Treasury's Tax Analysis

Photo: Rex Features/AP

"Not only will this tax plan pay for itself, but it will pay down debt."
— "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin: GOP Tax Plan Would More Than Offset Its Cost," Kate Davidson, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 28, 2017

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is demanding answers from Treasury about why Secretary Steven Mnuchin has yet to release an economic analysis of the GOP's tax overhaul plan, despite repeated promises that he would.
— "Treasury's tax analysis still missing ahead of key Senate vote," Donna Borak, CNN Money, November 30, 2017

The Treasury Department released a one-page analysis of the nearly 500-page Senate tax bill on Monday that suggested the $1.5 trillion plan would more than pay for itself, assuming the economy grows much faster than any independent analysis of the bill has projected.

“The report does not appear to be a projection of the economic effects of a tax bill,” said Scott Greenberg, a tax analyst at the conservative Tax Foundation. “It appears, on the other hand, to be a thought experiment on how federal revenues would vary under different economic effects of overall government policies. Which is, needless to say, an odd way to analyze a tax bill.”

“I don’t believe in magic,” said David H. Brockway, staff director of the Joint Committee on Taxation during the Reagan administration. “It’s just a political statement.”
— "Treasury Defends Tax Plan Cost With One-Page Analysis," ALAN RAPPEPORT and JIM TANKERSLEY, New York Times, DEC. 11, 2017

While Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was publicly claiming that more than 100 people in the office were “working around the clock on running scenarios for us” on the economic impact of the tax cuts, career tax experts inside the office said that they had been largely shut out of the process and that such an analysis didn’t exist.
— "Mr. Mnuchin’s Magical Math on Taxes," EDITORIAL BOARD, New York Times, DEC. 11, 2017

It took Treasury more than six months to produce a superficial one-page report.
— "Treasury's Shoddy Tax Analysis," Bloomberg Editors, ‎December‎ ‎13‎, ‎2017‎