Current federal Deficit

The article highlights the increases of federal deficit for 2017 which has reached at $80 billion, which is higher than the fiscal year 2016 which was 3.2 percent.  The deficit is indicated to be comprising of 3.5 percent of the current US economy size or rather GDP.  This deficit is a reflection of the difference between the amount of revenue corrected by the government and what it actually spends.  The largest contributor to the debt is accrued deficits for the past years which increased to $14.667 trillion in 2017 (Sahadi, J., 2017). However, the accrued deficits are reported to have actually fallen as compared to the same period in 2016, without accounting for funds owed to trust funds such as social security.  Tax revenue also rose by 1.5 percent even though the receipts reduced from 17.7 percent in 2016 to 17.3 percent of GDP.  The incomes taxes from individuals and payroll taxes made up the largest part of revenue, which is a reflection of improvement in salaries and wages (Sahadi, J., (2017).  

The article reports the Government expenditure as also having increased at a higher rate than tax revenue which contributed to the aforesaid deficit.  In addition, due to the aging population, expenditure on Medicare and Social Security is reported to have increased by 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent in that order.  The other increase in expenditures includes interest payment for debt and spending on Environmental Protection Agency reduced by over 7 percent.  The government gave a historical subpar economic growth as the reason for expenditures surpassing growth of revenue.  The results of the budgets are reported to provide proof for need of advocating for tax code reform and less regulations (Sahadi, J., 2017).  

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