Federal Spending Soars — Chart of the Day
Kurt Brouwer August 13th, 2008
Source: Bizzyblog
Federal tax receipts have not really been hurt by the economic contraction yet. For fiscal year, 2009, they are almost $2.2 trillion (to make it simpler, the chart omits six zeros, so $2,186,703 is really $2,186,703,000,000). Receipts are actually up by 3.4%. The economic stimulus payments are netted out of receipts so they reduce receipts to slightly less than last year’s number. But spending is up by 8.5% in addition to the economic stimulus payments.
Therefore, the primary reason the budget deficit has soared is sharply higher spending. No surprise there I suppose, but please pay attention to this data the next time you hear that we need higher taxes to close the deficit.
Tax receipts are doing fine and growing slightly despite the economic weakness, it’s spending that keeps climbing. Now, in the realm of government economics, it is normal for budget deficits to climb during weak economic periods, but I seriously doubt if our political leaders will find it in their hearts to practice spending restraint when the economy perks up.
- Economy , Geopolitics , Money
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