Republicans were dismissive of the idea that their tax cut was just a huge gift to corporations and billionaires that put even more burden on the middle and working classes. And as it turns out, they were right to be dismissive—because the plan has turned out to be much worse than predicted.
The Treasury reported a 31% decline in corporate tax revenue for 2018. Which was twice what policy planner anticipated when describing the impact of the Republican bill. Treasury officials projected that government revenues would see a bounce in 2019. Instead, as Politico reports, the numbers are still going down. In fact, they’ve declined by another 9%.
Why 2019 is looking so bad could be because 2018 was actually worse than it seems. Those 2018 numbers might have actually been boosted as a result of companies anticipating the cut by moving deductible expenses into 2017 where they would have more impact. Now that companies are rolling into new fiscal years, the real extent of the gift Republicans presented to them is becoming clear.
There’s another possible reason why tax revenues are down—Donald Trump’s trade war. Trump may claim that his tariffs are collecting billions from China, but the truth is those dollars are being paid by U.S. companies and consumers. Companies faced the rising cost of parts or products made in China could see lower revenues either because they’ve had to directly absorb the hit to their bottom line, or because passing along those increased costs results in lower sales.
The result of both tariffs and the corporate tax cut is just what Republicans have really wanted all along—what was a tax on revenue has been turned into a tax on consumption. That means its impact is felt much less by companies and the wealthy, much more by average families whose income and spending are essentially equal.
But the frightening thing is that, despite all the sugar Trump and the Republicans have poured into the system, dark clouds continue to gather on the horizon. The economy looks set to slide into a recession with interest rates near record lows and corporations already basking in gifts even bigger than predicted. Any “stimulus” that happens to pull the U.S. out of this one, isn’t going to come through tax breaks for corporations. That well is already dry.