1. What Is the Burden of Deficits?
MPA 622: Government Finance

2. Current Debt and Deficit Situation

3. Bush Tax Cuts
“The Bush tax cuts made almost everyone seem better off. They provided a free lunch. If tax cuts paid for themselves because of more robust economic growth, then this assumption might be warranted. But, as we noted earlier, that is simply not true, so the current deficits imply higher taxes in the future, a lower level of government services, or some combination of the two.”
Burman and Slemrod, page 168.

4. Financing Tax Cuts
“Because it is impossible to know ex ante how the resulting deficits will be addressed, it is also impossible to determine the winners and losers when a tax cut is financed with borrowed money.”
“Tax cuts that favor the rich are offset later by cuts in expenditures that benefit the poor.”
Burman and Slemrod, pages 168 and 169

5. Burden of Tax Cuts
“It should also be noted that the efficiency effects of tax cuts also depend on how they are ultimately financed. But it is impossible to discern for sure either the effects on the economy or on the distribution of well-being without knowing how the tax cuts are financed.”
Burman and Slemrod, page 169