CBO and JCT estimate of the distribution of impact by income group (average dollars per taxpayer) under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. On average, taxpayers in the income groups highlighted in yellow will incur a net cost (shown as a positive figure as this reduces the budget deficit), mainly due to reduced healthcare subsidies. Higher income taxpayers receive a benefit via tax cuts (shown as a negative number as this increases the budget deficit). The percent of taxpayers in each income group is also shown for the 2023 period.
The CBO provided a total impact for each group as a whole in millions of dollars. The JCT provided the number of taxpayers in each group in thousands.[1] Dividing the CBO figure by the JCT figure and multiplying by 1,000 gives you the resulting dollar impact for the average taxpayer in the group, shown in each cell in the table.[2]
The term "taxpayer" in the chart refers to the more formal "tax filing unit" in the CBO and JCT studies. A tax filing unit is a tax return, meaning it could represent one person or a married couple filing jointly, among other options.