[Historical Tables]
[Introduction]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
INTRODUCTION
STRUCTURE, COVERAGE AND CONCEPTS
Historical Tables provides budget users with a wide range of data on
Federal Government finances. Many of the data series begin in 1940 and
include estimates of the President's budget for 1998-2003. Additionally,
Table 1.1 provides data on receipts, outlays, and surpluses or deficits
for 1901-1939 and for earlier multi-year periods.
Structure
This document is composed of 17 sections, each of which has one or
more tables. Each section covers a common theme. Section 1, for example,
provides an overview of the budget and off-budget totals; Section 2
provides tables on receipts by source; and Section 3 shows outlays by
function. When a section contains several tables, the general rule is to
start with tables showing the broadest overview data and then work down
to more detailed tables. The purpose of these tables is to present a
broad range of historical budgetary data in one convenient reference
source and to provide relevant comparisons most likely to be of
assistance. The most common comparisons are in terms of proportions
(e.g., each major receipt category as a percentage of total receipts and
of the gross domestic product).
Section notes explain the nature of the activities covered by the
tables in each section. Additional descriptive information is also
included where appropriate. Explanations are generally not repeated, but
there are occasional cross-references to related materials.
Because of the numerous changes in the way budget data have been
presented over time, there are inevitable difficulties in trying to
produce comparable data to cover many years. The general rule is to
provide data in as meaningful and comparable a fashion as possible. To
the extent feasible, the data are presented on a basis consistent with
current budget concepts. When a structural change is made, insofar as
possible the data are adjusted for all years.
One significant change in recent years concerns the budgetary
treatment of Federal credit programs, which was changed by the Federal
Credit Reform Act of 1990. Previously the budget recorded the cost of
direct and guaranteed loans on a cash basis. Under credit reform, the
budget only records budget authority and outlays for the subsidy cost of
direct and guaranteed loans made in 1992 and subsequent years. The
subsidy is defined as the net estimated cash flows to and from the
Government over the life of the loan, discounted to the present. The
cash transactions are recorded as means of financing the deficit.
Because it was impossible to convert the pre-1992 loans to a credit
reform basis, the data are on a cash basis for pre-1992 loans and on a
credit reform basis for loans made in 1992 and subsequent years.
This year's budget also includes a proposed change in the treatment of
discretionary obligation limitations for transportation trust funds.
Starting in 1997, discretionary budget authority equal to the obligation
limitation amounts is recorded for these funds. For years prior to 1997,
no discretionary budget authority is shown for these limitations.
Coverage
The Federal Government has used the unified or consolidated budget
concept as the foundation for its budgetary analysis and presentation
since the 1969 budget. The basic guidelines for the unified budget were
presented in the Report of the President's Commission on Budget Concepts
(October 1967). The Commission recommended the budget include all
Federal fiscal activities unless there were exceptionally persuasive
reasons for exclusion. Nevertheless, from the very beginning some
programs were perceived as warranting special treatment. Indeed, the
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Commission itself recommended a bifurcated presentation: a ``unified
budget'' composed of an ``expenditure account'' and a ``loan account.''
The distinction between the expenditure account and the loan account
proved to be confusing and caused considerable complication in the
budget for little benefit. As a result, this distinction was eliminated
starting with the 1974 budget. However, even prior to the 1974 budget,
the Export-Import Bank had been excluded by law from the budget totals,
and other exclusions followed. The structure of the budget was gradually
revised to show the off-budget transactions in many locations along with
the on-budget transactions, and the off-budget amounts were added to the
on-budget amounts in order to show total Federal spending.
The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Public
Law 99-177) repealed the off-budget status of all then existing off-
budget entities, but it also included a provision moving the Federal
old-age, survivors, and disability insurance funds (collectively known
as social security) off-budget. To provide a consistent time series, the
budget historical data show social security off-budget for all years
since its inception, and show all formerly off-budget entities on-budget
for all years. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 (OBRA 1989)
moved the Postal Service fund off-budget, starting in fiscal year 1989.
Prior to that year, the Postal Service fund is shown on-budget.
Though social security and the Postal Service are now off-budget, they
continue to be Federal programs. Indeed, social security currently
accounts for about one-fourth of all Federal receipts and one-fifth of
all Federal spending. Hence, the budget documents include these funds
and focus on the Federal totals that combine the on-budget and off-
budget amounts. Various budget tables and charts show total Federal
receipts, outlays, and surpluses and deficits, and divide these totals
between the portions that are on-budget and off-budget.
Changes in Historical Budget Authority, Outlays, Receipts and Deficits
The major budget totals for 1996 have changed from those published in
the 1998 Budget due to corrections of budget authority and outlays
reported to the Treasury. Budget authority and outlays for the FHA
general and special risk insurance funds liquidating account have been
reduced by $272 million in 1996. In addition, off-budget outlays for the
Postal Service in 1996 have been increased by $446 million and outlays
for the Rural Utilities Service rural electrification telecommunications
loan program account have been increased by $8 million. As a result of
these three changes, total outlays and the deficit for 1996 are
increased by $182 million. Major budget totals have also been changed
for 1984 through 1987 to make the classification of Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) fees consistent with current classification. The
reclassification reduces governmental receipts, by amounts ranging from
$13 million to $76 million, and increases offsetting receipts (and,
thus, decreases discretionary outlays and total outlays) by the same
amounts. In addition, 1998 discretionary budget authority totals have
been reduced by $178 million to correct a reporting error in the NRC
account. Other changes were made to the agency, functional or Budget
Enforcement Act category classification of certain accounts.
Note on the Fiscal Year
The Federal fiscal year begins on October 1 and ends on the subsequent
September 30. It is designated by the year in which it ends; for
example, fiscal year 1995 began on October 1, 1994, and ended on
September 30, 1995. Prior to fiscal year 1977 the Federal fiscal years
began on July 1 and ended on June 30. In calendar year 1976 the July-
September period was a separate accounting period (known as the
transition quarter or TQ) to bridge the period required to shift to the
new fiscal year.
