Based on the most recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) release, 2013 federal government revenues were 16.7 percent of GDP, while outlays were 20.8 percent of GDP, a 4.1 percentage point difference. Assuming no legislative action that would significantly affect revenues or spending, and as a share of GDP, the CBO projects the annual budget deficit will fall to 2.8% of GDP in 2014 and 2.6% in 2015 and then increase through 2022 to 4.0% of GDP. The last two years of the projection have the budget deficit as a percent of GDP moderating to 3.9% in 2023 and 3.7% in 2024 because the annual rate of growth in GDP is greater than the annual rate of growth in the budget deficit. However, the actual size of the budget deficit is projected to increase each year beginning in 2016, with a budget deficit of $536 billion in that year, reaching over $1 trillion in both 2023 and 2024.
