The Congressional Budget Office cost estimates for HR 5376, aka the Build Back Better Act, rely upon information supplied by the House. That information is engineered to deceive. New entitlements will not sunset in short order, so years of these costs are ignored.

The bill also includes tax breaks the Democrats pretend will eventually raise revenue. One provision is to raise the state tax deduction on the federal return for which 88 percent of the benefit will go to the 10 percent paying the most in taxes. Others to receive breaks will be trial lawyers and the 6 percent of private sector workers who are nonunion, as expressed in the Wall Street JournaI.

Mr. Carbajal’s claim that the bill will pay for itself assumes the extra $44 billion to the IRS budget will wring out the $367 billion needed to overcome the deficit cited in the CBO report. If we are to believe the House’s sales pitch, spending will be in the range of $2 trillion over the decade, so at best revenue would match that.

Independent analysts project the true cost of the bill to be up to $4.8 trillion. An example of one provision cited in one study that will increase the cost is the Child Tax Credit. It is proposed to terminate after one year at a cost of $130 billion. If continued for the 10 years of the CBO report, costs could hit $1 trillion. That other $2.8 trillion will end up on the bottom line.

Also, another study concludes over 100,000 jobs will be lost, rather than rosy projections of job creation. We, and especially Mr. Carbajal, should be honest about what the consequences may be.

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