CBO budget outlook is not a cause of celebration
The NYT:
The federal budget deficit will shrink this year to its lowest level since 2001, but the fiscal outlook for the next 10 years is as bleak as ever, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday.
The budget office estimated the deficit for the 2006 fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, at $260 billion. That would be $58 billion less than last year, $112 billion less than the agency estimated in March and even lower than the White House’s most recent forecast.
The improvement is almost entirely a result of an unexpectedly big jump in tax revenue, particularly in corporate tax receipts and what appear to be higher payments by the nation’s wealthiest households.
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Center for Budget and Policy Priorities has mo‘