The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 seems to be working. Although the lion's share of President Trump's tax cuts went to business, consumers got a tax break as well. For the average U.S. household, the tax cut amounts to roughly $40 a week in take-home pay. That may not sound like much, but with 130 million households, that extra income can pack some punch. According to the National Retail Federation, consumer spending was up 4.8 percent in the first six months of this year. And the government reports that GDP grew by 4.2 percent in the second quarter, the best performance since 2014. There may be other factors at work here, but tax-cut fueled consumer spending is certainly a big contributor. Source: News accounts of September-October 2018