GOP tax bill would add $1.7 trillion to debt: CBO
The GOP’s tax bill would add $1.7 trillion to the national debt over the course of a decade, and increase the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio by 5.9 percentage points, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The CBO analysis relied on the Joint Committee of Taxation’s finding that the bill would cut revenues by $1.4 trillion, which falls within the level Republicans allowed themselves in their budget resolution. Still, the additional cost of debt servicing would mean that the overall debt would increase by $1.7 trillion.
The GOP allowed themselves up to $1.5 trillion of deficit increases over a decade in their budget. Despite the additional costs of servicing debt, the tax plan stays within the bounds, which means Republicans will still be able to pass the bill through budget reconciliation, a procedure that only requires a simple majority to pass in the Senate.
{mosads}CBO also found that the nation’s debt-to-GDP ration, or debt burden, would rise to 97.1 percent of gross domestic product by 2027, 5.9 points higher than the current projection of 91.2 percent.
The deficit effects have been a major issue for Senate Republicans, in particular.
Trump administration officials have argued, variously, that GDP growth would eliminate some to all of the deficits produced by the tax plan.
The CBO score does not include macroeconomic effects that Republicans say will help temper the deficits.
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