Economics

Trump's Path to a Balanced Budget Paved With Accounting Gimmicks

  • GOP budget experts cite fake cuts, overly rosy growth estimate
  • White House gives no details on how tax cuts will be paid for

Trump Budget With $3.6 Trillion in Cuts Hurts Supporters

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Presidents have long used creative math and budget gimmicks to create the illusion that the trillions of dollars in spending they propose will somehow wind up reducing the deficit. Donald Trump’s $4.1 trillion budget is especially ambitious: It combines many of the tricks his predecessors tried over the years, and adds a few of his own.

The White House said Trump’s request for fiscal 2018 would generate a fiscal surplus by 2027 after $3.6 trillion in spending reductions and $2.1 trillion in economic growth-induced revenue increases.