GOP Tax Plan
The GOP tax plan passed in the senate on Tuesday. In this photo, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks at the press conference after the senate vote of the tax reform bill in Washington, D.C. Dec. 20, 2017. Getty Images/ Tasos Katopodis

After the GOP tax plan passed in the senate on Tuesday, President Donald Trump tweeted out calling it the "biggest in history Tax Cuts and Reform Bill." But as it turns out, the GOP tax plan does not even account for the biggest tax cut in the last five years.

According to Bloomberg, the honor of the biggest tax cut bill in the last five years goes to the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which was signed into law by former President Barack Obama on Jan. 2, 2013.

However, Obama cannot be given all the credit for signing the act into law, as he was simply upholding the provisions of the 2001, 2003 and 2009 tax cuts, introduced mainly by his predecessor President George W. Bush, which were about to go out of effect.

Also, the American Taxpayer Relief Act is known more for preventing the increase of taxes rather than cutting down on existing tax plans.

According to revenue estimates for past tax bills dating back to 1952, as drawn up by Jerry Tempalski of the Treasury Department's Office of Tax Analysis, former President Ronald Reagan's "Economic Recovery Act' in 1981 is the only tax bill that tops the American Taxpayer Relief Act. Reagan’s bill decreased taxes by 2.89 percent of the GDP, while Obama’s tax bill decreased taxes by 1.78 percent of the GDP.

Apart from falsely claiming the GOP tax plan introduces the biggest tax cut in history, Republican lawmakers in the Congress and members of the Trump administration have also stated that impact of their tax plan would be so massive that it will be able to make the legislation revenue-neutral or even revenue-positive.

While it is highly unlikely that such an assumption will turn into reality, it has been estimated that the House version of the tax plan would reduce revenue by $1.08 trillion and the Senate version by $516 billion in the next 10 years.

"While it is not the largest tax cut ever, it is the most poorly timed giant tax cut in history," Leonard Burman, institute fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center said, CNN reported. "The economy is near full employment and the national debt is at a post-war record and rising fast," he added.

Lawmakers from the other side of the political aisle have vehemently opposed Trump’s tax plan, calling it a boon for the wealthy and a curse for the middle and lower class families of the country. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said: "Today in an unprecedented manner we are witnessing highway robbery in broad daylight and a looting of the federal Treasury."

After the GOP tax plan cleared the Senate, many Democratic senators took to social media to oppose the bill.

At the same time, Republicans were ecstatic with the outcome in the Senate, especially after failing to successfully repeal and replace Obamacare with their proposed healthcare bill in the recent past.