There is no disagreement that changes to the tax code should promote economic growth, fuel job creation and increase incomes. The question is whether the Republican tax bills would accomplish those goals.
Several prominent conservative economists have argued that the proposals would do just that.
Many others across the ideological spectrum have challenged those conclusions, saying the plan would cause the nation’s debt to rise substantially faster than the economy. Deficit-financed tax cuts are widely believed to undermine growth.
There is also substantial disagreement about who would ultimately gain. Republican leaders argue that the substantial tax cuts for business would eventually result in wage increases. Critics counter that there is little historical evidence for that claim.
The New York Times invited two economists to offer their views in an email exchange on the plan’s economic merits and drawbacks. They are Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office and the president of the conservative American Action Forum, and Kimberly A. Clausing, an economist and tax expert who teaches at Reed College. Their responses were condensed and edited.
