CBO Baselines: Official and Adjusted

Congressional budget rules constrain CBO's official baseline to assume that discretionary spending grows at the rate of inflation and that tax law does not change. The adjusted spending and revenue lines in the graph assume that EGTRRA and JGTRRA tax cuts and expiring provisions are extended, that AMT relief is granted, and that discretionary spending grows at the rate as GDP. Surpluses in the official baseline after 2012 disappear in the adjusted measures.

Underlying datadownload

Graph of baseline and alternative surplus and deficit values

CBO Baseline

TPC CBO Baseline page