Use Expiring Trump Tax Cuts To Overhaul The Entire Tax System, Groups Say

The $4.6 trillion in tax cuts that expire next year offer a chance to completely revamp the U.S. tax system that should not be missed, more than 100 progressive and economic groups said Tuesday.

“We urge you to use the expiration of these provisions as an opportunity to address long-standing problems with our tax code, not just to tinker around the edges,” the groups said in an open letter to party leaders and key tax writers on Capitol Hill.

“Congress should pursue reforms — including corporate tax reforms — that stem the decades-long tide of tax cuts for the rich and corporations that have undermined fairness, eroded revenues needed for pro-growth investments, and stifled economic opportunity,” they said.

Signers to the letter included the AFL-CIO, the Center for American Progress, the NAACP and Groundwork Collaborative.

The 2017 tax cuts enacted by a Republican Congress and then-President Donald Trump came in two varieties — corporate tax cuts, the bulk of which were lower rates, and individual household cuts, which consisted of lowered rates but also things like breaks on estate taxes and investments.

In a recent report, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said extending the lower individual rates would result in a loss of $3.3 trillion in revenue over 10 years and cost another $467 billion in interest. Adding in the other household provisions brings the total to $4.4 trillion, while extending two small expiring business breaks would bring the total to $4.6 trillion.

Because of congressional budget rules, the full package could not be made permanent, so Republicans had to pick some tax cuts to be temporary , with the idea that lawmakers would be afraid to let them expire later. The same strategy was taken