A Radical Budget Proposal

We all have our ideas about how to balance a budget and what the priorities should be in the U.S. Federal budget. Here are the official projected budget figures for fiscal year 2010 (I gathered this information in early 2010), followed by a budget that I would aim for in a few years, if it was up to me. You'll notice that entire agencies disappear.

Federal Budget Revenues:

$1,061 billion – Individual income taxes
$ 940 billion – Social Security and other payroll tax
$ 222 billion – Corporation income taxes
$ 77 billion – Excise taxes
$ 23 billion – Customs duties
$ 20 billion – Estate and gift taxes
$ 22 billion – Deposits of earnings
$ 16 billion – Other

Total: $2,381 billion ($2.38 trillion)

Federal Outlays:

$695 billion – Social Security
$453 billion – Medicare
$290 billion – Medicaid
$11 billion – Potential disaster costs
$571 billion – Other mandatory programs
$164 billion – Interest on National Debt
$663.7 billion – Department of Defense (including Overseas Contingency Operations)
$ 78.7 billion – Department of Health and Human Services
$ 72.5 billion – Department of Transportation
$ 52.5 billion – Department of Veterans Affairs
$ 51.7 billion – Department of State and Other International Programs
$ 47.5 billion – Department of Housing and Urban Development
$ 46.7 billion – Department of Education
$ 42.7 billion – Department of Homeland Security
$ 26.3 billion – Department of Energy
$ 26.0 billion – Department of Agriculture
$ 23.9 billion – Department of Justice
$ 18.7 billion – National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$ 13.8 billion – Department of Commerce
$ 13.3 billion – Department of Labor
$ 13.3 billion – Department of the Treasury
$ 12.0 billion – Department of the Interior
$ 10.5 billion – Environmental Protection Agency
$ 9.7 billion – Social Security Administration
$ 7.0 billion – National Science Foundation
$ 5.1 billion – Corps of Engineers
$ 5.0 billion – National Infrastructure Bank
$ 1.1 billion – Corporation for National and Community Service
$ 0.7 billion – Small Business Administration
$ 0.6 billion – General Services Administration
$ 19.8 billion – Other Agencies
$105 billion – Other

Total: $3,551 billion ($3.55 trillion)

Deficit: $1,170.8 billion ($1.17 trillion) !!!!

The revenue estimates are 11% lower than 2009, due to the poor economy. Now, based on my own ideas about what is needed and how to do things, here is my radical budget proposal for 2013, which would be accomplished in a series of steps over the years:

Coming In:

$ 2,000 billion – Individual income taxes
$ 0 billion – Social Security and other payroll tax
$ 200 billion – Corporation income taxes
$ 100 billion – Excise taxes
$ 10 billion – Customs duties
$ 40 billion – Estate and gift taxes
$ 20 billion – Deposits of earnings
$ 10 billion – Other

Total: $2,380

Going Out:

$ 0 billion – Social Security
$ 0 billion – Medicare
$ 0 billion – Medicaid
$ 4 billion – Potential disaster costs
$ 200 billion – Other mandatory programs
$ 100 billion – Interest on National Debt
$ 180 billion – Department of Defense
$ 752 billion – Department of Health and Human Services
$ 120 billion – Department of Transportation
$ 50 billion – Department of Veterans Affairs
$ 50 billion – Department of State and Other International Programs
$ 0 billion – Department of Housing and Urban Development
$ 20 billion – Department of Education
$ 0 billion – Department of Homeland Security
$ 0 billion – Department of Energy
$ 10 billion – Department of Agriculture
$ 30 billion – Department of Justice
$ 0 billion – National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$ 10 billion – Department of Commerce
$ 10 billion – Department of Labor
$ 20 billion – Department of the Treasury
$ 14 billion – Department of the Interior
$ 14 billion – Environmental Protection Agency
$ 0 billion – Social Security Administration
$ 20 billion – National Science Foundation
$ 10 billion – Corps of Engineers
$ 5 billion – National Infrastructure Bank
$ 0 billion – Corporation for National and Community Service
$ 0 billion – Small Business Administration
$ 1 billion – General Services Administration
$ 10 billion – Other Agencies
$ 50 billion – Other

$ 100 billion - Foreign development aid and emergency funds
$ 400 billion - Department of Welfare
$ 200 billion - Debt repayment

Total: $2,372

To see a complete explanation of these figures, how I arrived at them line-by-line, and my justifications for this radical budget proposal, see the page The New U.S. Federal Budget.