NBC host Chuck Todd pushed back on Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) after the Florida Republicans tried to minimize the damage done to the federal government's coffers by President Donald Trump's tax cuts for the wealthy.
"We can't litigate the tax cuts because of what happened with COVID," Todd told Donalds during a Sunday interview. "We don't know how much this ate into everything, but it certainly looks like there were going to be fewer revenues coming into the government."
"That is not true, Chuck," Donald argued. "In 2019, we took in more revenue than we ever have in the history of our nation."
"You realize that President Trump has added more to the deficit than Joe Biden?" Todd asked.
"Most of it is COVID," Donalds claimed.
"Half of it's COVID, half of it's the tax cut," Todd noted.
"That is not true because we raised more revenue," Donalds asserted.
"The numbers are the numbers," Todd remarked. "If somehow you keep cutting taxes, but more revenue comes into the government, that math doesn't work over time. You can have it in the first year due to some various accounting tricks, but it doesn't work over time."
But Donalds didn't accept Todd's explanation.
"The purpose of tax policy is to raise revenue for the federal government, not to equalize society," the lawmaker said.
