Trump’s tax cuts worked. Tax hikes now will kneecap economic recovery from Covid-19.

Three years after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act took effect, Democrats in Congress are ready to roll back some of the most critical reforms.

Article by Adam Michel from Daily Signal.

The business tax cuts have been maligned as contrary to the interests of workers. In reality, the corporate tax cut succeeded at allowing new business investment, creating jobs, raising wages, and increasing the economy’s size.

The economic history of the 2017 tax cuts should lead policymakers who are intent on raising the corporate income tax, or repealing parts of the individual tax cuts, to question their convictions.

The tax cuts were intended to increase new investments in the U.S. by lowering the after-tax cost of buying new tools, equipment, and buildings. Those investments create new jobs, boost wages, and grow the overall size of the economy.

A new Heritage Foundation report chronicles how the tax cuts were a success on each of these margins.

Read more: An Economic History of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: Higher Wages, New Jobs, More Investment

Following the tax cuts, the Congressional Budget Office projected a sustained increase in business investment. Through 2019, actual investment outpaced the government scorekeeper’s projections.

Tax cut-driven turnaround in investment also showed up as a spike in new manufacturing orders, small-business optimism, and new-business applications. Those forces helped boost gains for workers.

>>> What’s the best way for America to reopen and return to business? The National Coronavirus Recovery Commission, a project of The Heritage Foundation, assembled America’s top thinkers to figure that out. So far, it has made more than 260 recommendations. Learn more here.

New job openings surged in 2018, the year following the tax cuts, and about 83,000 more people voluntarily left their jobs for better opportunities at the end of 2019, compared with the pre-reform trend.

The beginning of 2018 also marked a significant increase in wage growth.

The accompanying chart shows that for production and nonsupervisory workers, nominal wage growth was 2.4% and declining in the years leading up to the tax cuts.

Following the tax cuts, wage growth for those workers increased to 3.8% by October 2019, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Faster earnings growth leaves workers with a higher overall wage level and makes them better off for years to come. A little more than two years after the reform, the average production and nonsupervisory worker was receiving $1,406 in above-trend annualized earnings.

Wages for all workers and measures of real wages show similar upticks.

Census Bureau data also show that real household income reached an all-time high in 2019, growing by $4,400 (a 6.8% one-year increase). Other analyses showed a “tectonic shift” in private paid leave availability and increases in other non-wage compensation in 2018 and 2019.

Following the tax cuts’ success, then-President Donald Trump embarked on an aggressive and destabilizing trade agenda, which resulted in tariffs that increased the cost of business inputs and consumer products.

Measures of trade uncertainty steadily increased through 2018, peaking in the third quarter of 2019.

Even with the countervailing increasing trade costs, measures of economic growth and investment remained above their pre-tax cut projections until the current COVID-19 crisis hit. The trade war seems to have masked the tremendous successes of the 2017 tax cuts.

The tax cuts have also likely made the COVID-19 economic crisis less severe, helping the economy bridge the 2020 disruptions. Reversing those pre-crisis, pro-growth policies risks weakening the foundation for a quick economic recovery.

The structural reforms that encourage higher business investment levels do not go away in a pandemic or during a trade war. Because of lower business tax rates and business expensing, firms that are investing in the current environment still invest a bit more than they would have otherwise.

When the pandemic subsides, existing incentives to invest, hire, and expand will help propel the economic recovery—unless Congress decides to increase taxes.

Political pressure from the left to increase taxes and ballooning deficits are already threatening tax reform’s gains. Beginning in 2022, the most pro-growth reform—full expensing—begins to phase out, and three years later, the lower tax rates for small businesses and individuals expire. Congress will need to act to preserve the gains from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

However, without budget reforms that bring spending growth under control, businesses, families, and investors alike can expect tax hikes and slower growth in the future.

By rejecting unsustainable growth in government spending and making the 2017 tax cuts permanent, lawmakers could foster the conditions for a strong economy in the years ahead.

‘The Purge’ by Big Tech targets conservatives, including us

Just when we thought the Covid-19 lockdowns were ending and our ability to stay afloat was improving, censorship reared its ugly head.

For the last few months, NOQ Report has appealed to our readers for assistance in staying afloat through Covid-19 lockdowns. The downturn in the economy has limited our ability to generate proper ad revenue just as our traffic was skyrocketing. We had our first sustained stretch of three months with over a million visitors in November, December, and January, but February saw a dip.

It wasn’t just the shortened month. We expected that. We also expected the continuation of dropping traffic from “woke” Big Tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, but it has actually been much worse than anticipated. Our Twitter account was banned. One of our YouTube accounts was banned and another has been suspended. Facebook “fact-checks” everything we post. Spotify canceled us. Why? Because we believe in the truth prevailing, and that means we will continue to discuss “taboo” topics.

The 2020 presidential election was stolen. You can’t say that on Big Tech platforms without risking cancelation, but we’d rather get cancelled for telling the truth rather than staying around to repeat mainstream media’s lies. They have been covering it up since before the election and they’ve convinced the vast majority of conservative news outlets that they will be harmed if they continue to discuss voter fraud. We refuse to back down. The truth is the truth.

The lies associated with Covid-19 are only slightly more prevalent than the suppression of valid scientific information that runs counter to the prescribed narrative. We should be allowed to ask questions about the vaccines, for example, as there is ample evidence for concern. One does not have to be an “anti-vaxxer” in order to want answers about vaccines that are still considered experimental and that have a track record in a short period of time of having side-effects. These questions are not allowed on Big Tech which is just another reason we are getting cancelled.

There are more topics that they refuse to allow. In turn, we refuse to stop discussing them. This is why we desperately need your help. The best way NOQ Report readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We are on track to be short by about $5300 per month in order to maintain operations.

The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. We had 5,657,724 sessions on our website from November, 2020, through February, 2021. Our intention is to elevate that to higher levels this year by focusing on a strategy that relies on free speech rather than being beholden to progressive Big Tech companies.

During that four-month stretch, Twitter and Facebook accounted for about 20% of our traffic. We are actively working on operating as if that traffic is zero, replacing it with platforms that operate more freely such as Gab, Parler, and others. While we were never as dependent on Big Tech as most conservative sites, we’d like to be completely free from them. That doesn’t mean we will block them, but we refuse to be beholden to companies that absolutely despise us simply because of our political ideology.

We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.

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