A Growing Economy Has Boosted Tax Receipts & Cut The Deficit.

Those aren't my words but the words from a White House Press Release from October 11. Among the facts from the OMB and Treasury are:

• the deficit declined by $250 billion in the past 3 years.
• In February the Federal budget deficit for 2007 was projected to be $244 billion. Today's numbers show that the actual budget deficit is now just $163 billion.
• As a percentage of the economy (1.2%), the deficit is now lower than the average of the last forty years.
• This year tax revenues grew by $161 billion to reach $2.568 trillion, the highest level of Federal revenues ever recorded. That's an increase of 6.7 percent. And it builds on the 14.5 percent and 11.8 percent increase in revenues during the last two years.

Hint: projections are done years in advance are almost never accurate. It is heartening to see them moving in the right direction. Once again, the tax cuts are working. The White House is promoting the fact that tax relief plus spending restraint promotes economic growth. Only took them 7 years to figure that out.

• The U.S. economy is in its 6th year of sustained growth
• Since August 2003, the economy has added more than 8 million new jobs for 49 straight months of growth.
• The national unemployment rate is at 4.7 percent, low by historical standards.

This press release is from early October and if you read between the lines it's easy to see that the WH was already preparing for a budget battle over entitlement spending by Congress.