More evidence the Trump tax cuts aren’t working as advertised: Change in real, nonresidential fixed investment shows no investment boom

Years Real, nonresidential fixed investment
2003-Q1 -2.3%
2003-Q2 1.6%
2003-Q3 4.0%
2003-Q4 6.8%
2004-Q1 5.2%
2004-Q2 4.9%
2004-Q3 5.7%
2004-Q4 6.5%
2005-Q1 9.2%
2005-Q2 8.2%
2005-Q3 7.4%
2005-Q4 6.1%
2006-Q1 8.0%
2006-Q2 8.2%
2006-Q3 7.8%
2006-Q4 8.1%
2007-Q1 6.5%
2007-Q2 7.0%
2007-Q3 6.8%
2007-Q4 7.3%
2008-Q1 5.8%
2008-Q2 3.8%
2008-Q3 0.2%
2008-Q4 -7.0%
2009-Q1 -14.4%
2009-Q2 -17.1%
2009-Q3 -16.1%
2009-Q4 -10.3%
2010-Q1 -2.3%
2010-Q2 4.1%
2010-Q3 7.5%
2010-Q4 8.9%
2011-Q1 8.0%
2011-Q2 7.3%
2011-Q3 9.3%
2011-Q4 10.0%
2012-Q1 12.9%
2012-Q2 12.6%
2012-Q3 7.2%
2012-Q4 5.6%
2013-Q1 4.3%
2013-Q2 2.3%
2013-Q3 4.4%
2013-Q4 5.4%
2014-Q1 5.5%
2014-Q2 8.1%
2014-Q3 8.4%
2014-Q4 6.9%
2015-Q1 5.3%
2015-Q2 3.0%
2015-Q3 1.3%
2015-Q4 -0.1%
2016-Q1 -0.3%
2016-Q2 -0.1%
2016-Q3 0.7%
2016-Q4 1.8%
2017-Q1 3.6%
2017-Q2 3.6%
2017-Q3 2.9%
2017-Q4 4.8%
2018-Q1 6.4%
2018-Q2 7.4%
2018-Q3 7.5%
2018-Q4 6.5%
2019-Q1 4.5%
2019-Q2 2.9%
2019-Q3 2.7%
2019-Q4 1.4%
2020-Q1 -1.3%
2020-Q2 -8.9%

 

Note: Chart shows year-over-year change in real, nonresidential fixed investment from 2003Q1 to 2020Q2.

Source: Adapted from Figure A in Hunter Blair, "The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Isn’t Working and There’s No Reason to Think That Will Change," Working Economics (Economic Policy Institute blog), October 31, 2019.

Source: Adapted from Figure A in Hunter Blair, The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Isn’t Working and There’s No Reason to Think That Will Change, Economic Policy Institute, October 2019. Data are from EPI analysis of data in Table 1.1.6 from the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

View the underlying data on epi.org.