The federal deficit will rise by about one-third to $590 billion in fiscal 2016, the Congressional Budget Office projected Tuesday, guaranteeing that President Obama will leave office with a growing deficit.
The annual shortfall would be $152 billion larger than the deficit for fiscal 2015 and the first increase in the deficit, relative to the U.S. economy, since 2009.
The Congressional Budget Office, Congress’ official, nonpartisan agency for estimating the financial impact of legislation, attributed the widening deficit to growth in government spending, at 5 percent, outstripping that of tax revenue, at 1 percent, over the past year.
A quirk of the calendar also will contribute to the size of the shortfall, however. Because Oct. 1, the first day of the next fiscal year, falls on a weekend, the government will make some payments early, meaning that they will fall in fiscal 2016. – READ MORE