Concepts Relevant to the Historical Tables
Budget (or ``on-budget'') receipts constitute the income side of the
budget; they are composed almost entirely of taxes or other compulsory
payments to the Government. Any income from business-type activities
(e.g., interest income or sale of electric power),
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and any income by Government accounts arising from payments by other
Government accounts is offset against outlays, so that total budget
outlays are reported net of offsetting collections. This method of
accounting permits users to easily identify the size and trends in
Federal taxes and other compulsory income, and in Federal spending
financed from taxes, other compulsory income, or borrowing. Budget
surplus refers to any excess of budget receipts over budget outlays,
while budget deficit refers to any excess of budget outlays over budget
receipts.
The terms off-budget receipts, off-budget outlays, off-budget
surpluses, and off-budget deficits refer to similar categories for off-
budget activities. The sum of the on-budget and off-budget transactions
constitute the consolidated or total Federal Government transactions.
The budget is divided between two fund groups, Federal funds and trust
funds. The Federal funds grouping includes all receipts and outlays not
specified by law as being trust funds. All Federal funds are on-budget
except for the Postal Service fund starting with fiscal year 1989. All
trust funds are on-budget, except the two social security retirement
trust funds, which are shown off-budget for all years.
The term trust fund as used in Federal budget accounting is frequently
misunderstood. In the private sector, ``trust'' refers to funds of one
party held by a second party (the trustee) in a fiduciary capacity. In
the Federal budget, the term ``trust fund'' means only that the law
requires the funds be accounted for separately and used only for
specified purposes and that the account in which the funds are deposited
is designated as a ``trust fund.'' A change in law may change the future
receipts and the terms under which the fund's resources are spent. The
determining factor as to whether a particular fund is designated as a
``Federal'' fund or ``trust'' fund is the law governing the fund.
The largest trust funds are for retirement and social insurance (e.g.,
civil service and military retirement, social security, medicare, and
unemployment benefits). They are financed largely by social insurance
taxes and contributions and payments from the general fund (the main
component of Federal funds). However, there are also major trust funds
for transportation (highway and airport and airways) and for other
programs financed in whole or in part by user charges.
The budget documents do not separately show user charges. Frequently
there is confusion between the concept of user charges and the concept
of offsetting collections. User charges are charges for services
rendered. Such charges may take the form of taxes (budget receipts),
such as highway excise taxes used to finance the highway trust fund.
They may also take the form of business-type charges, in which case they
are offsetting collections--offset against budget outlays rather than
being recorded as budget receipts. Examples of such charges are the
proceeds from the sale of electric power by the Tennessee Valley
Authority and medical insurance premiums paid to medicare's
supplementary medical insurance trust fund. User charges may go to the
general fund of the Treasury or they may be ``earmarked''. If the funds
are earmarked, it means the collections are separately identified and
used for a specified purpose--they are not commingled (in an accounting
sense) with any other money. This does not mean the money is actually
kept in a separate bank account. All money in the Treasury is merged for
efficient cash management. However, any earmarked funds are accounted
for in such a way that the balances are always identifiable and
available for the stipulated purposes.
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SECTION NOTES
Notes on Section 1 (Overview of Federal Government Finances)
This section provides an overall perspective on total receipts,
outlays (spending), and surpluses or deficits, the on-budget and off-
budget amounts are also separately shown. Tables 1.1 and 1.2 have
similar structures; 1.1 shows the data in millions of dollars, while 1.2
shows the same data as percentages of the gross domestic product (GDP).
For all the historical tables, fiscal year GDP is used to calculate
percentages of GDP. The fiscal year GDP data are shown in Table 1.2.
Additionally, Table 1.1 shows budget totals annually back to 1901 and
for multi-year periods back to 1789.
Table 1.3 shows total Federal receipts, outlays, and surpluses or
deficits in current and constant dollars, and as percentages of GDP.
Section 6 provides a disaggregation of the constant dollar outlays.
Table 1.4 shows receipts, outlays and surpluses or deficits for the
consolidated budget by fund group. The budget is composed of two
principal fund groups--Federal funds and trust funds. Normally, whenever
data are shown by fund group, any payments from programs in one fund
group to accounts of the other are shown as outlays of the paying fund
and receipts of the collecting fund. When the two fund groups are
aggregated to arrive at budget totals these interfund transactions are
deducted from both receipts and outlays in order to arrive at
transactions with the public. Table 1.4 displays receipts and outlays on
a gross basis. That is, in contrast to normal budget practice,
collections of interfund payments are included in the receipts totals
rather than as offsets to outlays. These interfund collections are
grossed-up to more closely approximate cash income and outgo of the fund
groups.
Notes on Section 2 (Composition of Federal Government Receipts)
Section 2 provides historical information on on-budget and off-budget
receipts. Table 2.1 shows total receipts divided into five major
categories; it also shows the split between on-budget and off-budget
receipts. Table 2.2 shows the receipts by major category as percentages
of total receipts, while Table 2.3 shows the same categories of receipts
as percentages of GDP. Table 2.4 disaggregates two of the major receipts
categories, social insurance taxes and contributions and excise taxes,
and Table 2.5 disaggregates the ``other receipts'' category. While the
focus of the section is on total Federal receipts, auxiliary data show
the amounts of trust fund receipts in each category, so it is possible
to readily distinguish the Federal fund and trust fund portions.
Notes on Section 3 (Federal Government Outlays by Function)
Section 3 displays Federal Government outlays (on-budget and off-
budget) according to their functional classification. The functional
structure is divided into 18 broad areas (functions) that provide a
coherent and comprehensive basis for analyzing the budget. Each
function, in turn, is divided into basic groupings of programs entitled
subfunctions. The structure has two categories--allowances and
undistributed offsetting receipts--that are not truly functions but are
required in order to cover the entire budget. At times a more summary
presentation of functional data is needed; the data by ``superfunction''
is produced to satisfy this need. Table 3.1 provides outlays by
superfunction and function while Table 3.2 shows outlays by function and
subfunction.
In arraying data on a functional basis, budget authority and outlays
are classified according to the primary purpose of the activity. To the
extent feasible, this classification is made without regard to agency or
organizational distinctions. Classifying each activity solely in the
function defining its most important purpose--even though many
activities serve more than one purpose--permits adding the budget
authority and outlays of each function to obtain the budget
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totals. For example, Federal spending for medicaid constitutes a health
care program, but it also constitutes a form of income security
benefits. However, the spending cannot be counted in both functions;
since the main purpose of medicaid is to finance the health care of the
beneficiaries, this program is classified in the ``health'' function.
