Revised March 10, 2003

Administration Tax Cut Proposals Would Cost $2.7 Trillion Through 2013
By John Springer

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The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has released a new analysis, Administration’s Tax Cutting Agenda Would Cost $2.7 Trillion Through 2013.  New estimates by the Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress’s official scorekeeper of tax legislation, show that the tax cut proposals in the Administration’s budget — such as the “economic growth package” and making the 2001 tax cut permanent — will cost $1.6 trillion through 2013.  Yet that figure excludes two key additional costs: (1) by increasing the projected level of the national debt, the proposed tax cuts would make interest payments on the debt costlier; and (2) the budget includes relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax only through 2005, even though the Administration has made clear that it plans to offer proposals in 2005 to ensure that AMT relief continues.  Including these additional costs raises the cost of the Administration’s tax cut plans to $2.7 trillion through 2013.

Cost of Bush Administration Tax Cut Agenda,

2003-2013 (in billions)

 

Revenue Loss

Interest

Total

“Economic Growth” Package

$726

$268

$994

Make 2001 Tax Cuts Permanent

$624

$48

$672

All Other Bush Tax Proposals

$225

$55

$280

Fix Alternative Minimum Tax

$658

$111

$769

Total

$2,233

$483

$2,716

These measures carry a combined cost of $2.7 trillion.  When the cost of the tax cut enacted in 2001 is added, the total cost of tax reductions from 2001 through 2013 mounts to $4.6 trillion.