WASHINGTON (Gray DC) – Politicians promise a lot – especially this election cycle. But everything much of that comes with a cost that at some point the nation will have to pay for.
The treasury department calculates the U.S. is nearly $36 trillion dollars in debt. That means each taxpayer owes roughly $106,000 dollars to pay it off according to the Peterson Foundation – a group dedicated to following the country’s fiscal challenges. In 2023, the federal government spent $6.13 trillion and collected $4.44 trillion in revenue in according to the treasury.
“What politicians make a lot of hay on, both sides of the aisle is promising free stuff,” Richard Stern, Heritage Foundation said. “The only way you can promise free stuff, is through deficits.”
Economists say these are examples of why the country is in the red.
Unfortunately for all of us taxes and spending cuts are the only way out of this hole according to the experts. But who that might impact differs between the candidates.
The Committee for a Responsible Budget estimates former president Donald Trump’s policies could balloon the deficit by $7.5 trillion. Josh Gotbaum with the left-leaning Brookings institute says Trump’s plan to freeze spending and cut taxes for all are nice in the moment but come at a heftier cost down the line.
“He’ s saying we’ll cut taxes and hasn’t talked about, it will probably turn into more borrowing,” Gotbaum said.
“Trump hasn’t talked about a lot of new spending, which I think is good,” Stern said. “He hasn’t talked about adding to the deficit by growing the size of government. He’s not talking about cutting spending.”
The Committee for a Responsible Budget predicts Harris’s platform to expand the deficit by $3.5 trillion — roughly half of Trump. Her plan increases spending on benefits for middle to lower income people while increasing taxes on the billionaires and closing corporate tax loopholes.
“Increasing corporate taxes, creating wealth taxes, unrealized capital gain taxes – all of these things are strategically targeted to obliterate economic engines,” Stern said.
Economists calculate Harris’ plan to increase the corporate tax rate by 7 percent would raise revenue by about $900 billion dollars in the next 10 years.
Either plan would have to go before Congress for approval… but both candidates are hoping their plan gets people to the polls to cast a vote in their favor.
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