CBO: Big Tax Increases Help Drive Deficit Down

CBO: Big Tax Increases Help Drive Deficit Down

With Debt Still Growing, Spending Cuts are Needed

(Washington, D.C.) – The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released the Monthly Budget Review for July 2013. The agency reports that the federal deficit for the first 10 months of the current budget year is $606 billion – a reduction of $368 billion from the same period last year. Before President Obama took office in 2009, the highest annual deficit in U.S. history was $459 billion. In each of the last 4 years, however the deficit has exceeded $1 trillion. The national debt – the sum total of each annual deficit – is approaching $17 trillion, and still growing.

While this report from the CBO represents improvement, the deficit remains high when compared to previous presidencies. Furthermore, CBO reports that the narrower deficit is due to a 14 percent increase in tax revenues against only a 4 percent reduction in spending. This is not the "balanced approach" to deficit reduction the President has called for.

Daniel Garza, Executive Director of The LIBRE Initiative released the following statement:

"In President Obama's first 4 years in office, the United States added nearly $6 trillion in debt. Now – due largely to tax increases – the annual deficit will be below $1 trillion for the first time in the Obama presidency, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That is nothing to get excited about. Based on current projections, the U.S. will add another $6 trillion to the debt in the next 10 years. Washington needs to get serious about balancing the budget -and not increase spending, as many in Washington are advocating. It is simply wrong to keep adding to the trillions in debt we are passing on to our children. Instead Washington should focus on cutting spending to achieve the 'balanced' deficit reduction that President Obama has so often called for."

For interviews with a LIBRE representative, please contact: Judy Pino, 202-578-6424 or Brian Faughnan, 571-257-3309.