Section 3 provides data on budget outlays by function, while Section 5
provides comparable data on budget authority.
Notes on Section 4 (Federal Government Outlays by Agency)
Section 4 displays Federal Government outlays (on- and off-budget) by
agency. Table 4.1 shows the dollar amounts of such outlays, and Table
4.2 shows the percentage distribution. The outlays by agency are based
on the agency structure currently in effect. For example, the Department
of Education was established by legislation enacted in 1979. However,
these data show spending by the Department of Education in previous
years that consists of education spending attributable to other agencies
in earlier years, but now attributable to the Department of Education.
Notes on Section 5 (Budget Authority--On- and Off-Budget)
Section 5 provides data on budget authority (BA). BA is the authority
provided by law for agencies to obligate the Government to spend. Table
5.1 shows BA by function and subfunction, starting with 1976. Table 5.2
provides the same information by agency, and Table 5.3 provides a
percentage distribution of BA by agency. Tables 5.4 and 5.5 provide the
same displays as Tables 5.2 and 5.3, but for discretionary budget
authority rather than total budget authority.
The data in these tables were compiled using the same methods used for
the budget historical tables for receipts and outlays (e.g., to the
extent feasible, changes in classification are reflected retroactively
so the data show the same stream of transactions in the same location
for all years). However, BA is heterogeneous in nature, varying
significantly from one program to another. As a result, it is not
additive--either across programs or agencies for a year or, in many
cases, for an agency or program across a series of years--in the same
sense that budget receipts and budget outlays are additive. The
following are examples of different kinds of BA and the manner in which
there are large divergences between the creation and use of BA.
BA and outlays for each year may be exactly the same (e.g.,
interest on the public debt).
For each year the Congress may appropriate a large quantity of
BA that will be spent over a subsequent period of years (e.g.,
many defense procurement contracts and major construction
programs).
Some BA (e.g., the salaries and expenses of an operating
agency) is made available only for a year and any portion not
obligated during that year lapses (i.e., it ceases to be
available to be obligated).
Revolving funds may operate spending programs indefinitely
with no new infusion of BA, other than the authority to spend
offsetting collections.
BA may be enacted with the expectation it is unlikely ever to
be used (e.g., standby borrowing authority).
All income to a fund (e.g., certain revolving, special, and
trust funds) may be permanently appropriated as BA; as long as
the fund has adequate resources, there is no further
relationship between the BA and outlays.
As a result of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, the
measurement of BA changed in most special and trust funds with
legislatively imposed limitations or benefit formulas that
constrain the use of BA. Where previously budget authority was
the total income to the fund, BA in these funds for 1990 and
subsequent years is now an estimate of the obligations to be
incurred during the fiscal year for benefit payments,
administration and other expenses of the fund. In some, but
not all, cases it was possible to adjust BA figures for these
funds for years prior to 1990 to conform to the current
concepts. As mentioned ear
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lier, a proposed change in this year's budget to record
discretionary budget authority equal to the obligation
limitation amounts for transportation trust funds is reflected
for 1997 and beyond.
Although major changes in the way BA is measured for credit
programs (beginning in 1992) result from the Budget
Enforcement Act, these tables could not be reconstructed to
show revised BA figures for 1991 and prior years on the new
basis.
In its earliest years, the Federal Financing Bank (FFB) was
conducted as a revolving fund, making direct loans to the
public or purchasing loan assets from other funds or accounts.
Each new loan by the FFB required new BA. In many cases, if
the same loan were made by the account being serviced by the
FFB, the loan could be financed from offsetting collections
and no new BA would be recorded. Under terms of the 1985
legislation moving the FFB on-budget, the FFB ceased to make
direct loans to the public. Instead, it makes loans to the
accounts it services, and these accounts, in turn, make the
loans to the public. Such loans could be made from new BA or
other obligational authority available to the parent account.
These tables have not been reconstructed to shift BA
previously scored in the FFB to the parent accounts, because
there is no technical way to reconfigure the data.
Despite these qualifications there is a desire for historical data on
BA, and this section has been developed to meet that desire. Budget
authority data are also provided by function in Table 8.9 for various
discretionary program groupings.
Notes on Section 6 (Composition of Federal Government Outlays)
The ``composition'' categories in this section divide total outlays
(including social security) into national defense and nondefense
components, and then disaggregate the nondefense spending into several
parts:
Payments for individuals: These are Federal Government
spending programs designed to transfer income (in cash or in
kind) to individuals or families. To the extent feasible, this
category does not include reimbursements for current services
rendered to the Government (e.g., salaries and interest). The
payments may be in the form of cash paid directly to
individuals or they may take the form of the provision of
services or the payment of bills for activities largely
financed from personal income. They include outlays for the
provision of medical care (in veterans hospitals, for example)
and for the payment of medical bills (e.g., medicare). They
also include subsidies to reduce the cost of housing below
market rates, and food and nutrition assistance (such as food
stamps). The data base, while not precise, provides a
reasonable perspective of the size and composition of income
support transfers within any particular year and trends over
time. Section 11 disaggregates the components of this
category. The data in Section 6 show a significant amount of
payments for individuals takes the form of grants to State and
local governments to finance benefits for the ultimate
recipients. These grants include medicaid, some food and
nutrition assistance, and a significant portion of the housing
assistance payments. Sections 11 and 12 provide a more
detailed disaggregation of this spending.
All other grants to State and local governments: This category
consists of the Federal nondefense grants to State and local
governments other than grants defined as payments for
individuals. Section 12 disaggregates this spending.
Net interest: This category consists of all spending
(including offsetting receipts) included in the functional
category ``net interest.'' Most spending for net interest is
paid to the public as interest on the Federal debt. As shown
in Table 3.2, net interest includes, as an offset, significant
amounts of interest income.
All other: This category consists of all remaining Federal
spending and offsetting receipts except for those included in
the category ``undistributed offsetting receipts.'' It
includes most Federal loan activities and most Federal
spending for foreign assistance, farm price supports, medical
and other scientific research, and, in
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general, Federal direct program operations.
