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Choosing the Nation's Fiscal Future (2010) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix A: Fiscal Sustainability
Pages 233-236

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From page 233...
... . For example, some assert that fiscal sustainability requires that the present value of future budget surpluses exceed the present value of future budget deficits (Anderson and Sheppard, 2009)
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From page 234...
... That imbalance reflects shortfalls of revenues relative to spending estimated over a given period. The fiscal gap can be said to represent the extent to which the government would need to immediately and permanently raise tax revenues, cut spending, or use some mix of both to make
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From page 235...
... An advantage of the "fiscal gap" measure is that it condenses a longterm series of estimates into a single meaningful number that can be used to judge the required scale of corrective action and to compare with gap estimates made at different times or across budgets with different policy components. A disadvantage of the "fiscal gap" measure is the amount of mathematical sophistication required to interpret it.
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Key Terms

  • fiscal gap
  • budget office
  • congressional budget
  • primary budget
  • future budget

  • budget outlook
  • expected expenses
  • von furstenberg
  • budget baseline
  • sustainability requires

  • cut spending
  • corrective action
  • fiscal imbalance
  • expected revenues
  • outlook departs

  • future payments
  • tax revenues
  • expected income
  • revenues relative
  • sustainability somewhat

  • surpluses exceed
  • single meaningful
  • budget reforms
  • sional budget
  • budget deficits

  • target relates
  • ing estimated
  • define fiscal
  • gap estimates
  • raise tax


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