A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office revealed that extending the Trump tax cuts would result in a $4.7 trillion increase in the national debt over the next ten years. Despite this concerning finding, Republicans are determined to move forward with this agenda through a party-line reconciliation process, marking their fourth attempt at a major trickle-down tax cut. However, history has shown that these tax cuts have not lived up to their promise of fostering broad economic prosperity.

The recurrent pattern involves promising Americans that tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations would lead to widespread economic growth, benefiting everyone and even paying for themselves. However, each time, the reality has been quite different: middle-class wages have remained stagnant, wealth has been increasingly concentrated at the top, and budget deficits have soared.

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was touted as a plan that would bring about widespread prosperity through trickle-down economics, yet the results were disappointing. The tax savings predominantly favored the wealthiest individuals, with the top 1 percent receiving substantial reductions while the lowest-income bracket saw minimal savings. The corporate tax rate cut further fueled stock buybacks that primarily benefited shareholders rather than workers.

With the vast majority of stocks owned by the wealthiest 10 percent, it is evident that these tax cuts did not effectively aid the majority of Americans economically. Politicians advocating for the extension of these cuts under the guise of helping the middle class are either misled or intentionally deceiving the public to serve the interests of wealthy elites.

Furthermore, Republicans are exploring severe spending reductions to accompany an extension of the Trump tax cuts. These measures include cutting benefits under Medicare, restricting Medicaid eligibility, eliminating healthcare subsidies for working families, and slashing essential food assistance programs.

This reverse Robin Hood approach is driven by the need to offset the costs of tax cuts to satisfy deficit hawks, as Republicans aim to give tax breaks to the affluent while stripping resources from the less privileged. The Democratic Party, lacking control in Congress, can’t impede this trajectory but has the opportunity to present a superior economic plan centered on “middle-out economics” leading up to crucial election cycles in 2022 and 2028.

Middle-out economics focuses on boosting economic growth through a thriving middle class equipped with disposable income to inject back into the economy. When the middle class has purchasing power, businesses thrive, generating jobs and fostering shared prosperity. In contrast to trickle-down economics, middle-out policy has a proven track record of success, correlating high top marginal tax rates with periods of robust economic expansion in America’s history.

Supporting middle-out economics does not mean penalizing success but rather implementing fiscal policies that benefit all members of society, not just the elite. This approach acknowledges that the top-down strategies favored by Republicans fail to distribute wealth equitably and stifle economic progress for the rest of the nation.