Extending 2017’s Tax Cuts Would Be Fiscally Reckless: Editorial

For the new Congress, deciding the fate of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will present an immediate dilemma. Allowing the law’s provisions to expire as scheduled at the end of the year would effectively raise taxes on tens of millions of Americans. Yet fully extending them would add almost $5 trillion to an already dire 10-year budget deficit. What to do?

As a start, lawmakers need to accept budgetary reality: With debt expected to reach nearly 120% of gross domestic product by 2035, comprehensive tax reform and spending cuts — across a range of entitlements and other programs — ...