Undistributed offsetting receipts: These are offsetting
receipts that are not offset against any specific agency or
programmatic function. They are classified as function 950 in
the functional tables. Additional details on their composition
can be found at the end of Table 3.2.
Table 6.1 shows these outlays in current and constant dollars, the
percentage distribution of current dollar outlays, and the current
dollar outlays as percentages of GDP. The term ``constant dollars''
means the amounts of money that would have had to be spent in each year
if, on average, the unit cost of everything purchased within that
category each year (including purchases financed by income transfers,
interest, etc.) were the same as in the base year (1992). The
adjustments to constant dollars are made by applying a series of chain-
weighted price deflators to the current dollar data base. The composite
deflator is used to produce estimates of constant dollar receipts
published in Table 1.3. The separate deflators used for these
calculations are shown in Table 10.1.
Notes on Section 7 (Federal Debt)
This section provides information about Federal debt. Table 7.1
contains data on gross Federal debt and its major components in terms of
both the amount of debt outstanding at the end of each year and that
amount as a percentage of fiscal year GDP.
Gross Federal debt is composed both of Federal debt held (owned) by
the public and Federal debt held by Federal Government accounts, which
is mostly held by trust funds. Federal debt held by the public consists
of all Federal debt held outside the Federal Government accounts. For
example, it includes debt held by individuals, private banks and
insurance companies, the Federal Reserve Banks, and foreign central
banks. The sale of Federal debt to the public is the principal means of
financing the Federal deficit.
The Federal Government accounts holding the largest amount of Federal
debt securities are the civil service and military retirement, social
security, and medicare trust funds. However, significant amounts are
also held by some other Government accounts, such as the unemployment
and highway trust funds.
Table 7.1 divides debt held by the public between the amount held by
the Federal Reserve Banks and the remainder. The Federal Reserve System
is the central bank for the Nation. Their holdings of Federal debt are
shown separately because they do not have the same impact on private
credit markets as does other debt held by the public. They accumulate
Federal debt as a result of their role as the country's central bank,
and the size of these holdings has a major impact on the Nation's money
supply. Since the Federal budget does not forecast Federal Reserve
monetary policy, it does not project future changes in the amounts of
Federal debt that will be held by the Federal Reserve Banks. Hence, the
split of debt held by the public into that portion held by the Federal
Reserve Banks and the remainder is provided only for past years. Table
2.5 shows deposits of earnings by the Federal Reserve System. Most
interest paid by Treasury on debt held by the Federal Reserve Banks is
returned to the Treasury as deposits of earnings, which are recorded as
budget receipts.
As a result of a conceptual revision in the quantification of Federal
debt, the data on debt held by the public and gross Federal debt--but
only a small part of debt held by Government accounts--were revised back
to 1956 in the 1990 budget. The total revision was relatively small--a
change of under one percent of the recorded value of the debt--but the
revised basis is more consistent with the quantification of interest
outlays, and provides a more meaningful measure of Federal debt. The
change converted most debt held by the public from the par value to the
sales price plus amortized discount.
Most debt held by Government accounts is issued at par, and securities
issued at a premium or discount have traditionally been recorded at par.
However, zero-coupon bonds are recorded at estimated market price.
Starting in 1989, total debt held by Government accounts is adjusted for
any initial discount on other securities.
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Table 7.2 shows the end-of-year amounts of Federal debt subject to the
general statutory limitation. It is recorded at par value (except for
savings bonds) through 1988, but by law the basis was changed, in part,
to accrual value for later years. Before World War I, each debt issue by
the Government required specific authorization by the Congress. Starting
in 1917, the nature of this limitation was modified in several steps
until it developed into a limit on the total amount of Federal debt
outstanding. The Treasury is free to borrow whatever amounts are needed
up to the debt limit, which is changed from time to time to meet new
requirements. Table 7.3 shows the ceiling at each point in time since
1940. It provides the specific legal citation, a short description of
the change, and the amount of the limit specified by each Act. Most of
gross Federal debt is subject to the statutory limit. However, there are
some differences.
Notes on Section 8 (Outlays by Budget Enforcement Act Category)
Section 8 is composed of nine tables, eight of which present outlays
by the major categories used under the Budget Enforcement Act (BEA) and
under previous budget agreements between Congress and the current and
previous Administrations. The final table presents discretionary budget
authority. Table 8.1 shows Federal outlays within each of the categories
and subcategories. The principal categories are outlays for mandatory
and related programs and outlays for discretionary programs. Mandatory
and related programs include direct spending and offsetting receipts
whose budget authority is provided by law other than appropriations
acts. These include appropriated entitlements and the food stamp
program, which receive pro forma appropriations. Discretionary programs
are those whose budgetary resources (other than entitlement authority)
are provided in appropriations acts. The table shows three categories of
discretionary programs: Defense (Function 050), International (Function
150), and Domestic (all other discretionary programs). Table 8.2 has the
same structure, but shows the data in constant (FY 1992) dollars. Table
8.3 shows the percentage distribution of outlays by BEA category and
Table 8.4 shows outlays by BEA category as a percentage of GDP.
Table 8.5 provides additional detail by function and/or subfunction
for mandatory and related programs. Table 8.6 shows the same data in
constant dollars.
Table 8.7 provides additional detail by function and/or subfunction on
outlays for discretionary programs. Table 8.8 provides the same data in
constant dollars. Table 8.9 provides function and/or subfunction detail
on budget authority for discretionary programs.
Notes on Section 9 (Federal Government Outlays for Major Physical
Capital, Research and Development, and Education and Training)
Tables in this section provide a broad perspective on Federal
Government outlays for public physical capital, the conduct of research
and development (R&D), and education and training. These data measure
new Federal spending for major public physical assets, but they exclude
major commodity inventories. In some cases it was necessary to use
supplementary data sources to estimate missing data in order to develop
a consistent historical data series. The data for the conduct of
research and development continue to exclude outlays for construction
and major equipment because such spending is included in outlays for
physical capital.
