Based on the most recent gross domestic product (GDP) data release, 2013 federal government revenues were16.7 percent of GDP, and outlays were 20.8 percent of GDP, a 4.1 percentage point difference. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that during the next decade—and assuming no legislative action that would significantly affect revenues or spending—the annual budget deficit will fall to 3 percent of GDP in 2014 and 2.7 percent in 2015 and then begin a gradual increase through 2022 to 4.2 percent of GDP. The CBO then projects a slight moderation of the budget deficit as a percentage of GDP in the last two years of the projection.
