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This article takes up Democratic party talking points by framing the government's massive borrowing jump from $519 to $955 billion as caused by the tax cuts. Y
by mobilefriendly 9y ago
This article takes up Democratic party talking points by framing the government's massive borrowing jump from $519 to $955 billion as caused by the tax cuts. Yet the "blunt" CBO report the WaPo cites actually says just $136 billion in revenue loss is from the tax cut. So there's $300 billion in new borrowing that's simply from runaway spending. So for the entire $955 billion projected deficit next year, just 14% will be from the recent changes in tax law.
- ceejayoz 9y agoIt's 31% of the "big jump from the $519 billion the federal government borrowed last year". That's not insignificant.
- rgbrenner 9y agoThe 519 is a typo or something. The deficit last year was 666B: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-ends-fiscal-2017-with-666-billion-budget-deficit-2017-10-20 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-ends-fiscal-2017-with-6... So 955B is an increase of ~290B.. so roughly half of the increase is from the tax cut.
- mobilefriendly 9y agoNo, we're already in fiscal 2018 as the baseline, the trillion dollar projection is for 2019.
- rgbrenner 9y agoThe article says 955B for this year 2018. 666B was for 2017.
- malchow 9y agoCorrect. Ratchet-spending social entitlement programs are responsible for the structural deficit, now and into the future. Getting agreed on this mathematical fact will be the work of patriotic centrist Americans for the next twenty years.
- jamroom 9y agoI'm sure you mean "entitlement" in the legal sense, which social security, medicare are (i.e you are entitled to these) - not the pejorative that the word has become. I'm hopeful that "patriotic centrists" will agree with you and finally stand up to the corporate welfare system that is out of control in this country and contributing more to our deficit than social welfare ever has.
- malchow 9y agoYes, that is the sense in which I meant entitlement.
- mcintyre1994 9y agoMy understanding of the tax cut deficit increase is ~$1.5tn over 10 years was the Republican's target - so ~150bn minus overhead for interest calculations each year for 10 years is probably what it'll average out to.