Table 9.1 shows total investment outlays for major public physical
capital, R&D, and education and training in current and constant (FY
1992) dollars, and shows the percentage distribution of outlays and
outlays as a percentage of GDP. Table 9.2 focuses on direct Federal
outlays and grants for major public physical capital investment in
current and constant (FY 1992) dollars, disaggregating direct Federal
outlays into national defense and nondefense capital investment. Table
9.3 retains the same structure as 9.2, but shows direct Federal outlay
totals for physical capital investment as percentages of total outlays
and as percentages of GDP. Table 9.4 disaggregates national defense
direct outlays, while Table 9.5 disaggregates nondefense outlays for
major public physical capital invest
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ment. Table 9.6 shows the composition of grant outlays for major public
physical capital investment.
Table 9.7 provides an overall perspective on Federal Government
outlays for the conduct of R&D. It shows total R&D spending and the
split between national defense and nondefense spending in four forms: in
current dollars, in constant dollars, as percentages of total outlays,
and as percentages of GDP. Table 9.8 shows outlays in current dollars by
major function and program.
Table 9.9 shows outlays for the conduct of education and training in
current dollars for direct Federal programs and for grants to State and
local governments. Total outlays for the conduct of education and
training as a percentage of Federal outlays and in constant (FY 1992)
dollars are also shown. As with the series on physical capital, several
budget data sources have been used to develop a consistent data series
extending back to 1962. A discontinuity occurs between 1991 and 1992 and
affects primarily direct Federal higher education outlays. For 1991 and
earlier, these data include net loan outlays. Beginning in 1992,
pursuant to changes in the treatment of loans as specified in the Credit
Reform Act of 1990, this series includes outlays for loan repayments and
defaults for loans originated in 1991 and earlier and credit subsidy
outlays for loans originated in 1992 and later years.
Table 9.9 also excludes education and training outlays for physical
capital (which are included in Table 9.7) and education and training
outlays for the conduct of research and development (which are in Table
9.8). Also excluded are education and training programs for Federal
civilian and military personnel.
Notes on Section 10 (Implicit Outlay Deflators)
Section 10 consists of Table 10.1, Gross Domestic Product and
Deflators Used in the Historical Tables, which shows the various
implicit deflators used to convert current dollar outlays to constant
dollars. The constant dollar deflators are based on chain-weighted (FY
1992 chained-dollars) deflators derived from the National Income and
Product Accounts data.
Notes on Section 11 (Federal Government Payments for Individuals)
This section provides detail on outlays for Federal Government
payments for individuals, which are also described in the notes on
Section 6. The basic purpose of the payments for individuals aggregation
is to provide a broad perspective on Federal cash or in-kind payments
for which no current service is rendered yet which constitutes income
transfers to individuals and families. Table 11.1 provides an overview
display of these data in four different forms. All four of these
displays show the total payments for individuals, and the split of this
total between grants to State and local governments for payments for
individuals (such as medicaid and grants for housing assistance) and all
other (``direct'') payments for individuals.
Table 11.2 shows the functional composition of payments for
individuals (see notes on Section 3 for a description of the functional
classification), and includes the same grants versus nongrants
(``direct'') split provided in Table 11.1. The off-budget social
security program finances a significant portion of the Federal payments
for individuals. These tables do not distinguish between the on-budget
and off-budget payments for individuals. However, all payments for
individuals shown in Table 11.2 in function 650 (social security) are
off-budget outlays, and all other payments for individuals are on-
budget. Table 11.3 displays the payments for individuals by major
program category.
Notes on Section 12 (Federal Grants To State and Local Governments)
For several decades the Federal budget documents have provided data on
Federal grants to State and local governments. The purpose of these data
is to identify Federal Government outlays that constitute income to
State and local governments to help finance their services and their
income transfers (payments for individuals) to the public. Grants
generally exclude Federal Government payments for services rendered
directly to
[[Page 11]]
the Federal Government; for example, they exclude most Federal
Government payments for research and development, and they exclude
payments to State social service agencies for screening disability
insurance beneficiaries for the Federal disability insurance trust fund.
Table 12.1 provides an overall perspective on grants; its structure is
similar to the structure of Table 11.1.
Table 12.2 displays Federal grants by function (see notes on Section 3
for a description of the functional classification). The bulk of Federal
grants are included in the Federal funds group; however, since the
creation of the highway trust fund in 1957, significant amounts of
grants have been financed from trust funds (see notes to Section 1 for a
description of the difference between ``Federal funds'' and ``trust
funds''). All Federal grants are on-budget. Wherever trust fund outlays
are included in those data, Table 12.2 not only identifies the total
grants by function but also shows the split between Federal funds and
trust funds.
Table 12.3 provides data on grants at the account or program level,
with an identification of the function, agency, and fund group of the
payment.
Notes on Section 13 (Social Security and Medicare)
Over the past several decades the social security programs (the
Federal old-age and survivors insurance (OASI) and the Federal
disability insurance (DI) trust funds) and the medicare programs (the
Federal hospital insurance (HI) and the Federal supplementary medical
insurance (SMI) trust funds) have grown to be among the largest parts of
the Federal budget. Because of the size, the rates of growth, and the
specialized financing of these programs, policy analysts frequently wish
to identify these activities separately from all other Federal taxes and
spending. As discussed in the introductory notes, the two social
security funds are off-budget, while the medicare funds are on-budget.
As Table 13.1 shows, the first of these funds (OASI) began in 1937. The
table shows the annual transactions of that fund and of the other funds
beginning with their points of origin.
The table provides detailed information about social security and
medicare by fund. It shows total cash income (including offsetting
receipts) by fund, separately identifying social insurance taxes and
contributions, intragovernmental income, and proprietary receipts from
the public. Virtually all of the proprietary receipts from the public,
especially those for the supplementary medical insurance trust fund, are
medicare insurance premiums. The table shows the income, outgo, and
surplus or deficit of each fund for each year, and also shows the
balances of the funds available for future requirements. Most of these
fund balances are invested in public debt securities and constitute a
significant portion of the debt held by Government accounts (see Table
7.1).
The SMI fund, which was established in 1967, is financed primarily by
payments from Federal funds and secondarily by medical insurance
premiums (proprietary receipts from the public). The other three trust
funds are financed primarily by social insurance taxes. The law
establishing the rate and base of these taxes allocates the tax receipts
among the three funds.
