04.03.25

Merkley, Wyden, Neal, Boyle Release Staggering New Cost Estimate of Republican Tax Plan, Blast Giveaways to Corporations and the Wealthy

New JCT Estimate Pegs Cost of Extending 2017 Trump Tax Law at $5.5 Trillion, Up from Previous Estimate of $4.6 Trillion; Republican Plan for Additional Tax Breaks Could Increase Overall Cost of Trump’s Tax Agenda to $7 Trillion

Washington, D.C. – Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., and House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan F. Boyle, D-Pa., released the statement below on a new estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation that the Republican plan to extend the 2017 Trump tax law will cost $5.5 trillion including interest over the next decade, and $4.6 trillion not including interest:

“The Republican handouts to billionaires and corporations will come at a staggering cost, and it’s unconscionable that their plan to pay for those handouts includes kicking millions of Americans off their health insurance, hiking the cost of living with tariffs, and driving up child hunger. Even after making painful cuts that will inflict hardship on typical American families, Republicans will still risk sending us into a catastrophic debt spiral that does permanent harm to our economy. What Republicans are trying to jam through Congress right now is a level of economic recklessness we’ve never seen before.”

Previous estimates indicated the cost of extending the Trump tax law would be $4.6 trillion with interest and $4 trillion without.

The budget resolution Senate Republicans introduced this week allocates an additional $1.5 trillion for tax breaks to be crafted by Finance Committee Republicans and the Trump administration. This brings the total potential 10-year cost of the Republican tax plan, which will overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy and corporations, to more than $7 trillion. 

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