As members of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors debated the GOP tax bill and how it would stimulate the economy, the bill had not even been passed into law yet.
According to minutes released from the central bank on Wednesday from their Dec. 12-13 meeting, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and other officials expected "a modest boost from the expected passage of the tax legislation under consideration." The tax bill passed the House and Senate and was signed into law by President Trump a week later.
One of the big takeaways from that meeting is the prospect of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates in the months ahead. However, a lot of the revelations from this meeting are hand-waving at best.
While it's very likely that tax cuts for 80 percent of taxpayers will go back into the economy through consumer spending, there's no guarantee that will actually happen.
Almost 10 years after the economic recession, the GOP tax bill is a good start to get consumers to stop buying and start saving. For big corporations, small businesses, and startups, the fallout from the corporate tax rate being lowered from 35 to 21 percent led to a tsunami of companies handing out bonuses, raising wages, and expanding their benefits packages to their employees.
These are all good signs that the economy will continue to improve, but Fed officials expressed caution about taxpayers (both individuals and corporations) investing more with their newly received tax savings, paying out dividends, or buying back shares instead of acquiring fixed assets like land, buildings, and equipment.
While Yellen has dismissed any notion that the tax cuts will alter their monetary policy, it's best to keep an eye on GDP growth. If the tax cuts yield anything close to President Trump's target of 3 percent GDP growth, then you can expect the Federal Reserve will have something new to say about their monetary policy, especially with respect to raising interest rates.
Siraj Hashmi is a commentary video editor and writer for the Washington Examiner.
