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POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS

What’s Driving Projected Debt?

| By CBPP

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As we’ve noted, we have updated CBPP’s periodic analysis of the main contributors to the large budget deficits projected for the rest of this decade.

The analysis also examines contributors to the public debt, which is basically the sum of annual budget deficits, minus surpluses, over the nation’s entire history.

It shows that the Bush-era tax cuts and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — including their associated interest costs — account for almost half of the projected public debt in 2019 under current policies.

Click here for the full analysis.