The U.S. “fiscal gap”—how much taxes need to be raised or spending cut to keep public debt stable as a share of gross domestic product—was entirely created by the Republican tax cuts of 2001, 2003, and 2017. They wanted low taxes but forgot that things bought needed to be paid for.
The “tax gap”—the amount of taxes owed but not paid each year—is currently larger than the overall fiscal gap. It is driven by the richest U.S. households and businesses cheating the law and underpaying taxes. Republicans cut the IRS so this trend will get worse.
Because of republican debt, the cost of interest on this debt is $881 billion. This is a larger number than the defense budget.
As unpopular as it is, the only real solution to balancing the budget is to increase taxes and cut Medicare. That's the only serious solution, but no politician can admit this.
https://www.epi.org/publication/tcja-extensions-2025/
