--- title: President Trump Brags He Was a Top Student at Wharton. Here's What They Said About His Tax Bill description: President Trump likes to brag that he graduated from the Wharton School, so its take on his tax reform bill might sting a little. canonical: https://time.com/5058855/donald-trump-wharton-tax-analysis/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-11T17:34:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:31:35.063Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Brags He Was a Top Student at Wharton. Here's What It Said About His Tax Bill og:description: This might sting a little. og:url: https://time.com/5058855/donald-trump-wharton-tax-analysis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cc62e95b894d1a2/6988f49a656a3f007dbd2cc3/gettyimages-889873280.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5032 og:image:height: 2831 og:image:alt: President Trump returns to White House from Florida og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Brags He Was a Top Student at Wharton. Here's What It Said About His Tax Bill twitter:description: This might sting a little. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cc62e95b894d1a2/6988f49a656a3f007dbd2cc3/gettyimages-889873280.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Brags He Was a Top Student at Wharton. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Dec 11, 2017 5:34 PM UTC  WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 10: President Donald Trump returns to the White House in Marine One on December 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 10: President Donald Trump returns to the White House in Marine One on December 10, 2017 in Washington, DC.Pool—Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Dec 11, 2017 5:34 PM UTC 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](http://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2017/12/8/the-senate-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act-as-passed-by-senate-12217-static-and-dynamic-effects-on-the-budget-and-the-economy) 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](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/11/30/senate-gop-tax-plan-would-fall-1-trillion-short-of-trump-administrations-promises-congress-tax-analyst-says/) 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.](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/donald-trump-2016-wharton-pennsylvania-214425) “I was a nice student. I did very well. I’m a very intelligent person.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5058855/donald-trump-wharton-tax-analysis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5058855/donald-trump-wharton-tax-analysis/"},"headline":"President Trump Brags He Was a Top Student at Wharton. 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