SOURCE: Data from the Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022: January 2012. Compiled by PGPF.

Under the current law baseline, the deficits are expected to fall from to 1.4 percent of GDP in 2012, down 5.6 percentage points from the levels projected for 2012. However, this outlook assumes that several popular policies--including the 2001/2003/2009 individual income tax cuts--would expire as scheduled and that discretionary spending would fall to 5.6 percent of GDP. If these tax cuts are extended, deficits will remain high and debt would climb to 94 percent of GDP, a level that many economists believe is risky to economic growth.

This chart appeared as a part of PGPF's analysis of the January 2012 report by the Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022. To read the full report, click here.

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Peter G. Peterson Foundation Chart Pack:

The PGPF chart pack illustrates that budget-making involves many competing priorities, limited resources, and complex issues. In this set of charts, we aim to frame the financial condition and fiscal outlook of the U.S. government within a broad economic, political, and demographic context. Download (.PDF)