GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz’s aggressive plan to shift the tax code from a mostly income-based system to one based on consumption would slash federal revenues by $8.6 trillion over the next decade, according to a new Tax Policy Center analysis. Including interest costs, it would add $10.2 trillion to the debt over 10 years unless Cruz offsets his tax cuts with unprecedented reductions in federal spending. By 2036, Cruz’s plan would add nearly $30 trillion to the debt.
TPC found that the Cruz plan, which would create a flat 10 percent individual income tax rate and replace both the corporate income tax and the Social Security and Medicare payroll tax with a 16 percent Value-Added Tax, would overwhelmingly benefit high- income households.
TPC estimates that in 2017, Cruz would cut taxes by an average of about $6,000, or 8.5 percent of after-tax income. However, he’d slash taxes by an average of $1.9 million for those in the top 0.1 percent (who will make $3.8 million or more), raising their after-tax incomes by 29 percent.
By contrast, Cruz would cut taxes by an average of $46--or 0.4 percent of after-tax income-- for the lowest-income households (who make $23,000 or less). Middle-income households would receive an average tax cut of about $1,800, or 3.2 percent of their after-tax income.
In 2025, the lowest-income households would face an average tax increase of $116, thus reducing their incomes by 0.6 percent, while those in the top 0.1 percent would receive a $2.2 million tax cut, boosting their incomes by 23 percent.