If you think the tax cuts are about rational economic policy, that's obviously wrong. If you think it's about putting money into the hands of rich people, that's kind of right, but not the whole story. If you want to know what the tax cuts are really about, here's your answer:
'The pay-as-you-go law requires that legislation that adds to the federal deficit be paid for with spending cuts or other offsets. If that does not happen, automatic cuts to programs like Medicare kick in. The Medicare cuts, which are capped at 4 percent of the program’s annual spending, could reach almost a half trillion dollars over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
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Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, said previous Republican tax cut efforts had paved the way for sweeping spending cut proposals after the red ink reared its head. After President George W. Bush signed tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, his administration sought to overhaul Social Security and Medicare in hopes of cutting costs."
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Representative Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas and the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said this month that tax overhaul “alone won’t get us back to a balanced budget.” He said that House Republicans would soon turn toward “welfare reform and tackling the entitlements.”
Some Republican senators have also expressed interest in turning to spending cuts afterward.
“Yes, we waste an enormous amount of money in the federal budget,” said Senator Michael D. Crapo, Republican of Idaho. He said that government personnel should be cut along with Medicare and Social Security.'