Our Spending AND Revenue Problem
June 26, 2011
– Comments (0)
Dear tax payer,
I have provided a couple of noteworthy links to our ongoing discussions about deficits. The first one is historical data from the CBO relating to federal gov't revenues and spending.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12039/HistoricalTables[1].pdf
Please note a few numbers in this link.
- In 2000 gov't revenues were 20.6% of GDP and we had a 2.4% surplus
- By 2003 gov't revenues had fallen to 16.2% of GDP and we had a 3.4% deficit - BTW, this was supposed to spur economic growth. Did it?
- In 2009 and 2010 gov't revenues were a measley 14.9% of GDP
The second link is CBO estimates of future budgets. This document assumes no policy changes.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12039/BudgetTables.pdf
- Note that without changing policy deficits would fall to $533 billion in 2014 from $1.48 trillion in 2011.
- Also note that most of that deficit reduction is in the form of higher revenues (expiring tax cuts). The increase would bring us to a level right around our historical average shown in the first link. aka. We've experienced taxes like this before.
Bottom line: We have a spending AND revenue problem.
Thoughts?
Travis Hoium
RSS Headlines
Fool UK