The table shows significant transfers by OASI and DI to the railroad
retirement social security equivalent account. These transfers are equal
to the additional amounts of money social security would have had to
pay, less additional receipts it would have collected, if the rail labor
force had been included directly under social security since the
inception of the social security program.
In 1983, when the OASI fund ran short of money, Congress passed
legislation that (a) provided for a one-time acceleration of military
service credit payments to these trust funds, (b) provided for a Federal
fund payment to OASDI for the estimated value of checks issued in prior
years and charged to the trust funds but never cashed, (c) required that
the Treasury make payments to OASDHI on the first day of the month for
the estimated amounts of their social insurance taxes to be collected
over the course of each month (thereby increasing
[[Page 12]]
each affected trust fund's balances at the beginning of the month), and
(d) subjected some social security benefits to Federal income or other
taxes and provided for payments by Federal funds to social security of
amounts equal to these additional taxes. Additionally, in 1983 the OASI
fund borrowed from the DI and HI funds (the tables show the amounts of
such borrowing and repayments of borrowing). The large intragovernmental
collections by OASDHI in 1983 are a result of the transactions described
under (a) and (b) above. Also starting in 1983, OASI began paying
interest to DI and HI to reimburse them for the balances OASI borrowed
from them; OASDHI paid interest to Treasury to compensate it for the
balances transferred to these funds on the first day of each month. The
legal requirement for Treasury to make payments on the first day of the
month, and the associated interest payment, ended in 1985 for HI and in
1991 for OASI and DI.
Notes on Section 14 (Federal Sector Transactions in the National Income
and Product Accounts)
The principal system used in the United States for measuring total
economic activity is the system of national income and product accounts
(NIPA), which provide calculations of the GDP and related data series.
These data are produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the
Department of Commerce. As part of this work the BEA staff analyze the
budget data base and estimate transactions consistent with this
measurement system. The NIPA data are normally produced for calendar
years and quarters. Section 14 provides Federal Sector NIPA data on a
fiscal year basis.
Notes on Section 15 (Total (Federal and State and Local) Government
Finances)
Section 15 provides a perspective on the size and composition of total
Government (Federal, State, and local) receipts and spending. Both the
Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the Commerce
Department provide information (in the national income and product
accounts (NIPA) data) on income and spending for all levels of
government in the United States. These tables include the NIPA State and
local transactions with the Federal Government (deducting the amount of
overlap due to Federal grants to State and local governments) to measure
total Government receipts and spending on a fiscal year basis.
Notes on Section 16 (Federal Health Spending)
Section 16 consists of Table 16.1, Total Outlays for Health Programs.
This table shows a broad definition of total Federal health spending by
type of health program, including defense and veterans health programs,
medicare, medicaid, Federal employees' health benefits and other health
spending. It also shows Federal health spending as percentages of total
outlays and of GDP.
Notes on Section 17 (Federal Employment)
Section 17 provides an overview of the size and scope of the Federal
work force. The measures of Federal employment currently in use are end-
strength and full-time equivalents (FTEs). End-strength is the measure
of total positions filled at the end of the fiscal year, representing a
``head count'' of all paid employees.
Federal employment in the Executive Branch, however, is controlled on
the basis of FTEs. Full-time equivalent (FTE) employment is the measure
of the total number of regular (non-overtime) hours worked by an
employee divided by the number of compensable hours applicable to each
fiscal year. A typical FTE workyear is equal to 2,080 hours. Put simply,
one full-time employee counts as one FTE, and two employees who work
half-time count as one FTE. FTE data have been collected for Executive
Branch agencies since 1981.
The tables included in this section illustrate the size of the
governmental work forces utilizing these measures. Table 17.1 shows the
end-strength of the Executive Branch and selected agencies starting in
1940. Table 17.2 shows the end-strength of the Executive Branch and
selected agencies as a percentage of total Executive Branch employment
starting
[[Page 13]]
in 1940. Table 17.3 shows FTEs for the Executive Branch and selected
agencies for 1981 and subsequent years; Table 17.4 shows these FTEs as a
percentage of total Executive Branch FTEs. Table 17.5 shows a comparison
of the end-strengths of Federal employment and State and local
government employment, and the total of the two as a percentage of the
U.S. population in each year.
[[Page 15]]
HISTORICAL TRENDS
Because the Historical Tables publication provides a large volume and
wide array of data on Federal Government finances, it is sometimes
difficult to perceive the longer term patterns in various budget
aggregates and components. To assist the reader in understanding some of
these longer term patterns, this section provides a short summary of the
trends in Federal deficits and surpluses, debt, receipts, outlays and
employment.
Deficits and Debt.--As shown in Table 1.1, except for periods of war
(when spending for defense increased sharply), depressions or other
economic downturns (when receipts fell precipitously), the Federal
budget was generally in surplus throughout most of the Nation's first
200 years. For our first 60 years as a Nation (through 1849), cumulative
budget surpluses and deficits yielded a net surplus of $70 million. The
Civil War, along with the Spanish-American War and the depression of the
1890s, resulted in a cumulative deficit totaling just under $1 billion
during the 1850-1900 period. Between 1901 and 1916, the budget hovered
very close to balance every year. World War I brought large deficits
that totaled $23 billion over the 1917-1919 period. The budget was then
in surplus throughout the 1920s. However, the combination of the Great
Depression followed by World War II resulted in a long, unbroken string
of deficits that were historically unprecedented in magnitude. As a
result, Federal debt held by the public mushroomed from less than $3
billion in 1917 to $16 billion in 1930 and then to $242 billion by 1946.
In relation to the size of the economy, debt held by the public grew
from 15% of GDP in 1930 to 109% in 1946.
During much of the postwar period, this same pattern persisted--large
deficits were incurred only in time of war (e.g., Korea and Vietnam) or
as a result of recessions. As shown in Table 1.2, prior to the 1980s,
postwar deficits as a percent of GDP reached their highest during the
1975-76 recession at 4.3% in 1976. Debt held by the public had grown to
$477 billion by 1976, but, because the economy had grown faster, debt as
a percent of GDP had declined throughout the postwar period to a low of
23.9% in 1974, climbing back to 27.6% in 1976. Following five years of
deficits averaging 2.5% of GDP between 1977-1981, debt held by the
public rose to 25.8% of GDP by 1981, only two percentage points higher
than its postwar low.
