Trump's Tax Cut Could Add $4.6 Trillion To Deficit, With $48 Billion Tax Relief For Top 100 Firms: Robert Reich

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has called out the tax reduction plans of the Donald Trump-led administration in an X post, terming them as an “absolutely shameless giveaway,” that could shoot up the deficit by $4.6 trillion.

What Happened: The possible tax cuts for rich individuals and lower corporate tax rates are likely to widen the U.S. trade deficit, which the Trump 2.0 administration would most likely fund from the tariffs imposed on its trading partners.

Trump wants to extend his tax cuts for rich individuals, which would add $4.6T to the deficit.

But he wants to go even further, cutting the corporate tax rate to 15%.

It's yet another absolutely shameless giveaway. pic.twitter.com/mkAWOFkkUd
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) February 17, 2025

The data from the Center For American Progress Action Fund or CAPAF shows that cutting the corporate tax rate down to 15% would save all sectors and companies billions of dollars in tax.

Top 100 U.S. Companies: Can expect a total annual tax cut of $48 billion despite reporting $1.1 trillion in profits in their 2023 annual report.

Top 10 U.S. Companies: Reported more than $520 billion in profits according to their 2023 annual report can expect an annual tax cut of $23 billion. These include firms like Meta Platforms Inc. META, Comcast Corp. CMCSA, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM.

Oil: The five largest U.S. oil companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM, Chevron Corp. CVX, Marathon Petroleum Corp. MPC, Phillips 66 PSX, and Valero Energy Corp. VLO will receive an estimated $2.2 billion annual tax cut, despite over $80 billion in profits.

Pharma: The five largest U.S. drug makers, Johnson & Johnson JNJ, Merck & Co Inc. MRK, Pfizer Inc. PFE, AbbVie Inc. ABBV and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. BMY will receive an estimated $3.1 billion annual tax cut, despite over $50 billion in profits.

Banking: The five largest Wall Street banks, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America Corp. BAC, Citigroup Inc. C, Wells Fargo & Co. WFC and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS will receive an estimated $4.1 billion annual tax cut, despite nearly $113 billion in profits.

Grocery: The five largest grocery companies, Kroger Co. KR, Costco Wholesale Corp. COST, Albertsons Companies Inc. ACI, Target Corp. TGT and Walmart Inc. WMT will receive an estimated $1.7 billion annual tax cut, despite over $29 billion in profits.

Why It Matters: Trump has threatened all its trading partners with “reciprocal tariffs,” while already having implemented 25% on steel and aluminum imports.

According to economists like Craig Shapiro, who is a macro strategist at the Bear Traps Report, tariffs are the "only way" to fund tax cuts without expanding the federal deficit.

Shapiro likened Trump’s governance to that of a “Mafia Don,” saying businesses are now uncertain about the economy’s direction. He noted fading “initial euphoria” and a “wait-and-see” approach from business leaders due to unclear policies, tariffs, trade agreement uncertainty, and fluctuating government spending. –

Price Action: On Friday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indices, closed mixed. SPY fell 0.0049% to a value of $609.7, and QQQ was up by 0.42% to end at a value of $538.15, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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