Tax cuts and the deficit

[melm00se]

The common theme is that the Bush tax cuts (and others) are leading to the $1.5 trillion deficit.

But is that it or do the numbers show something different?

here are the numbers from the CBO as it relates to tax revenues:

Losses in tax revenue
Temporary Extension of Tax Relief: -$99,025 million
Temporary AMT Relief: -$85,833
Temporary Estate and Gift Relief -$4,546
Temporary Extension of Investment Incentives -$55,430
Temporary Payroll Tax Holiday -$67,239
Temporary Extension of Certain Expiring Provisions -$25,386

all of this totals to -$337,459,000,000 in tax revenues.

the deficit is ~$1.5 trillion.

So where is the $1.2 trillion coming from?

[Statistical]

1. Hard facts. Clinton's balanced (2000) budget. $1.8 trillion. 2010 budget $3.2 trillion

Govt expenditures (spending) under Clinton's balanced budget (2000) was $1.8 trillion. In 2008 (last year of Bush) it was $2.8 trillion. Today it is $3.2 trillion. 2011 is projected to be roughly the same.

We DO need to roll back the Bush tax cuts but pretending we don't have a massive and unsustainable expansion in government spending is naive at best.

No economy can sustainably grow government spending at a greater rate than GDP growth. If you take Clinton 2000 budget and factor in 2.8% average GDP growth over last decade you get $2.3 trillion. About $900 billion less than our current budget.

No economy can SUSTAINABLY grow government expenditures faster than the underlying economy,

I don't expect you to get many responses or rec though. This is a rather inconvenient truth.

[Bandit]

2. The most notable area of expansion is in Defense/Offense spending

Under Clinton the Defense Budget was a little over three hundred billion, today it is approaching eight hundred billion and there are still supplemental war spending bills sliding through off budget Then there is the HUGE boondoggle called Homeland Security and TSA..Not to even mention the Interest on the incredible increase in Debt that took place under the Republicans/Bush*..Most Domestic spending has decreased over the last decade..