With the presidential election approaching, experts are sounding alarms about the upcoming expiration of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA.
Without action from Congress, trillions in tax breaks enacted by former President Donald Trump via the TCJA will expire after 2025. The outcome of the 2024 election will determine which political party will handle those expiring tax breaks — and shape America’s tax policy for years to come.
“If the 2017 tax cuts are allowed to expire after 2025, about 62% of taxpayers would see their tax bills go up,” said Erica York, senior economist and research director at the Tax Foundation. “That’s because the TCJA provided tax cuts for the vast majority of taxpayers.”
A majority of Americans, 56%, already believe they pay too much in federal income taxes, according to an April 2024 Gallup poll. Meanwhile, only 22% think they receive valuable services in return, as reported by an AP-NORC survey from January 2024.
Both Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, have called for tax changes that could affect millions of Americans. While there is some overlap on ideas — including an expanded child tax credit and no tax on tips — their approaches differ.
“Everything we have to do should be oriented towards one thing: increasing the rate of economic growth of our country,” Stephen Moore, an economic advisor to the Trump campaign, told CNBC.
The Harris campaign did not provide comment in time to participate in this report.
Watch the video above to learn more about how Harris and Trump each plan to tackle the tax code if they win the White House.