Mr Clean's blog

The “Bush Tax Cuts” (BTC) were originally proposed by then Republican presidential candidate George Bush during the 2000 campaign. Less than 5 months after Bush took office in January 2001, he signed into law the “Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001” (EGTRRA) on 6/07/01. The new legislation included 441 tax and pension law changes (source: BTN Research).

The cost of the BTC (i.e., an estimate of the reduction in federal revenue that would occur) over the 10-years from 2001-10 was projected to be $1.3 trillion. The cost of the reduction of all marginal tax brackets was the largest piece of the $1.3 trillion amount, totaling $727 billion over the 10-year period. Other tax features of the BTC included a doubling of the child tax credit and an elimination of federal estate taxes by the end of the decade (source: Joint Committee on Taxation).