Chicago Booth Review Podcast Trumponomics: Do more tax cuts make sense?
10 snips
Feb 19, 2025 
Eric Zwick, a Chicago Booth professor specializing in tax policy, discusses the potential expiration of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. He delves into whether tax cuts truly yield the promised economic benefits and the uneven effects on different income groups. Zwick analyzes the balance between government spending and the national debt, the historical performance of recent tax reforms, and the ideological clash over tax policy. He also explores future proposals for tax cuts and their implications on inflation and government revenue.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
2017 Tax Cuts Overview
- The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act had two main parts: one for businesses and one for individuals.
- The individual cuts are expiring, mostly benefiting the wealthy and pass-through businesses.
Tax Cut Distribution
- Most people received a small tax cut, except for some in high-tax states.
- The cuts disproportionately favored the wealthy, which Democrats criticized.
Do Tax Cuts Pay for Themselves?
- Tax cuts rarely pay for themselves entirely, despite claims of growth offsetting costs.
- The 2017 cuts spurred some growth, but only offset 10-15% of the revenue loss.