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Citizen's Guide to the Federal Budget: Fiscal Year 2001

Federal Budget 2001 Chart Descriptions

Chart 1-1. Government Spending as a Share of GDP, 1999

Item 1. Total Government spending in the U.S. accounts for 28% of the national economy, or gross domestic product, in 1998. Private spending accounts for 72% of the gross domestic product.
Item 2. Total Federal spending accounts for 19% of the gross domestic product, while total state and local spending account for 12%.
Item 3. 2% of Total Federal spending is Federal grants to local and state governments, while 16% is spending for direct federal programs.
Item 4. 2% of total state and local spending is from Federal grants. 9% of total state and local spending is from state and local revenues.

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Chart 1-2. Total Government Outlays as a Percent of GDP

Chart 1-2 represents government outlays as a percent of the Gross Domestic Product of 7 industrialized nations. The nations represented on the chart are: the United States of America, Japan, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, and Italy. The y-axis of the chart is percentage of GDP; the x-axis is the year, from 1981 to 1998. In 1996, the United States allocated the smallest percentage (33%) of its GDP to government than the other six nations charted.

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Chart 2-1. Family and Budgeting

Chart 2-1 illustrates a family planning a budget. Above the representation of a family is a thought bubble containing 7 items. These items are Household Appliances, Transportation, Clothing, Housing, Food, Education, and Restaurants/Entertainment. These items represent all the things the family needs to take into consideration while planning a budget.

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Chart 2-2. National Budgeting

Chart 2-2 illustrates the United States Government planning the budget. Pictured above the White House and the Capitol is a thought bubble containing 7 items. These items are Crime Prevention, Environmental Cleanup, Child Nutrition, Education, Military, Research, and Health Care. These items represent all the things the Government needs to take into consideration while planning the budget.

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Chart 2-3. The Federal Government Dollar-Where It Comes From

Chart 2-3 represents total Federal Government revenues, consisting of 5 items.
Item 1. Corporate Income Taxes 10%.
Item 2. Social Insurance Receipts 34%.
Item 3. Individual Income Taxes 48%.
Item 4. Excise Taxes 4%.
Item 5. Other 4%.

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Chart 2-4. Composition of Revenues

Chart 2-4 is a percentage graph chart, representing 100 percent of total Federal Government revenue. Charted on the graph are five sources of revenue which make up the total Federal Government revenue. These sources are Social Insurance Taxes, Excise Taxes, Corporation Income Taxes, Individual Income Taxes, and Other. Each source represents a percentage of the total Federal Government revenue for a given year, ranging from 1956 to 2004. The chart depicts how each of these sources fluctuate in its percentage of the total revenue from year to year. Between 1956 and 1999, payroll taxes have increased substantially as a percent of total revenues, and corporate income taxes have declined, but individual income taxes have remained roughly constant.

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Chart 2-5. Revenues as a Percent of GDP--Comparison With Other Countries

Chart 2-5 represents Government revenues as a percent of the Gross Domestic Product of 7 industrialized nations. The nations represented on the chart are: the United States of America, Japan, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, and Italy. The y-axis of the chart is the percentage of GPD; the x-axis is the year, from 1981 to 1996. Before 1983, Japan's revenues were the lowest, but equaled the United States in 1998. From 1987 to 1992, the United States had the lowest revenues as a percent of GDP of the 7 countries listed, staying at around 32%.

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Chart 2-6. The Federal Government Dollar--Where It Goes

Chart 2-6 consists of 2 pie charts representing Federal Government spending for 2001.

The first chart is entitled "Debt Reduction $184 billion" and is made up of three items, each representing a percentage of the debt reduction.

Item 1. Medicare Solvency 8%.
Item 2. On-Budget Surplus 5%.
Item 3. Social Security Solvency Lock-Box 87%.

The second chart is entitled "Outlays $1,835 billion" and is made up of eight items, each representing a percentage of total Government spending.

Item 1. Social Security 23%.
Item 2. Net Interest 11%.
Item 3. Medicare 12%.
Item 4. Medicaid 7%.
Item 5. Other Means-tested entitlements 6%.
Item 6. Other Mandatory 6%.
Item 7. Non-defense discretionary 19%.
Item 8. Defense discretionary 16%.

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Chart 2-7. On- and Off-Budget Deficit Projections

Chart 2-7 shows the on- and off-budget deficit projections. It is represented by a line-graph consisting of the Unified Budget Surplus. The chart shows what amounts the off-budget surplus (reserved for Social Security), the on-budget surplus, and medicare solvency make up the unified budget surplus, starting in 1999 and projected through 2005. The on-budget surplus starts in 1999, peaks at $20 billion in 2000, and is projected to return to 0 in 2002. The medicare solvency starts in 2000, peaks at $20 billion in 2001, and is projected to return to 0 in 2003.

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Chart 4-1. Past and Future Budget Deficits or Surplus

Chart 4-1 illustrates the rise and fall of the budget in deficit and surplus from 1940 projected through 2004. The y-axis represents budget values in billions of dollars, starting with a positive value of 250 (surplus) and ranging up to -300 (deficit). The x-axis represents the range of years from 1940 through 2004. Deficits began increasing dramatically in the 1980s, but have now been reversed.

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Chart 4-2. Outlays as a Percent of GDP

Chart 4-2 is a percentage graph chart, representing up to 25% of the Gross Domestic Product. Charted on the graph are six outlays which make up the total Federal Government spending for the years 1966 through 1999. These outlays are Net Interest, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, Other Mandatory, National Defense, and Non-Defense Discretionary. Each outlay represents spending as a percentage of GDP. The chart depicts how each of these outlays fluctuate in its percentage of the total GDP from year to year.

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Chart 4-3. Total Government Surplus or Deficit as a Percent of GDP

Chart 4-3 shows the total Federal Government Surplus as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product in comparison to six other countries. The nations represented on the chart are: the United States of America, Japan, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, and Italy. The y-axis of the chart represents what percentage of the GDP that the budget deficit or surplus is; the x-axis is the year, from 1982 to 1998. Of the seven nations shown, only the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom eliminated their total government budget deficits in 1997 or 1998.

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Chart 5-1. Cuts in Civilian Employment

Chart 5-1 consists of 9 items which depict the yearly cuts (in thousands) of full time equivalent positions in Federal employment.

Item 1: In 1993, 16,000 full time equivalent positions were cut.
Item 2: In 1994, 103,000 full time equivalent positions were cut.
Item 3: In 1995, 185,000 full time equivalent positions were cut.
Item 4: In 1996, 264,000 full time equivalent positions were cut.
Item 5: In 1997, 321,000 full time equivalent positions were cut.
Item 6: In 1998, 365,000 full time equivalent positions were cut.
Item 7: In 1999, 377,000 full time equivalent positions were cut.
Item 8: In 2000, 298,000 full time equivalent positions are projected to be cut.
Item 9: In 2001, 393,000 full time equivalent positions are projected to be cut.

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Last updated: January 24, 2008
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