The Bush Tax Cuts and the Deficit

[cal04]

By CATHERINE RAMPELL
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/the-bush-tax-cuts-and-the-deficit/?src=tp

How much do the Bush tax cuts and the alternative minimum tax patch widen the deficit? Take a look at the lightest blue bars below:



That chart comes from the Congressional Budget Office’s latest report, released Wednesday, on the budget and the economic outlook.

The office is legally required to provide estimates for the budget under current law; this is known as the forecast “baseline.” Every year, though, Congress reliably makes changes to current law — changes that increase the deficit — just in the nick of time. This bar chart is intended to illustrate exactly how big those last-minute changes are, lest onlookers be tempted to ignore them.

The lightest blue bars, labeled “Extend Tax Policies,” represent an estimate of how the deficit will grow if Congress extends the Bush tax cuts and indexes the alternative minimum tax for inflation, as legislators are expected to do once again. As you can see, these moves alone more than double the size of the deficit for most of the years shown.

[indepat]

1. Damn! Why can't we get it though our thick sculls that junior's tax cuts have

expired: those tax cuts are now BHO's baby alone. :patriot:

[Beer is God]

2. I like your

:sarcasm: ;-)