The typical American household would have paid nearly all of its income
in taxes last year to balance the budget if the government used standard
accounting rules to compute the deficit, a USA TODAY analysis finds.
Under those accounting practices, the government
ran red ink last year equal to $42,054 per household — nearly four times
the official number reported under unique rules set by Congress.
A U.S. household's median income is $49,445, the Census reports.
The
big difference between the official deficit and standard accounting:
Congress exempts itself from including the cost of promised retirement
benefits. Yet companies, states and local governments must include
retirement commitments in financial statements, as required by federal
law and private boards that set accounting rules.
The deficit was $5 trillion last year under those rules. The official number was $1.3 trillion. Liabilities for Social Security,
Medicare and other retirement programs rose by $3.7 trillion in 2011,
according to government actuaries, but the amount was not registered on
the government's books.
Contrasting deficits
The
federal government calculates the deficit in a way that makes the
number smaller than if standard accounting rules were followed (in
trillions).
Sources: USA TODAY research; Congressional Budget Office
Deficits
are a major issue in this year's presidential campaign, but USA TODAY
has calculated federal finances under accounting rules since 2004 and
found no correlation between fluctuations in the deficit and which party
ran Congress or the White House.
No comments:
Post a Comment