Obama 'Rescued' US Economy With Tax Cuts

by Scott Hamilton, Tax-News.com, Washington

29 December 2016

According to a report on his time in office, US President Barack Obama "stabilized an economy in crisis and laid the groundwork for long-term growth," partly through the provision of tax relief and tax cuts.

The report, entitled "Economic Rescue, Recovery, and Rebuilding on a New Foundation," says the Obama Administration "provided tax relief that gave the typical American family a tax cut of USD3,600 over [its] first four years – helping to restart job growth – and further cut taxes for low-income working families and families with college students."

In particular, it was added that the Administration "made permanent tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans as part of the bipartisan fiscal cliff agreement in January 2013, while allowing tax cuts to expire for those with the highest incomes – which will reduce deficits by more than USD800bn billion over the next ten years – [and] made permanent expansions to tax credits for working and middle-class families, providing a tax cut averaging about USD1,000 to roughly 24m families each year."

Furthermore, it was reported that the child tax credit (CTC) and the earned income tax credit (EITC) were expanded and made permanent for low-income working families – "together, the EITC and CTC improvements reduce the extent or severity of poverty for more than 16m people – including about 8m children – each year."

It was also noted that an expiration date was placed "on dozens of business tax breaks that have been extended repeatedly for years without much scrutiny, which would save more than USD200bn over the next decade, [and] made the research and experimentation tax credit permanent, bringing certainty to companies investing in innovation."

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