NPR.
As we were all putting coals on the barbecue and listening to the crackle of fireworks last week,
it was hard to avoid the news that President Trump's one big beautiful bill act became law.
What is notably big about it is how much it will cost the government.
$3.4 trillion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The pricier section is extending a lot of the 2017 tax cuts and adding some new ones.
But the Trump administration's Council of Economic Advisers says the cost is actually much,
much lower.
In fact, it says the tax cuts will pretty much pay for themselves.
This is a multi-trillion dollar difference in opinion.
And it's one you hear echoed by some Republican lawmakers.
So we wanted to investigate this claim.
This is The Indicator from Planet Money.
I'm Waylon Wong.
And I'm Darian Woods.
Today on the show, can the tax cuts pay for themselves?
We talk to the guru of the school of thought, Arthur Laffer,
and we fact-check those claims with a tax economist.
A big part of the bill passed last week was the extension of the 2017 tax cuts from the first Trump administration.
There were a lot of tax changes back then, but...