Commentary: Ryan Makes It Clear That Cutting Medicaid to Pay for the Health Bill’s Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Enables Deeper Corporate Tax Cuts in Tax Legislation to Follow
End Notes
[1] Speaker Paul Ryan interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business News’ “Mornings With Maria,” March 15, 2017, http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/5360272030001/?#sp=show-clips. Speaker Paul Ryan interview with Tucker Carlson on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox News, March 8, 2017.
[2] Speaker Paul Ryan interviewed on FBN’s “Mornings With Maria.” Emphasis added.
[3] Ryan is referring to the House GOP’s tax reform framework as set out in “A Better Way: Tax,” June 24, 2016, https://abetterway.speaker.gov/_assets/pdf/ABetterWay-Tax-PolicyPaper.pdf.
[4] For more on reconciliation, see David Reich, “Five Key Points About Budget Reconciliation,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, November 15, 2016, https://www.cbpp.org/blog/five-key-points-about-budget-reconciliation.
[5] Congressional Budget Office, “Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate: American Health Care Act,” March 13, 2017, https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/115th-congress-2017-2018/costestimate/americanhealthcareact.pdf.
[6] Even with these maneuvers, Tax Policy Center estimates indicate that the House GOP tax plan would not be revenue neutral in the long run, as Ryan has promised; see Speaker Paul Ryan interviewed on FBN’s “Mornings With Maria.” It is possible that in fashioning their tax bill, Republican lawmakers could resort to budget gimmicks including unrealistic estimates of the economic growth impacts of their tax changes (though there may be practical and political constraints on these alternative means of financing, or appearing to finance, very big tax cuts).