise its corporate and capital gains tax rates, and make dozens of other changes.
\nAfter all that hammering, sawing, and re-timbering, would it still be the TCJA? Or would Biden have repealed the Trump law and replaced it with an individual income tax code that retains some key features but changes others? Does it matter?\u00a0\u00a0
\nIt should surprise no one that Biden seems eager to consign what is arguably Trump\u2019s signature presidential accomplishment to the scrapyard. Although the TCJA cut taxes for the majority of households across all income groups, it was remarkably unpopular with the public. Hence, Biden\u2019s promise to let it die, at least in name.
\nTaxes Never Stay\u00a0The Same\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nThe pols will say what they say. But the rest of us should take a deep breath and acknowledge that changing major sections of the tax code never is a binary exercise. Some provisions of the old law inevitably will survive while others are remade, sometimes substantially, much like that old Greek ship.
\nIndeed, the tax law is constantly evolving. In the many decades I have been following tax policy, there has been barely a year when the revenue laws did not change. And even transformative overhauls, such as the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86), had relatively short half-lives as Congress chipped away bits and pieces over time.
\nWhen did TRA 86 stop being TRA 86? Good question. But one best answered by Plutarch.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\nInstead of thinking about whether Biden replaces enough of the TCJA to justify renaming the vessel, we\u2019d all be better off if lawmakers spend 2025 focusing on how to keep the seaworthy timbers and how best to replace the worm-eaten ones.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Biden posted on social media that he plans to let the individual provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expire at the end of 2025, leading to criticism and accusations of tax hikes for all. However, Biden’s budget includes ways to revise the TCJA without raising taxes for all households, potentially cutting taxes for some and raising them for others. Biden has promised not to raise taxes for those making 0,000 or less, but it remains unclear if this includes corporate taxes. Biden’s plan to revise the TCJA while retaining some key features has led to debates on whether he is scrapping the law or simply rewriting parts of it. The tax law is constantly evolving, and major changes are not binary exercises, with some provisions surviving while others are remade. Biden’s plan to let the TCJA expire in name is seen as an attempt to move away from Trump’s tax policies, which were unpopular with the public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10371,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1521,6332,862,5800,492,7092,8620,1766,1221,6862,6981,3348,1240,6196,6262,3399,5099,8099,4758,898,7344,166,3355,8520,2294,3398,4740,28,5679,2952,393,5821,4833,4843,3360,6516,5051,720,5612,3349,124,817,7967,1063,1065,3358,4847,4222,5187,4918,4556,5680,3912,1183,7191,618,841,169,380,1238,1379,255,4928],"class_list":["post-10370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-1521","tag-2017-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act","tag-age","tag-americans","tag-biden","tag-bidens-budget","tag-bidens-tax-plan","tag-budget","tag-campaign","tag-capital-gains","tag-capital-gains-tax","tag-change","tag-clear","tag-congress","tag-consequences","tag-corporate-taxes","tag-corporations","tag-credit","tag-criticism","tag-debt","tag-direct-taxes","tag-donald-trump","tag-exercise","tag-expiring-provisions","tag-income","tag-income-tax","tag-income-tax-rate","tag-jobs","tag-law","tag-media","tag-new-york","tag-package","tag-policy","tag-president","tag-president-biden","tag-presidential-campaign","tag-raising-taxes","tag-rest","tag-revenue","tag-sailing","tag-ship","tag-social-media","tag-state","tag-state-of-the-union","tag-tax","tag-tax-cuts","tag-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act","tag-tax-hikes","tag-tax-policies","tag-tax-policy","tag-tax-rate","tag-tax-rates","tag-tax-reform","tag-taxes","tag-taxpayers","tag-top","tag-trump","tag-twitter","tag-us","tag-vessel","tag-voters","tag-wall-street","tag-wealthy"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\nWould Biden Really Scrap The TCJA? 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