The traditional pattern of running large deficits only in times of war
or economic downturns was broken during the rest of the 1980s. In 1982,
large tax cuts were enacted as were substantial increases in defense
spending. Reductions in nondefense spending were not sufficient to
offset the impact on the deficit. As a result, deficits averaging $207
billion were incurred between 1983 and 1992. As a result of these
unprecedented peacetime deficits, debt held by the public grew from $785
billion in 1981 to $3.0 trillion (48.8% of GDP) in 1992.
Since peaking at $290 billion in 1992, deficits have declined each
year, dropping to a level of $22 billion in 1997. As a percent of GDP,
deficits were reduced by nearly 95% during those 5 years, from 4.7% in
1992 to 0.3% in 1997. Debt held by the public, which peaked at 50.2% of
GDP in 1993, has fallen to 47.3% in 1997.
Receipts.-- From the beginning of the Republic until the start of the
Civil War, our Nation relied on customs duties to finance the activities
of the Federal Government. During the 19th Century, sales of public
lands supplemented customs duties. While large amounts were occasionally
obtained from the sale of lands, customs duties accounted for over 90%
of Federal receipts in most years prior to the Civil War. Excise taxes
became an important and growing source of Federal receipts starting in
the 1860s. Estate and gift taxes were levied and collected sporadically
from the 1860s through World War I, although never amounting to a
significant source of receipts during that time.
[[Page 16]]
Prior to 1913, income taxes did not exist or were inconsequential,
other than for a brief time during the Civil War period, when special
tax legislation raised the income tax share of Federal receipts to as
much as 13% in 1866. Subsequent to the enactment of income tax
legislation in 1913, these taxes grew in importance as a Federal
receipts source during following decade. By 1930, the Federal Government
was relying on income taxes for 60% of its receipts, while customs
duties and excise taxes each accounted for 15% of the receipts total.
During the 1930s, total Federal receipts averaged about 5% of GDP.
World War II brought a dramatic increase in receipts, with the Federal
receipts share of GDP peaking at 20.9% in 1944. The share declined
somewhat after the war and has remained fairly steady since the early
1950s, fluctuating between 16-20% of GDP, and are currently at 19.8% of
GDP. Despite staying within this 4% range during the postwar period,
there have been some significant shifts over time in the underlying
sources or composition of receipts.
The increase in taxes needed to support the war effort in the 1940s
saw the income tax rise to prominence as a source of Federal receipts,
reaching nearly 80% of total receipts in 1944. After the war, the income
tax share of total receipts fell from a postwar high of 74% in 1952 to
64% in the late 1960s. The growth in social insurance taxes (such as
social security and medicare) more than offset a postwar secular decline
in excise and other non-income tax shares. The combination of
substantial reductions in income taxes enacted in the early 1980s and
the continued growth in social insurance taxes has resulted in a
continued decline in the income tax share of total receipts. By 1983
income taxes had dropped to 54% of total receipts and have remained
between 53% and 58% since then.
Corporation income taxes accounted for a large part of this postwar
decline, falling from 30% of total Federal receipts in the early 1950s
to 20% in 1969. During the same period, pretax corporate profits fell
from about 12% of GDP in the early 1950s to 10% in 1968. By 1980 the
corporation income tax share of total receipts had dropped to 12.5%.
During the 1980s, pretax corporate profits declined as a percent of GDP
and, thus, the corporation income tax share dropped to as low as 6.2% in
1983, but eventually climbed back to 11.8% in 1996 and 11.5% in 1997--
still below the 1980 share. This sharp drop in corporation income tax
share of total receipts was more than offset by the growth in social
insurance taxes, as both tax rates and percentage of the workforce
covered by these taxes increased. Social insurance taxes increased from
only 8% of total receipts during the mid-1940s to 38% by 1992, and
declining to 34% by 1997. Excise taxes have also declined in relative
importance during the postwar period, falling from a 19% share in 1950
to slightly under 4% currently.
Outlays and Federal employment.--Throughout most of the Nation's
history prior to the 1930s, the bulk of Federal spending went towards
national defense, veterans benefits and interest on the public debt. In
1929, for example, 71% of Federal outlays were in these three
categories. The 1930s began with Federal outlays comprising just 3.3% of
GDP. As shown in Table 1.2, the efforts to fight the Great Depression
with public works and other nondefense Federal spending, when combined
with the depressed GDP levels, caused outlays and their share of GDP to
increase steadily during most of that decade, with outlays rising to
10.3% of GDP by 1939 and to 12.0% by 1941 on the eve of U.S. involvement
in World War II. Defense spending during World War II resulted in
outlays as a percent of GDP rising sharply, to a peak of 43.7% in 1944.
The end of the war brought total spending down to 14.3% of GDP by 1949.
Then the Korean war increased spending to an average 19.5% of GDP for a
few years in the early 1950s, but outlays as a percent of GDP then
stabilized at around 17-19% until U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war
escalated sharply in the middle 1960s and early 1970s. From 1967 through
1972, Federal outlays averaged 19.6% of GDP. The decline in defense
spending as a percent of GDP that began in 1971, as the Vietnam War
began to wind down, was more than offset by increased spending on human
resources pro
[[Page 17]]
grams during the 1970s--due to the maturation of the social security
program and other longstanding income support programs, as well as a
takeoff in spending on the recently enacted Great Society programs, such
as medicare and medicaid--so that total spending increased as a percent
of GDP, averaging 20.9% during the last half of that decade. Also
contributing to the increase in Federal spending was a substantial
increase throughout the 1970s in grants to State and local governments.
Since receipts were averaging 18% of GDP during the decade, chronic
deficits averaging 2% of GDP were incurred (contributing to this was the
recession of 1975-76, which saw deficits increase to 4.3% in 1976).
