Of course, Obamacare isn’t the only culprit in skyrocketing our national debt. The record-breaking omnibus spending bill passed by Republicans in Congress and signed into law by Obama plays a huge role. According to the CBO report, this alone added $750 billion to future deficits in the coming years.
“The biggest fiscal dent, however, was made late last year when Mr. Obama and the Republican-run Congress struck a deal. The president won significant spending hikes, and Republicans insisted on a new round of special tax breaks that, combined, reversed years of progress and added nearly $750 billion to projected deficits over the next decade.
‘After six consecutive years in which the deficit has declined relative to the size of the economy, this year’s deficit — at 2.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) — is anticipated to increase for the first time since it peaked at 9.8 percent in 2009,’ the CBO said.
Deficits will continue to rise over the next 10 years, topping $1 trillion again in 2022 and reaching $1.4 trillion in 2026, the analysts said.
The accumulation of those deficits will deepen the gross public debt from $18.1 trillion at the end of 2015 to $29.3 trillion in 2026. By contrast, the debt stood at $10.6 trillion when Mr. Obama took office in 2009.
Looking decades into the future, the picture only gets worse, the CBO said.
‘Beyond the 10-year period, if current laws remained in place, the pressures that had contributed to rising deficits during the baseline period would accelerate and push debt up even more sharply. Three decades from now, for instance, debt held by the public is projected to equal 155 percent of GDP, a higher percentage than any previously recorded in the United States,’ the analysts concluded.
The grim picture has sparked fear among budget watchdogs and on Capitol Hill — though Democrats and Republicans remain at odds over the best way to tackle the problem. Republicans favor tax cuts to spur the economy, and Democrats call for tax increases and government spending to invest in growth.
In the short term, the tax cuts have deepened the deficit, the CBO said. But so have the tax increases under Mr. Obama’s policies, including the Affordable Care Act’s levy on high-income taxpayers.”
Source: Washington Times
Fair Tax