The U.S. national debt is near its politically unsustainable level. That means substantive changes to both taxes and spending in the foreseeable future, which also means less federal funding for state and local governments.
County government, municipal government, schools, libraries and other local governments need to start planning now for a future with far less federal money.
At the start of the Great Recession, our national debt hovered at roughly 60% of gross domestic product. Today, it is a tad bit over 120%. Right now, the federal government is spending about 23.4% of GDP, while collecting taxes of about 17.4% of GDP.
The last time we balanced our national budget, both taxes and spending ran between 19% and 20% of GDP. That seems like a reasonable political compromise: raising taxes substantially and cutting spending substantially. By substantially, I mean reversing all the tax cuts and spending growth of the past 25…
