The 2017 tax cuts, officially known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), were passed by the Republican-controlled 115th Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 22, 2017. The legislation was passed along party lines using the budget reconciliation process.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was legislation passed by the 115th Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump. The act contains the most sweeping reform of tax law to occur in roughly three decades.
In 2012, during the fiscal cliff, Obama overcame the sunset provisions and made the tax cuts permanent for single people earning less than $400,000 per year and couples making less than $450,000 per year, but did not stop the sunset provisions from applying to higher incomes, under the American Taxpayer Relief Act of ...
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) is the unofficial name for the large set of changes to the Revenue Code of 1986, signed into law by President Trump in 2017.
At the end of 2025, the individual tax provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) expire all at once. Without congressional action, most taxpayers will see a notable tax increase relative to current policy in 2026.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated in 2018 that the 2017 law would cost $1.9 trillion over ten years, and recent estimates show that making the law's temporary individual income and estate tax cuts permanent would cost roughly another $4.2 trillion through 2035.
The TCJA eliminated or restricted many itemized deductions for 2018 through 2025. This, together with a higher standard deduction, reduced the number of taxpayers who itemize deductions. In 2017, 31 percent of all individual income tax returns had itemized deductions, compared with just 8 percent in 2022.
Under the law, there were numerous changes to the individual income tax, including changing the income level of individual tax brackets, lowering tax rates, and increasing the standard deductions and family tax credits while itemized deductions are reduced and the personal exemptions are eliminated.
Seven major tax cuts took effect for 2025 under the OBBBA:
How did the TCJA affect the federal budget outlook? The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut taxes substantially from 2018 through 2025. The resulting deficits are adding $1 to $2 trillion to the federal debt, according to official estimates from before and shortly after enactment.
"Read my lips: no new taxes" is a phrase spoken by American presidential candidate George H. W. Bush at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans as he accepted the nomination on August 18.
To raise additional revenue for reform, the ACA imposed excise taxes on health insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and manufacturers of medical devices; raised taxes on high-income families; and increased limits on the income tax deduction for medical expenses.
Whom Did They Benefit the Most? The largest benefits from the Bush tax cuts flowed to high-income taxpayers. From 2004-2012 (the years for which comparable estimates are available), the top 1 percent of households received average tax cuts of more than $50,000 each year.
If the individual tax cuts expire, taxpayers in all income groups would face higher and more complicated taxes. Machinery and equipment expensing is a key provision that, if allowed to expire, would especially harm capital-intensive industries like manufacturing.
Does the Trump Tax Plan Affect Capital Gains Tax Rates? Trump's tax law leaves existing capital gains tax rates and income tax brackets unchanged. Capital gains remain a key consideration for investors, especially those with taxable brokerage accounts, real estate holdings or long-term investment portfolios.
President Abraham Lincoln started the first U.S. income tax in 1861 to fund the Civil War, but it was temporary; the modern, permanent income tax system was established under President Woodrow Wilson with the ratification of the 16th Amendment in 1913, which gave Congress the power to levy income taxes without apportionment.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) or the Big Beautiful Bill (P.L. 119-21), is a U.S. federal statute passed by the 119th United States Congress containing tax and spending policies that form the core of President Donald Trump's second-term agenda. The bill was signed into law by Trump on July 4, 2025.
Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 into law on August 10, 1993. The law created a 36 percent to 39.6 percent income tax for high-income individuals in the top 1.2% of wage earners. Businesses were given an income tax rate of 35%. The cap was repealed on Medicare.
The phrase Reagan tax cuts refers to changes to the United States federal tax code passed during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. There were two major tax cuts: The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 and the Tax Reform Act of 1986.
Key Takeaways. The U.S. Congress has until the end of 2025 to approve a new federal tax reform package before taxes for individuals and businesses go up on New Years Day 2026. Many states follow the federal tax code in some way, which will create a cascade of changes to state tax codes if the 2017 tax law expires.
“President Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act not only strengthened American manufacturing, but promoted job growth, drove innovation, increased hardworking Americans' take home pay, and increased U.S. competitiveness.
On December 22, 2017, Donald Trump signed into law the biggest tax overhaul since the Tax Reform Act of 1986.
Multiple other analyses have found that higher debt and deficits lead to upward pressure on interest rates. Paying for the cost of extending and expanding tax cuts will directly lead to lower interest rates than extension without offsets. Lower interest rates mean lower borrowing costs throughout the economy.
First, much of the tax cuts flowed mostly to higher-income households or to corporations, whose stock tends to be held by the wealthy. Higher-income households spend less of their increases in after-tax income than lower-income households.