Congress’ war on math

  The congressional majority is seeking to extend expiring portions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Relative to sunsetting these tax cuts as provided under current law, the cost of their extension would be $4 trillion over the coming decade—or around $400 billion per year. But, instead of reflecting this reality, the majority is attempting to force the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) to say the fiscal impact is instead zero dollars by using a “current policy” baseline rather than the “current law” baseline that is defined in statute. This approach is unprecedented in the 50 years since the CBO was formed and Congress acted within the current budget framework.