October 11, 2007

Budget numbers for Fiscal¹ Year 2007 released today by the Department of Treasury² and Office of Management and Budget show the Federal deficit³ declined by $250 billion in the last three years. In February the Federal budget deficit for 2007 was projected to be $244 billion. Today's numbers show that the budget deficit is now just $163 billion. This is just 1.2 percent of the economy.

As a percentage of the economy, the deficit is now lower than the average of the last forty years. Tax cuts work to promote economic growth, and that economic activity brings in higher revenues to the Federal treasury. This year tax revenues grew by $161 billion to reach $2.568 trillion, the highest level of Federal revenues ever recorded. That's an increase of 6.7 percent. And it builds on the 14.5 percent and 11.8 percent increase in revenues during the last two years.

Democrats⁴' "tax and spend" agenda threatens economic growth and a balanced budget. Democrats in Congress are proposing to:

• Spend $205 billion more taxpayer⁵ dollars over the next five years than the reasonable and responsible levels proposed by the President.
• Raise taxes by nearly $400 billion – more than ever before in history.
• Ignore the need for entitlement reforms, while expanding entitlement spending and raising taxes.

Today's budget numbers are further proof that tax relief combined with spending restraint promotes economic growth.

• The U.S. economy is in its sixth year of sustained economic growth.
• Since August 2003, the economy has added more than 8 million new jobs for 49 straight months of growth.
• The national unemployment rate is at 4.7 percent, low by historical standards.

Beyond the positive short-term outlook however, entitlement spending is a serious long-term threat to America's fiscal health. The President's Budget proposed changes to confront the unsustainable growth of important entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Democrats in Congress have not come forward with their ideas of how to address this serious challenge. We have a responsibility to confront problems today and not pass them on to future generations.