The 1980s began with substantial momentum in the growth of Federal
nondefense spending in the areas of human resources, grants to State and
local governments, and, as a result of the deficits incurred throughout
the 1970s, interest on the public debt. In the early 1980s, a
combination of substantially increased defense spending, continued
growth in human resource spending, a tax cut and a recession caused the
deficits to soar, which, in turn, sharply increased spending for
interest on the public debt. Federal spending climbed to an average of
nearly 23% of GDP during the 1981-1985 period. Partial reversals of the
tax cut and rapid defense buildup, along with a strong economy during
the second half of the decade, brought Federal spending back down to
21.4% of GDP by 1989. In the early 1990s, another recession, in the face
of continued rapid growth in Federal health care spending and additional
spending necessitated by the Savings and Loan crisis, caused outlays to
average over 22.5% of GDP in 1991 and 1992. During the past five years,
this outlay growth trend was reversed. Outlays have begun to fall as a
percent of GDP, dropping to 20.1% by 1997.
Despite the growth in total Federal spending as a percent of GDP in
the postwar period, Federal employment, as shown in Table 17.1, has
remained roughly constant, ranging from 1.8 to 2.3 million civilian
employees (excluding the Postal Service) throughout this period. The
composition of employment has shifted dramatically between defense and
civilian agencies over the last 35 years. In 1951, for example, of the
2.0 million employees, 1.2 million worked for the Department of Defense
and 0.7 million worked for civilian agencies. By 1974, Federal
employment was split equally between defense and civilian agencies, with
each accounting for 1.07 million employees. After a buildup in defense
civilian employment in the 1980s, the shift away from defense to
civilian agency employment resumed in the 1990s, so that by 1997
civilian agency employment was 1.15 million and Department of Defense
employment was 0.72 million, nearly the reverse of the proportions in
1951. During the past several years total Federal employment has begun
to decline. Since 1992, when there were over 2.2 million civilians
employed by the Federal Government, reductions of over 350 thousand
employees have been achieved, bringing Federal employment down to less
than 1.9 million in 1997.
Although total spending has increased substantially as a percent of
GDP since the 1950s, the growth in the various components of spending
has not been even and, thus, the composition of spending has changed
significantly during the same period.
Discretionary spending totaled 12.7% of GDP in 1962, with three-
fourths going to defense. Defense spending increased during the Vietnam
War buildup in the late 1960s causing total discretionary outlays to
rise to 13.6% of GDP by 1968, after which a secular decline began. By
the middle 1970s, this category had dropped to 10% of GDP. It fluctuated
between 9\1/2\-10\1/2\% of GDP until the late 1980's, when the defense
buildup that started early in that decade ended. Total discretionary
spending has fallen more sharply over the past ten years, from 9.4% in
1988 to 6.9% in 1997. Although total discretionary spending has followed
a path of secular decline over the past 25 years, its major components--
defense and nondefense--have experienced contrasting histories.
Defense discretionary spending was at 9.3% of GDP in 1962. As shown in
Table 8.4, spending in this category had declined to 7.4% of GDP by
1965, then increased as a result of the Vietnam War. After peaking
[[Page 18]]
at 9.5% of GDP in 1968, it returned to the 1965 level by 1971. The
decline continued throughout the 1970s, hitting a low point of 4.7% of
GDP in 1979. The defense buildup starting in the early 1980s boosted its
percentage of GDP back to 6.3% by 1986, after which it again began a
gradual decline throughout the rest of that decade. By 1997, defense
discretionary spending stood at 3.4% of GDP, reflecting the impact of
the end of the Cold War on our Nation's defense requirements.
Nondefense discretionary spending as a percent of GDP has followed a
much different path. In 1962, it stood at 3.4% of GDP. During the next
few years it quickly increased, reaching 4.2% of GDP by 1967. It dropped
slightly after that year, but still averaged about 4.0% of GDP until
1975, when it surged to 4.5% of GDP due to the recession and, in part,
to growth in spending on energy and the environment, housing and other
income support programs. Much of this growth was in the form of Federal
grants to State and local governments. Additional grant spending arose
from the creation of General Revenue Sharing in 1972 and various anti-
recession grants at the end of the decade. Nondefense discretionary
outlays peaked as a percent of GDP during the recession in 1980 at 5.2%.
They declined sharply as a percent of GDP starting in 1982, falling to
4.0% by 1985 and to 3.5% during the 1987-1990 period. Spending for these
programs has increased slightly since 1990, climbing to 3.8% by 1992
before falling back to 3.4% in 1997.
Programmatic mandatory spending (which excludes net interest and
undistributed offsetting receipts) accounts for a large part of the
growth in total Federal spending as a percent of GDP since the 1950s.
Major programs in this category include social security, medicare,
deposit insurance and means-tested entitlements (medicaid, aid to
dependent children, food stamps and other programs subject to an income
test). Prior to the start of medicare and medicaid in 1966, this
category averaged 5.7% of GDP between 1962 and 1965 (less than half the
size of total discretionary spending), with social security accounting
for nearly half. Within a decade, this category was comparable in size
to total discretionary spending, nearly doubling as a percent of GDP to
10.6% by 1976 (1.1% of which was for unemployment compensation that
year).
Although part of this growth represented the impact of the 1975-76
recession on GDP levels and outlays for unemployment compensation, the
largest part was due to growth in social security, medicare and
medicaid. These three programs totaled 3.4% of GDP in 1968 and grew
rapidly to 5.6% of GDP by 1976. While social security stabilized as a
percent of GDP during 1985-1997, ranging from 4.3% to 4.7%, the growth
in other programmatic mandatory spending has continued to outpace the
growth in GDP since the mid-1970s (apart from the recessionary periods)
due largely to medicare and medicaid. These two programs, which were
1.4% of GDP in 1976, have more than doubled as a percent of GDP since
then, reaching 3.5% in 1997. Excluding medicaid, spending for means-
tested entitlements in 1997 was at 1.2% percent of GDP, less than it was
twenty years ago in 1976. By way of contrast, the remaining programmatic
mandatory spending-- i.e, excluding medicare, unemployment compensation,
social security, deposit insurance and means-tested entitlements--has
been halved as a percent of GDP, falling from 2.8% in 1976 to 1.4% of
GDP in 1997. (Major programs in this grouping include Federal employee
and railroad retirement, veterans' benefits other than veterans'
pensions, and farm price supports.) Nevertheless, total programmatic
mandatory spending in 1997 had reached 10.8% of GDP compared to 6.9% for
total discretionary spending.
Additional perspectives on spending trends available in this document
include spending by agency, by function and subfunction and by
composition of outlays categories, which include payments for
individuals and grants to State and local governments.