Trump tax plan has $12T price tag, study finds

GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s tax plan would cost just under $12 trillion over a decade, according to an analysis from a conservative-leaning group. 

The Tax Foundation found that Trump’s proposal would lose around $10.1 trillion when accounting for the potential economic growth that would be spurred by the tax changes. 

{mosads}The $12 trillion figure comes from more traditional scoring methods, akin to those employed by official federal scorekeepers. 

Trump himself has said that the plan — which slashes the top tax rates for both individuals and all kinds of businesses — won’t add to the deficit. 

But after the billionaire businessman released his plan, tax analysts were quick to question that claim and said that the top 1 percent of earners would be most likely to gain under Trump’s proposals. Trump had said for weeks that his plan would go after Wall Street types who paid little to nothing in taxes. 

The Tax Foundation found that the top 1 percent of earners would see their after-tax income rise between 21.6 percent and 27 percent under Trump’s plan. The bottom 30 percent of taxpayers, on the other hand, would gain anywhere from 0.6 percent to 11.5 percent in after-tax income.

GOP presidential candidates have not shied away from offering big tax cuts to voters during the current campaign.

But the Tax Foundation found that Trump’s plan is by far the most expensive. The group determined that plans from former Gov. Jeb Bush (Fla.), Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) would lose between $3 trillion and more than $4 trillion when scored traditionally, and between $960 billion and $1.7 trillion when scored dynamically.

Bush’s and Trump’s plans have similarities; both contain huge tax cuts and a few populist nods. Both candidates say they would slash an incentive used by private equity executives known as “carried interest.”

Trump’s plan would also cut the top individual rate to 25 percent, the top rate for business to 15 percent and get rid of the estate tax. The top individual rate currently is 39.6 percent, and the corporate rate maxes out at 35 percent.