Budget Deficit And Its Effect On The National Debt

A fiscal deficit is when a government's total expenditures exceed the tax revenues that it generates. A budget deficit can be cut by either reducing public expenditure or raising taxes. In this essay, I am going to analyse the benefits and costs of increasing tax rates to reduce fiscal deficits instead of cutting government expenditure.

The growing national deficit is a looming problem in the United States now more than ever. The national debt is constantly increasing and government spending is out of control. If these issues are not solved then they could spell disaster for the nation’s economy when the infamous debt ceiling is finally reached. Currently the national policy on the debt is to continue raising the debt limit until a solution is found that is agreeable between both parties in Congress. The two main issues of over spending and the constant raising of the debts ceiling by Congress can both be resolved by government spending reform, balancing the federal budget and initiating pro-growth policies in order to increase the government’s tax revenue.

Deficit spending refers to the extent at which the government expenditure exceeds revenue over the financial period. This is the opposite of budget surplus. We may apply the term to an individual, private company or government budget (Brux, 2011).

Many contend that deficit reduction is imperative to our prosperity and economic recovery. The deficit is blamed for a variety of economic ills including high interest rates, unemployment, the trade deficit, the low rate of national saving and low productivity growth (Shaviro, 1997).

Over the four years from 2009-10 to 2012-2013, Labor had met its fiscal rule of keeping the average spending growth rate to less than 2% a year (Musgrave, R. A. n.d). This was the lowest period of spending growth in 23 years, meaning that not enough money was being injected into the circular flow of income. This reduced aggregate demand as consumer spending was low. In order to ensure that key spending was sustainable, structural improvements were required for the 2014-15 Budget. Overall, the Labor government has left a disastrous legacy of high debt for the Liberal government to try and overcome.

Deficit spending will occur when the government or even a business spends more money that what it makes in revenue (“Governmental Deficit Spending,” n.d.). It seems like this technique would only have to be used every once in a while. However, deficit spending is a fairly common practice by the government and many businesses, but could spell doom if there is failure to plan accordingly when paying off the debt (“Governmental Deficit Spending,” n.d.). For the government, it is used as an instrument to stimulate economic growth while asserting it still has some type of financial stability (“Governmental Deficit Spending,” n.d.). There are great advantages the government can claim as being beneficial for the economy when practicing deficit spending.

The government has been implementing policies in the improvement of the growth in the UK. Such as improving economic growth during the Great Depression and the recent financial crisis. A brief history by (Pettinger, 2016) on the use of fiscal policy, Keynes promoted the use of fiscal policy as a way of boosting growth. Moreover, during 1970-1980s the government switched to using monetary policy in influencing the economy. However, the government later reverted to using the fiscal policy in the recession of 2008-2013. Whether or not fiscal policy is the key policy in the process of improving economic growth is the issue.

Maria comes home one day earlier than usual. Her family, two daughters of age five and eight and a stay-at-home husband, is surprised to see her so early and unexpectedly. The tired look on her face reveals the experience she had at work. She brings out a sluggish smile as her daughters rush up to greet her with their warm embraces, reminding her of the happiness they constantly provide but also saddened by their questionable future. Quietly, she sits down in front of her anxious spouse as he patiently awaits the news, sensing the tension in the air.

In our textbook, “Principles of Macroeconomics,” the relationship between debt and deficit is described. A deficit is a shortfall in revenue for a particular year’s budget. Whereas, a debt is the total of all accumulated and unpaid deficits. An outlay is an amount of money spent on something. The federal government outlays are divided into government outlays and mandatory outlays. Government outlays are the part of the government budget that includes both spending and transfer payments. Mandatory outlays constitute government spending that is determined by ongoing long term obligations. Of the two, mandatory outlays is the largest portion of the federal budget. Lastly, Discretionary outlays compromise government spending that can be altered when the government is setting its annual budget. A budget surplus occurs when revenue exceeds outlays. A budget deficit occurs when government outlays exceed revenue.

America has not seen deficits of this nature since World War II with spending levels reaching 25% of the GDP and deficits reaching 10% of the GDP. And, even when this recession comes to an end, estimates show that annual deficits will continue to surpass

According to recent analysis from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in 2010, the UK is estimated to have had the fourth highest level of structural government borrowing amongst the 29 advanced economies for which comparable data are accessible. This structural government borrowing is one of the main underlying issues that the Budget, over the reign of this current government, will try to address. However, at least according to plans published so far, the UK is intending the fourth largest fiscal consolidation among this same group of countries and so by 2017 the IMF predicts that the UK will have a lower level of structural borrowing than many other advanced economies, being below the average in the Euro area and below the average among the G20 and G7 countries.

In my opinion, the government should balance the budget. Ideally, government spending not exceed income rather than continue borrowing to balance the current budget. We all know that the economy is constantly changing and therefore the government can’t expect that the actions were carried out based on past situations, help balance the current budget or the current problems of the economy.

When a government’s spending exceeds its revenues causing or deepening a deficit it is called deficit spending. Deficit spending is only one of numerous tools used to help manage the economy. Deficit spending is presumed to stimulate consumer demand by helping the consumer to obtain more money to spend, in turn, the demand of product will rise. There are advantages and disadvantages to deficit spending that we will discuss further below.

For as long as Americans can remember there has always been a federal deficit. In fact, the only time in American history when there was no federal debt was under president Andrew Jackson, and it only lasted a single year(Wall Street Journal). The federal government never managed to pay off the debt again, although some administrations, like Coolidge’s and Clinton’s, have managed to run brief surpluses(Wall Street Journal). Yet today there seems to be no limit on the debt and deficit spending, and a key question has been pressed into the forefront of politics and fiscal policy, “is

After various changes to the economic tax and interest rate, CPHP have conducted and compiled research into current public spending. The results show that there has been a dramatic reduction in the level of public spending in the UK.