WASHINGTON–While Congress debates tax cuts and spending increases, the
Concord Coalition today reminded lawmakers that the budget surplus
projected for this year and the next decade is already earmarked–for
Social Security.
WASHINGTON–While Congress debates tax cuts and spending increases, the
Concord Coalition today reminded lawmakers that the budget surplus
projected for this year and the next decade is already earmarked–for
Social Security.
"Policy makers who are lining up to spend those so-called
budget surpluses should keep in mind that the money they are talking
about consists entirely of Social Security’s annual trust fund
surpluses," said Concord Coalition Executive Director Martha Phillips.
"We should be saving these surpluses to prepare for the retirement of
the baby boomers, which will put a huge financial strain on future
taxpayers."
A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office projects
that the annual Social Security trust fund surplus and the unified
federal budget surplus for the current year and the coming decade
combined will both be roughly $1.6 trillion. In fact, if the Social
Security trust fund surpluses are not counted, the federal government
will run a combined $12 billion deficit during that period.
Concord remains concerned that the misunderstanding about the nature of
the unified budget surpluses is leading to a breakdown in fiscal
discipline. It is inconsistent for Congress to say that Social Security
is "off-budget" while at the same time using the Social Security
surplus to pay for tax cuts or new spending.
THE BOTTOM LINE
| Budget deficits and surpluses, by fiscal year | |||||||||||||
| In billions of dollars** | |||||||||||||
| Fiscal Year | 1997 Actual |
1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 1998-2008** |
| On-budget Deficit/Surplus | -103 | -41 | -37 | -46 | -45 | 1 | -10 | * | 5 | 44 | 55 | 64 | -12 |
| Off-budget Surplus | 81 | 104 | 117 | 125 | 131 | 138 | 146 | 154 | 165 | 173 | 181 | 186 | 1621 |
| Unified Budget | -22 | 63 | 80 | 79 | 86 | 139 | 136 | 154 | 170 | 217 | 236 | 251 | 1609 |
|
* – deficit of less than $500 million ** – totals do not add due to rounding
Source: Congressional Budget Office |
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