US Budget 2008

The US budget 2008 (October 2007- September 2008) was proposed by President George W. Bush. US budget 2008 features the various economic policies and incentives to be undertaken by the US government in the coming fiscal year.

Main Areas of US Budget 2008
According to the estimates provided by the President of the United States of America in his budget speech, the main areas of national earning are income tax, social security tax and payroll tax. US Budget 2008 – Earnings Projections

The US budget 2008 (October 2007- September 2008) was proposed by President George W. Bush. US budget 2008 features the various economic policies and incentives to be undertaken by the US government in the coming fiscal year.

Main Areas of US Budget 2008
According to the estimates provided by the President of the United States of America in his budget speech, the main areas of national earning are income tax, social security tax and payroll tax. US Budget 2008 – Earnings Projections
The proposed US Budget 2008 shows that the government is expecting to earn nearly US$1.25 trillion from individual income taxes and $927.2 billion from the social security as well as payroll taxes. According to the proposal, the corporate income tax is expected to be a major contributor to the national income. The figures are expected to be around $314.9 billion in 2008. Some other contributors in the national income are represented in the following table:

Taxes Total Amount In US$ Excise taxes 68.1 billion Estate and gift taxes 25.7 billion Customs duties 29.2 billion Others 50.7 billion

 

According to the US budget 2008 the expenditure has been divided in two types that are known as mandatory and discretionary expenditures. There are certain expenses that are mandatory for the government and a total amount of US$1.788 trillion has been proposed for the purpose. Some of the mandatory expenses may be enumerated as below:

Mandatory Area of Expenditure Total amount Proposed in Billion US$ Change from 2007 Proposals Medicare 386 +5.2% Social Security 608 +4.5% Unemployment, Welfare etc. 324 +1.8% Interest Payment for National Debt 261 +9.2% SCHIP and Medicaid 209 +5.6%

 

The discretionary expenses include a number of major areas including defense, energy, education, agriculture, human services and a lot more. A total amount of US$1.114 trillion has been proposed for the purpose. Some of the major discretionary expenses are the following:

Discretionary Area of Expenditure Total amount Proposed in Billion US$ Change from 2007 Proposals Department of Education 56.0 +0.0% Urban Development and Housing 35.2 +1.4% Defense 481.4 +12.1% Homeland Security 34.3 +7.2% Energy 24.3 +6.6% War on Terror 145.2 +45.8% Transportation 12.1 +13.1% On-budget Discretionary 51.8 +9.7% Off-budget Discretionary 39.0 N.A. Agriculture 20.2 +3.1% Veterans Affairs 39.4 +18.7% Health and Human Services 69.3 +0.3% NASA 17.3 +6.8% Department of Labor 10.6 -9.4%

 

US Budget 2008 – Additional Expenditure
Some additional expenditures have also been included in the US budget 2008. A major part of the expenses has been proposed for the wars and post war reformation activities to be undertaken in Iraq and Afghanistan. These expenditures are not a part of the main budget but these are appropriations.

US Budget 2008 – Deficit
A very important part of the budget is the national deficit. According to the US budget 2008, the net deficit for the fiscal is expected to be around $240 billion. This deficit is an addition to the governmental debt of the USA, which is in the region of 9 trillion US dollars.