The vast majority of Americans’ income taxes are now being swallowed up just to pay interest on the country’s national debt, new numbers show.
Economist E.J. Antoni reports that based on the Fed’s June numbers, interest on the national debt is the equivalent of 76% of all personal income taxes collected by the government.
“Interest on the federal debt was equal to 76% of all personal income taxes collected in Jun – that’s the Treasury’s largest source of revenue and three-quarters of it gets consumed just by interest; does Congress know? Do they even care?”
Antoni says the cost to service the federal debt has exploded 33% in a single year, and set to get worse.
The economist also reports that interest on the national debt was the single biggest expense for the government in June, far outrunning other critical public services, and the Treasury expects it will break the $1.14 trillion level this fiscal year.