For years, they have not been able to get tax cuts -- many, many years, since Reagan.
During a speech in St. Charles, Mo., to promote Republican tax legislation in Congress, President Donald Trump tried to offer some historical context. "You know, for years, they have not been able to get tax cuts -- many, many years, since Reagan," Trump said on Nov. 29. That’s flat wrong. Under three presidents -- Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- Congress enacted nine tax bills worth in the tens of billions of dollars in revenue reductions over four years. Here’s the list, compiled from Treasury Department data. Year President Name Average annual revenue reduction over first four years, current dollars 1997 Bill Clinton Tax Relief Act of 1997 $13.2 billion 2001 George W. Bush Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act $74.4 billion 2002 George W. Bush Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act $28 billion 2003 George W. Bush Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act $69.2 billion 2004 George W. Bush Working Families Tax Relief Act $25.9 billion 2005 George W. Bush Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Ac $22.6 billion 2008 George W. Bush Economic Stimulus Act $33.7 billion 2009 Barack Obama American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act $76.6 billion 2012 Barack Obama American Taxpayer Relief Act $320.6 billion These measures were not obscure pieces of legislation. The list includes the two big Bush tax cuts from 2001 and 2003, arguably the signature domestic policy achievements of his presidency. Among other things, these bills cut rates for the top bracket from 39.6 percent to 35 percent. The list also includes the extension of many of those tax cuts in advance of their scheduled expiration in 2013 under Obama -- a high-stakes legislative situation known as the "fiscal cliff." (The top-bracket rate was one that did not continue; it rose again to 39.6 percent.) Trump's statement is ridiculously wrong -- since 1997, nine major tax bills have passed with tens of billions of dollars in cuts. We rate his statement Pants on Fire. See Figure 1 on PolitiFact.com
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