Representative Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, was asked by Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream about a recent report estimating that President-elect Donald Trump‘s tax plan will add trillions of dollars to the ever-growing national debt.
Donalds, who represents Florida’s 19th Congressional District and just won reelection, serves on the House Committee on Financial Services and is a close ally of Trump’s.
On Sunday, Bream read aloud a Reuters’ article published on Wednesday that reported “the tax cut proposals Trump made on the campaign trail—from extending the 2017 tax cuts to abolishing tax on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits could add $7.5 trillion to the nation’s debt over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Committee for Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB).”
On October 28, the group released a report on the fiscal impacts of Vice President Kamala Harris‘ and Trump’s proposed tax plans, finding Harris’ to increase the national debt by $3.95 trillion through 2035, and Trump’s by $7.75 trillion.
The CRFB also found “debt would continue to grow faster than the economy under either candidates’ plans and, in most scenarios, would grow faster and higher than under current law.”
Noting that “estimates come with a wide range of uncertainty, reflecting both different interpretations and estimates of the policies,” the CRFB offered low and high ends of the potential impacts, which for Trump range from $1.65 trillion to $15.55 trillion.
After reading out Reuters’ reporting, Bream asked Donalds, “What are the offsets to those cuts and what about this issue of the national debt?” As of Sunday afternoon, the U.S. national debt is at $35.94 trillion.
Donalds responded that the over $7 trillion estimate is based off “static modeling” and that “it doesn’t take into effect the impact of lower tax rates and economic growth as a result,” adding that “no it doesn’t cost 7 trillion dollars.” Trump has advocated policies like removing taxes on tipped wages and slashing taxes, potentially on Social Security income.
Newsweek has reached out to Donalds’ press team and Trump’s campaign for comment via email on Sunday.
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The congressman told Bream that Trump’s 2017 tax law, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which remains the current tax policy but is set to expire soon, was said by “the Democrats and all these outside groups” that it “would cost $5 trillion dollars.”
CRFB estimated that TCJA would add $1.8 trillion to deficits through 2028, while the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated it would cost $1.9 trillion over 10 years.
“The truth is the federal government raised more tax revenue than was ever modeled or contemplated by any of these organizations. So, President Trump’s tax policy is actually going to be a net benefit to the United States because it’s going to breed more economic growth,” Donalds said.
In an April 2024 article, the CRFB wrote: “Despite some claims that the tax cuts have paid for themselves, actual revenue collections have been relatively consistent with CBO’s estimates.”
In terms of offsetting costs, Donalds suggested looking at the Green New Deal tax credits within the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), noting that their valuation might be much higher than originally suggested.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), IRA provisions related to renewable energy including the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and Production Tax Credit (PTC) “allow taxpayers to deduct a percentage of the cost of renewable energy systems from their federal taxes.”
“If you want to find money to pay for tax policy so we can grow our economy, so working families can get ahead with no tax on tips and no tax on overtime, how about we get rid of Democratic spending boondoggles?” the GOP congressman said.