Trump dead wrong on tax cuts

During a speech in St. Charles, Mo., to promote Republican tax legislation in Congress, President Donald Trump tried to offer some historical context.

“You know, for years, they have not been able to get tax cuts — many, many years, since Reagan,” Trump said on Wednesday.

That’s flat wrong. Under three presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — Congress enacted nine tax bills worth in the tens of billions of dollars in revenue reductions over four years.

Here’s the list, compiled from Treasury Department data, including the year, president and the average annual revenue reduction over the first four years, in current dollars.

1997: Bill Clinton, Tax Relief Act of 1997, $13.2 billion.

2001: George W. Bush, Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, $74.4 billion.

2002: George W. Bush, Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act, $28 billion.

2003: George W. Bush, Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, $69.2 billion.

2004: George W. Bush, Working Families Tax Relief Act, $25.9 billion.

2005: George W. Bush, Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act, $22.6 billion.

2008: George W. Bush, Economic Stimulus Act, $33.7 billion.

2009: Barack Obama, American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act, $76.6 billion.

2012: Barack Obama, American Taxpayer Relief Act, $320.6 billion.

These measures were not obscure pieces of legislation.

The list includes the two big Bush tax cuts from 2001 and 2003, arguably the signature domestic policy achievements of his presidency. Among other things, these bills cut rates for the top bracket from 39.6% to 35%.

The list also includes the extension of many of those tax cuts in advance of their scheduled expiration in 2013 under Obama — a high-stakes legislative situation known as the “fiscal cliff.” (The top-bracket rate was one that did not continue; it rose again to 39.6%.)

Our rating

Trump’s statement is ridiculously wrong — since 1997, nine major tax bills have passed with tens of billions of dollars in cuts. We rate his statement Pants on Fire.

Louis Jacobson is a reporter for PolitiFact.com. The Journal Sentinel’s PolitiFact Wisconsin is part of the PolitiFact network.