Opinion
Committee for a Responsible Federal BudgetOpinion

Charitable Deduction Reform Could Raise Revenues and Increase Giving

We estimate reforms to charitable tax deductions could generate $20 billion while increasing giving, or $115 billion with little impact on giving, based on a new s ...
Committee for a Responsible Federal BudgetOpinion

Treasury Confirms $2 Trillion Deficit for Fiscal Year 2026

The United States borrowed $2 trillion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, including $27 billion in the month of September, according ...
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

High Inflation Drives 3.6% Social Security COLA

Social Security beneficiaries will receive a 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2027, based on today’s inflation data. This COLA will be 0.8 percentage points higher than last year’s 2.8% COLA ...
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

GAO: Up to $304 Billion in Tax Fraud Annually

Tax fraud costs the federal government between $116 billion and $304 billion each year, according to a recent analysis by t ...
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

COVID Relief End Explains All of 2022 Deficit Decline

The budget deficit fell by half between Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 and FY 2022, from $2.8 trillion to $1.4 trillion. While the Biden Administration has tried to take credit for this "historic deficit ...
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

Trump Administration Continues Biden-Era Student Debt Cancellation with Latest Pause on Collections

Today, the White House announced an indefinite pause of the collection of defaulted federal student loan debt, including through the Treasury Offset Program, which applies any tax refunds towards a ...
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

CBO Finds Rising Rates Could Explode the Debt

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis today of the impact of higher interest rates on the national debt relative to its February 2026 baseline. Today, the 10-year Treasury yield ...
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

An Economic Sugar High Doesn’t Mean Sustained Growth

How Will OBBBA Impact Growth? The recently enacted reconciliation law, OBBBA, extended or revived and expanded large parts of the 2017 TCJA and introduced new tax cuts and spending, while offsetting ...
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

2017 Tax Cuts Continue to Lose Revenue

UPDATE (June 2024): This analysis has been updated for CBO's June 2024 baseline update. Importantly, even a significant divergence from 2018 projections would not prove the original estimates of TCJA ...
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

The Case for Funding ACA Cost-Sharing Reductions

The House is scheduled to vote today on the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act. Among other provisions, the legislation requires the government to directly fund Cost-Sharing Reductions, ...
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

CBO Analysis Suggests $1 Trillion in Medicare Advantage Overpayments

A recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis projects that the federal government will pay between 5% and 10% more for Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees than traditional Medicare (TM), and ...