Statement from Steve Ellis, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense on the House Ways and Means Reconciliation Proposal to Extend the 2017 Tax Law

“Making the 2017 tax cuts permanent isn’t fiscal responsibility—it’s fiscal recklessness. Congress already chose short-term political gains over long-term budget sustainability when it passed the 2017 tax law. Now, instead of correcting course, this bill seeks to lock in those costly mistakes and expand some of them even further.

As we said when the 2017 tax law passed: Congress has a fiduciary duty to the country as a whole—not to pick winners and losers, but to represent us all. They failed that duty then, and they’re doubling down on that failure now. That bill was estimated to add more than $1 trillion to the national debt. And this one will likely cost trillions more.

We don’t know what the final score will be, but it is likely to be costly—too costly, especially with the national debt now exceeding $36 trillion. We want tax reform. But real reform is about tradeoffs, transparency, and bipartisanship—not giveaways papered over with budget gimmicks and rosy growth assumptions.

Congress should be preparing to confront the long-term fiscal challenges facing the nation—not compounding them. This bill moves us in the wrong direction.”

###

Taxpayers for Common Sense is a nonpartisan budget watchdog calling out wasteful spending and advocating for transparency.