Rosy Scenario is alive and well. There is a long and dubious tradition among politicians of projecting high — usually unrealistic — rates of economic growth as a way of avoiding unpopular political choices. We can do everything, because rapid growth and torrents of tax revenues will pay the bills. That's Rosy's message, and Donald Trump has eagerly embraced it.
What Trump proposes is a huge vote-buying machine — a massive tax cut, financed mostly with borrowed money — masquerading as an economic policy. Almost everyone would get something, although the rich would get the most (because they pay most of the taxes).
Here are the basics. The standard deduction for married couples would rise from today's $12,600 to $30,000; any couple with taxable income below that level wouldn't pay a cent (generally, the amounts for singles are half those for couples). On the first $75,000 of taxable income — again for couples — the rate is 12 percent. The other two rates are 25 percent (on taxable income up to $225,000) and 33 percent (on income above $225,000). The top rate today is 43.4 percent.
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