Not only did the Bush Adminstration withhold information in order to pass its Medicare bill last December, writes Bruce Bartlett, it is hiding the full cost of not containing government growth today.
“This brings us to the most important chapter in President Bush’s budget, one titled ‘Stewardship.’ Buried in an appendix volume where reporters are unlikely to notice, it paints a chilling picture of long-term budgetary trends.
“It shows federal spending rising from about 20 percent of the gross domestic product this year to 53 percent in 2080. Much of this comes from interest on the debt, which rises by 20 percent of GDP. But this is because the budget assumes that taxes will not rise to finance rising entitlement spending. In all likelihood, taxes will rise sharply at some point. It is completely unrealistic to think that federal taxes will remain close to 20 percent of GDP for the next 75 years.”
