Debt and Deficits

DEFINITIONS

What precisely is the national debt?

It’s the total amount of funds that the federal government has borrowed over the years and not yet repaid.

And what about the deficit?

That’s the amount that the government spends each year in excess of what its tax, tariff, and fee revenues bring in. The government then must borrow to make up the difference. It’s the accumulation of deficits year after year that makes up the total national debt.