Tag: federal deficit

Federal Budget Deficit Cut in Half on Biden’s Watch

Buck Banks

$14 trillion

“In a statement, the Treasury Department said the annual deficit had plummeted from $2.8 trillion in 2021 to roughly $1.4 trillion in 2022 — a decline driven primarily by the expiration of trillions in pandemic-era emergency spending. The gap between revenue and spending also shrunk in part due to stronger-than-expected tax receipts, as a booming U.S. economy and large corporate profits helped bring in additional funds to federal coffers,” the Washington Post reports.

Rick Scott Whines About Democratic Spending

Buck Banks

“There is a day of reckoning here — you can’t just raise debt. They don’t want to talk about how they’re going to pay for it, and now they’re going to want to go do an infrastructure bill.”

— Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said “he’s worried that interest rates and inflation will rise as a result of greater government borrowing once President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package becomes law,” Bloomberg reports.

Federal Deficit to Rise Over Next Decade

Buck Banks

$10 trillion

“After seven years of fitful declines, the federal budget deficit is projected to begin swelling again, adding nearly $10 trillion to the federal debt over the next 10 years, according to projections from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that reveal the strain that government debt will have on the economy as President Trump embarks on plans to slash taxes and ramp up spending,” the New York Times reports. “The new deficit figures will be a major challenge to congressional Republicans, who were swept to power in 2010 on fears of a swollen deficit and who have made controlling red ink a major part of their legislating under former President Barack Obama.”

Lew Welcomes Lack of Budget, Fiscal Drama

Buck Banks

It was an undramatic day. We didn’t have a discussion about a government shutdown. You didn’t hear concerns about the U.S. defaulting on its debt. We need to have a sustained, long period where we take that drama out of it, because, frankly, it wasn’t good for the U.S. or the global economy.

— Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, noting that on Oct. 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year, there was little, if any, notable conversation about the nation’s deficit or debt, In The Loop reported.

Budget Showdowns Have Not Changed the Size of Government

Buck Banks

$3.455 trillion

Amount the federal government will spend in 2013, following 2.5 years of budget battles. According to the Washington Post: “That figure is down from 2010 — the year that worries about government spending helped bring on a tea party uprising, a Republican takeover in the House and then a series of ulcer-causing showdowns in Congress. But it is not down by that much. Back then, the government spent a whopping $3.457 trillion.”

You Actually Could Solve the Deficit Problem with Tax Increases

Trish

Maybe you heard this recent assertion, which swept through rightwing media outlets: Raising taxes on high income earners can’t solve the federal deficit problem because the deficit is higher than the entire taxable income of Americans who earn more than $100,000. But you likely didn’t hear that it’s not true.

Here’s what the Wall St. Journal said in an editorial, which got the ball rolling.

According to Internal Revenue Service data, the entire taxable income of everyone earning over $100,000 in 2008 was about $1.582 trillion. Even if all these Americans – most of whom are far from wealthy – were taxed at 100%, it wouldn’t cover Mr. Obama’s deficit for this year.

And here’s what the WSJ said when it was pointed out by FactCheck.org that they were wrong.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the total taxable income of Americans earning over $100,000 in 2008 was $1.582 trillion. The correct figure is $3.4 trillion.

The projected deficit is $1.645 trillion. You do the math.

But Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Ok.), apparently can’t, because he repeated the false claim on a recent FOX News Sunday segment, with an added twist about the futility of including those who net between $100,00 and $250,000 after deductions. The point was to show that the deficit problem can only be solved by cutting spending, not by also increasing revenues. People who are not mathematically — or ideologically — challenged see that it will take both.

Pres. Obama is proposing $2 trillion in spending cuts and $1 trillion in additional tax revenue over 12 years. Seems reasonable to us.