President Trump likes to brag that he graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, so its take on his tax reform bill might sting a little.
In an analysis of the tax reform bill which passed the Senate, the Ivy League business school found that it would increase the national debt by $1.5 trillion over the next decade, while boosting the economy only a small amount in the short term.
“Penn Wharton Budget Model’s dynamic analysis projects that The Senate Tax Cuts and Jobs Act increases federal debt in both the short- and long-run relative to current policy,” the analysis reads. “In the near term, there is a small boost to GDP, but that increase diminishes over time.”
According to the analysis, the bill’s tax cuts will cost the government $1.18 trillion in unearned revenue by 2027 — a higher sum than previously estimated by the Joint Tax Committee, the nonpartisan congressional auditor, last month. The impact of slashing the corporate tax rate to 20% will be even steeper: $1.4 trillion in lost revenue.
Trump has often cited his degree from Wharton as proof of his intelligence.
“You know, people don’t understand. I went to an Ivy League college,” Trump once said. “I was a nice student. I did very well. I’m a very intelligent person.”
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