Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 115–97 (text) (PDF)), is a United States federal law that amended the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and also known as the Trump Tax Cuts, but officially the law has no short title, with that being removed during the Senate amendment process. The New York Times described the TCJA as "the most sweeping tax overhaul in decades". Studies show that the TCJA worsened federal debt and increased after-tax incomes, disproportionately raising incomes for the most affluent. It led to an estimated 11% increase in corporate investment, but its effects on economic growth and median wages were smaller than expected and modest at best.

Major elements of the changes include reducing tax rates for corporations and individuals, increasing the standard deduction and family tax credits, eliminating personal exemptions and making it less beneficial to itemize deductions, limiting deductions for state and local income taxes and property taxes, further limiting the mortgage interest deduction, reducing the alternative minimum tax for individuals and eliminating it for corporations, doubling the estate tax exemption, and reducing the penalty for violating the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to $0.

Most of the changes introduced by the bill went into effect on January 1, 2018, and did not affect 2017 taxes. Many tax cut provisions contained in the TCJA, notably including individual income tax cuts, such as the changes to the standard deduction in §63 of the IRC, were scheduled to expire in 2025 while many of the business tax cuts were set to expire in 2028. However, in 2025, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which extends most provisions of the TCJA beyond their original expiration dates. Extending the cuts have caused economists across the political spectrum to worry it could boost inflationary pressures and worsen America's fiscal trajectory.