
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin promised a report that would prove tax cuts work to generate a strong economy. But there is no such report because the talking point simply isn't true.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin blatantly lied and said his department would produce a report justifying the enormous tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy in the Republican tax bill. But he never ordered any such report.

Mnuchin claimed that the massive cuts would magically produce economic growth, and that the plan would pay for itself. He claimed that there were over 100 people in the Treasury Department "working around the clock on running scenarios" to prove him right.

Many were skeptical, because tax cuts have never done this, and in recent history – under President George W. Bush – they created massive deficits and helped drive the global economy into a recession.


The New York Times reports that insiders at the Office of Tax Policy, who were supposed to be running the models Mnuchin cited, "have been largely shut out of the process and are not working on the type of detailed analysis that he has mentioned."

Whatever analysis the Treasury Department has compiled certainly doesn't show that these tax cuts are good for the economy — so Mnuchin, who concocted the tax plan in secret while working with Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, isn't releasing anything.

The Times further reports that an "economist at the Office of Tax Analysis, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize his job, said Treasury had not released a 'dynamic' analysis showing that the tax plan would be paid for with economic growth because one did not exist."

From the start, the plan was loaded up with tons of tax giveaways to corporations and extremely wealthy individuals. One of its centerpieces is a repeal of the estate tax, which affects only the richest of the rich, but would give the Trump estate an estimated $4 billion.

Mnuchin stands to benefit handsomely from the plan as well. He is worth an estimated $385 million after working as a partner at Goldman Sachs and from dealing in subprime loans and cashing in on foreclosures.

Despite his enormous wealth, Mnuchin tried to secure government-financed leisure flights for him and his wife, and he has been investigated for other dubious travel expenditures on the public dime.

As the couple poses for photos straight out of James Bond's rogues gallery, he is helping to push for a bill that would help him enormously, and lying through his teeth in the process.