Foreign aid vs. tax cuts
So, you think it's foreign aid spending that's keeping us from having nice things? Foreign aid cost the United States $56.3 billion in 2021—less in prior years. It jumped to $70.4 billion in 2022, and will be higher in following years because of the Ukraine and Gaza wars. But this is a pittance compared to the money lost to tax breaks for the wealthy.
The tax cuts introduced in 1981 and 1986 during the Reagan administration cut taxes on the wealthy from 70 percent to 28 percent. Although the tax cut was a Republican bill, the House was controlled by a Democratic majority (led by Tip O'Neill) that went along with it. On average, those tax cuts cost the government about $500 billion per year.
When Bill Clinton was in office, his administration raised the tax rate for the wealthy, but George W. Bush lowered it again. The Bush tax cuts expired in ten years during the Barack Obama administration. The Democrats tried to restore the tax rate, but the Republicans threatened a government shutdown if they did.
The 2017 Trump tax cuts, combined with the $500 billion Reagan cuts, now cost about $1 trillion dollars a year. This is a significant financial burden that we all share. Plus, we have to pay interest on the debt that's been accumulating over the years. Our national debt is now at a staggering $35 trillion, and it costs about $800 billion a year just to service that debt.
Tax cuts for the wealthy have reduced the country's revenue by about $1 Trillion per year, and we have to pay $800 billion in interest. The country is $1.8 trillion poorer each year because of these tax cuts.
What could we have done with that money instead?
Sources
U.S. Aid to Israel in Four Charts
The 2017 Trump Tax Law Was Skewed to the Rich, Expensive, and Failed to Deliver on Its Promises
The Legacy of the 2001 and 2003 “Bush” Tax Cuts
Extending Trump Tax Cuts Would Add $4.6 Trillion to the Deficit, CBO Finds