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Surpluses could be just promises
Updated 1/24/2007 9:45 PM ET
By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — A day after President Bush pledged to balance the federal budget by 2012 without raising taxes, Congress' budget agency said it probably can't be done.
In a report that will guide this year's debate on spending and taxes, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Wednesday projected budget surpluses beginning in 2012 only if current laws and policies remain the same.
The president and Congress, however, are seeking tax changes that would wipe out the projected surpluses and drive up the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars. Those changes include extending Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and preventing millions of taxpayers from being hit by the alternative minimum tax, which increases taxes on people with large deductions.
In addition, the report warned the White House and Congress that the future growth of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security threatens to unravel deficit-reducing initiatives. By 2050, federal spending on the two health care programs alone would equal 20% of the nation's economy, up from 4.5% today.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-01-24-budget-deficit_x.htm?csp=15
Updated 1/24/2007 9:45 PM ET
By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — A day after President Bush pledged to balance the federal budget by 2012 without raising taxes, Congress' budget agency said it probably can't be done.
In a report that will guide this year's debate on spending and taxes, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Wednesday projected budget surpluses beginning in 2012 only if current laws and policies remain the same.
The president and Congress, however, are seeking tax changes that would wipe out the projected surpluses and drive up the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars. Those changes include extending Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and preventing millions of taxpayers from being hit by the alternative minimum tax, which increases taxes on people with large deductions.
In addition, the report warned the White House and Congress that the future growth of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security threatens to unravel deficit-reducing initiatives. By 2050, federal spending on the two health care programs alone would equal 20% of the nation's economy, up from 4.5% today.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-01-24-budget-deficit_x.htm?csp=15
