Corporate Taxes Are Down and the Deficit Is Up

The federal deficit is going up, up, up:

The federal budget deficit ballooned rapidly in the first four months of the fiscal year amid falling tax revenue and higher spending, the Treasury Department said Tuesday….The deficit grew 77 percent in the first four months of fiscal year 2019 compared with the same period one year before.

….Lawmakers enacted sweeping tax cuts at the end of 2017, and those changes continue to reduce revenue flowing to the Treasury Department. Tax revenue for October 2018 through January 2019 fell $19 billion, or 2 percent, Treasury said, though there were major reductions in the amount of money collected from businesses. Treasury found corporate tax payments over the first four months of the fiscal year dropped from from $75.5 billion to $58.9 billion, a fall of roughly 22 percent.

Ah, yes, “major reductions” in revenue from corporate taxes. Let’s take a look at that:

Sadly, it looks like those tax cuts didn’t pay for themselves. Yet again. Maybe next time.

In addition to falling revenue, the deficit has increased because of higher military spending and higher Medicare spending. The Medicare thing is sort of unexpected. Maybe I’ll take a closer look at that later today.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

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