CBO finds higher deficits than White House budget projects

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for 2019 would result in significantly higher deficits over the next decade than the White House estimated, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday. The difference comes partly from CBO’s belief that the tax bill signed into law last year will not create as much revenue as the White House has promised.

The administration said its budget proposal would lower the deficit by $5.2 trillion over 10 years. But the CBO said the Trump budget — which combines spending reductions on domestic programs with last year’s large tax cut package — would lower the deficit by only $2.9 trillion.

In selling the tax law last year, the White House and Republicans said it would lead to broad gains in salaries and wages throughout the economy. But CBO estimated the White House’s forecasts were overly rosy. Ultimately, it said tax revenue would be $1.2 trillion lower over the next 10 years compared with the White House’s estimates.

White House officials have routinely criticized the CBO’s methodology, accusing the budget office of refusing to factor in the type of economic forecasts that Republicans use when measuring the impact of tax cuts.

By 2028, the administration projects a $445 billion deficit if the White House budget were adopted, whereas the CBO says the deficit would top $1 trillion. The deficit is the difference between how much money the federal government takes in and how much it spends.

The government already has more than $20 trillion in debt according to some measures.