If Donald J. Trump wins the White House and proceeds to persuade Congress to pass his tax agenda, middle-class Americans will get a small tax cut, wealthy Americans and businesses will get a huge tax cut, and the budget deficit will widen substantially unless there is the type of economic boom he promises amid lower taxes and lighter regulation.

If Hillary Clinton wins the White House and persuades Congress to pass her agenda, wealthy Americans will pay higher taxes, businesses will face tax rules that make it less advantageous to relocate overseas, and the money those changes produce will go to fund the rest of her policy agenda, from child care to roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

That, in a nutshell, is the tax policy choice Americans face when they vote in November, based on plans the two candidates have released and discussed in major speeches this week.

Of course, campaign proposals never end up in law in exactly the form candidates talk about them on the stump. But tax policy puts some hard numbers on the sometimes vague rhetoric of the campaign trail. It shows where exactly a candidate’s priorities and vision are, in dollars-and-cents terms.