It’s a new year, new Congress, and soon, a new term for former president Donald Trump. Will Trump’s second term turn a new page for our economy? If what’s past is prologue, yes.

In Trump’s first term, his pro-growth economic policies set the stage for a booming economy. Just before the COVID pandemic, Americans experienced the best economy in recent memory: low unemployment levels, high median income, a bull stock market and record-low poverty. Wages outpaced inflation, which was low.

While critics are right to be skeptical of Trump’s present-day tariff talk, his economic actions speak louder. His signature legislative achievement was a package of pro-growth tax cuts. He opposed heavy regulatory burdens on businesses. Trump’s new “Department of Government Efficiency” signals an interest in cutting wasteful spending. If he can shrink the size of the government’s budget and regulatory burden, the economic effect will be what voters hoped for.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was, like many new pieces of partisan legislation, immediately the subject of Democrat fear-mongering. Progressives tried to boogie-man the tax package as “trickle down” economics, but in reality it was a huge middle-class tax cut and made the American tax system more progressive (which might explain why Kamala Harris campaigned on extending most of the cuts).

This income tax cut, along with a corporate tax cut (from 35% to 21%), fueled the American economy and increased U.S. business competitiveness. Trump 2.0 wants to keep these tax cuts in place and reduce the corporate rate even further (from 21% to 15%).

Trump also has vowed to reduce federal regulation, particularly regulation on domestic energy production. He can also boast a strong record here from this first term. He favors a plan to eliminate 10 regulations for every one that his new administration adopts. While this ratio is very ambitious, his first four years saw a 2.5-to-1 elimination ratio, and the promulgation of new regulation significantly slowed on Trump’s watch.

He also supported common-sense legislation like the REINS Act, which would subject major regulations to congressional approval. Reducing regulatory costs on U.S. businesses is key to further propelling economic growth.

It’s not just taxes and regulation, but government spending, that must be slashed to truly free the American economy. Deficit spending is a tax on future workers, even if it’s not collected now. Here, Trump’s first-term record is not as strong. Indeed, both parties have contributed to a high national debt that is now generating significant budgetary costs of its own. But Trump has promised to cut spending — a daunting political task. His untraditional ally in self-dubbed “secretary of cost-cutting” Elon Musk might prove to be disruptive in this area.

Just as important for the economy is what Trump won’t do. Many Trump supporters voted “for” the former president’s populist, protectionist economic policy planks. But many others simply voted against Kamala Harris’ misguided economic policy agenda. Trump’s election means we’ve dodged Democrats’ distortionary economic bullets.

Harris’ attempt to blame “corporate greed” for inflation — when prolonged post-COVID inflation was actually largely the result of high levels of government spending — was not successful. Voters saw through her plan to ban “price gouging” as overly intrusive and ineffective.

Democrats lack trustworthiness on the economy because their pie-in-the-sky approaches to health insurance (nationalize it!), student loans (forgive them!) and energy (zero emissions!) would unfairly increase costs to taxpayers and consumers. Whatever happens to the economy during the next four years of Trump, America will avoid the fallout of these well-intended but expensive schemes.

Anyone who purports to care about deficits must recognize that progressive plans to solve every problem with more government spending come with high costs.

Many Americans who voted for Trump because they want a better economy had strong reasons — not just a vague sense of frustration aimed at the incumbent party. They are optimistic about Trump’s potential to enact good domestic economic policy, particularly on taxes, spending, energy and regulatory reform. If Trump sticks to pro-growth policy, this optimism is justified.

Hadley Heath Manning is executive vice president at The Steamboat Institute in Steamboat Springs.