Tax Bill’s ‘Magic Math’ Approaches Inflection Point in Congress

Republican pursuits of a controversial scoring method pivotal to plans to extend a suite of expiring tax cuts are approaching a make-or-break moment on Capitol Hill in coming weeks.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) has gathered support for using so-called current policy baseline scoring to permanently extend much of the 2017 tax law. But those mathematical assumptions effectively erase the Congressional Budget Office’s estimated $4.6 trillion price tag.

Budget watchers across the political spectrum largely call current policy scoring an accounting gimmick, notably including some GOP tax writers. Reps. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) have dismissed ...