Budget Deficit | featured news

President Barack Obama unveiled his proposed Fiscal Year 2014 budget plan Wednesday in the White House Rose Garden, offering a combination of new spending initiatives and tax increases aimed at creating jobs and reducing future budget deficits. In his remarks, Obama called his plan “a fiscally responsible blueprint for middle-class jobs and growth.”

The wrangling of President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans over the federal budget underscores a clash of core philosophies about how the economy works that supersedes any skirmish on taxes or spending cuts.

First Read: As the Obama White House and Congress negotiate to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they favor a balanced deal, consisting of both higher tax rates and cuts key entitlement programs.

The budget deficit rose in October, the first month of fiscal year 2013, as looming negotiations over expiring tax cuts and imminent spending reductions dominated the post-election political landscape.

Stagnant revenue and rising employee costs threaten City Hall with a $222-million shortfall, official says. A proposal to outsource ambulance services provokes anger from firefighters union. Los Angeles' top budget official raised the specter of bankruptcy Friday in a sweeping report that calls for new taxes, possible layoffs and the privatization of some city services.

The vast majority of tax breaks in the U.S. tax code would be difficult to eliminate because they promote important social goals or are “hugely popular” with voters, according to a new congressional analysis that casts doubt on Republican promises to substantially lower tax rates without increasing budget deficits.

The tax plan by GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich would provide big tax breaks to the rich and blow a huge hole in the federal budget deficit, according to an independent study released Monday.

The federal government recorded a $1.3 trillion budget deficit in fiscal 2011, the same as the previous fiscal year, the Congressional Budget Office said.

President Barack Obama, in a populist step designed to appeal to voters, will propose a "Buffett Tax" on people making more than $1 million a year as part of his deficit recommendations to Congress on Monday.

Moody's Investors Service cut the rating on Japan's government debt by one notch to Aa3, its fourth-highest rating, blaming large budget deficits and the build-up of debt.