CBO: Senate tax plan would increase deficit by $1.4T over 10 years

[Akoto]

Source: CNN, other news outlets

Washington (CNN)The Senate GOP's tax plan would increase the deficit by $1.4 trillion over the next 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office estimates.

The estimate summary found that enacting the White House-backed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would lead to an on-budget deficit increase of about $1.44 trillion. The CBO also estimates that with the removal of Obamacare's individual mandate that is included in the bill, which taxes individuals who opt out of purchasing insurance, "nongroup insurance markets would continue to be stable in almost all areas of the country" over the next 10 years.

However, "average premiums in the nongroup market would increase by about 10% in most years of the decade ... relative to the CBO's baseline projected. In other words, premiums in both 2019 and 2027 would be about 10% higher than is projected in the baseline."

In addition, the report estimates " (t)he number of people with health insurance would decrease by 4 million in 2019 and 13 million in 2027."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/27/politics/cbo-score-senate-tax/index.html

[subterranean]

1. I'm confused. Will it increase the DEFICIT or the DEBT by $1.4 trillion?

We already have an annual deficit of about half a trillion. If this article is correct, that means the tax scheme will add $1.4 trillion to the deficit ON TOP of that -- in other words, we'd be adding almost $2 trillion to the debt EVERY YEAR.

Or maybe they are really talking about the national debt, in which case this is very sloppy journalism.

[Akoto]

2. The deficit. I saw the same wording on a MSNBC breaking news ticker. n/t

[MichMan]

4. I keep reading that the 1.4 million is a total over 10 yrs

If so, that wouldn't be that much of an increase over where has been the last decade.

https://www.usgovernmentdebt.us/spending_chart_2006_2016USr_19s2li111tcn_G0f_Recent_Federal_Deficits

[subterranean]

7. That's what confused me. The deficit is usually discussed in annual terms.

Not over a ten-year period. The debt is cumulative, the deficit isn't. The deficit each year gets added on to the debt. So I'm wondering if the $1.4 trillion is an annual amount or the total addition to the debt for the next ten years.

If it's a cumulative total, then that means the plan would only cause the deficit to rise by about $140 billion per year ($1.4 trillion divided by 10) from the current level. As you said, that's not a huge increase, relatively speaking.

On the other hand, if it's an annual amount (which the deficit normally is), then the deficit will balloon to the level at the height of the financial crisis. And that's assuming we don't have another recession during that time.

[jmowreader]

5. It's over ten years. $140 billion per year.

[subterranean]

8. Thank you.

If that's the case, they are talking the debt, not the deficit. I know people often confuse the two, but I would think that news organizations would be more careful. And I guess I'd be wrong.

[Laurian]

3. Paging Senator Corker........

Asshole.

[SeaDoo77]

6. Corker Is A Sellout Who Wants To Run For President

As a Republican piece of human feces.

I am sure he will get 40% of the vote no matter what.