President Donald Trump has promised a “massive” tax cut for Americans. He may be able to achieve it -- but only temporarily, if the changes can’t meet the criteria needed by lawmakers to make permanent changes.

News that Trump’s plan isn’t likely to include a border-adjusted tax, or BAT, suggests his proposed tax measures won’t meet the standard of revenue neutrality. That’s because the border tax that House Speaker Paul Ryan has proposed would generate more than $1 trillion in revenue over a decade, helping to pay for individual and corporate rate cuts.

“BAT is a big number, so it makes you wonder how they get to revenue neutrality without it,” said economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the president of the conservative advocacy group American Action Forum in Washington and a supporter of the border-adjusted tax. “On the campaign, they didn’t mention revenue neutrality, so maybe they don’t care.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Saturday repeated the administration’s goal of getting “sustainable” economic growth of 3 percent or higher, and said Trump is counting on tax reforms to pay for themselves by boosting the economy and tax receipts along with it. Mnuchin in recent months has forecast growth as high as 4 percent.

“The difference of a little over 1 percent of GDP over a 10-year period of time can generate as much as $2 trillion of revenue in the U.S.,” Mnuchin said at the International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington. “There’s no question: we’re looking at reforms that will pay for themselves with growth.”

David Fuller's view

Sensible tax cuts will boost economic confidence, lift the stock market and most importantly, increase US GDP growth.