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1936 › Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) › Balancing the federal budget
Balance the budget within a year or two out of rising national income, without new taxes
pledge_forwardspecific_pledgecandidate_directevidence A Federal Budget & Spending similar solutions · similar reasoning
Solution
As national income rises from $38 billion (1932) toward $60 billion, receipts will cover ordinary and relief expenses 'within a year or two' without additional taxes; then reduce the debt.
Rationale
Balancing in 1933-35 'would have been a crime'; 'we had to balance the budget of the American people before we could balance the budget of the national Government.'
Position chain: Balance the federal budget annually within revenues
Statements (3)
Our retrenchment, tax and recovery programs thus reflect our firm determination to achieve a balanced budget and the reduction of the national debt at the earliest possible moment.
If it keeps on rising at the present rate, as I am confident that it will, the receipts of the Government, without imposing any additional taxes, will, within a year or two, be sufficient to care for all ordinary and relief expenses of the Government--in other words, to balance the budget.
New or increased taxes are not needed to enable us to balance the Federal Budget and to begin very soon a rapid reduction in the national debt. Recovery is with us. Federal revenues are increasing; emergency expenditures are decreasing. A balanced budget is on the way.
Follow-through
brokencontested among sources
The January 1937 budget declared fiscal 1938 'in balance' and promised full balance in 1939; spending was cut in 1937. The recession that began in August 1937 collapsed revenues, and in April 1938 the President asked for $3 billion of new spending and lending. Deficits continued every year of the term, and rearmament ended the question.
Mechanisms
| Date | Type | Name | Effect | Consistent? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937-01-07 | budget | Budget message for fiscal 1938 | Claimed a balanced 1938 budget and a fully balanced 1939.the 1938 Budget is in balance; and, except for debt reduction of $401,515,000, it will remain in balance even if later on there are included additional expenditures of as much as $1,537,123,000 for recovery and relief. | yes | Annual Budget Message to Congress. |
| 1937-04-13 | message | Message on eliminating unnecessary expenditures charted on: Federal surplus or deficit (fiscal year) | Ordered agencies to cut spending. | yes | Message to all Departments and Agencies on Eliminating Unnecessary Expenditures. |
| 1937-10-19 | message | Statement summarizing the 1938 budget charted on: Federal surplus or deficit (fiscal year) | Admitted a growing deficit as receipts fell.the decline in tax receipts was almost entirely responsible for the then estimated deficit of $418,000,000 for the fiscal year 1938. | partly | Statement Summarizing the 1938 Budget. |
| 1938-04-14 | message | Message on stimulating recovery (spending program) | Reversed course: $3 billion in relief, public works and lending.It is because the course of our economics has run adversely for half a year that we owe it to ourselves to turn it in the other direction before the situation becomes more definitely serious. | no | Message to Congress on Stimulating Recovery. |
Obstruction
economywar The 1937-38 recession, then rearmament from 1938. source
Assessments
The President chose spending over balance once the recession set in.
The attempt was real: the 1937 cuts produced the smallest deficit of the decade in fiscal 1938.
Other positions on this issue
- Balance the federal budget annually within revenues — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 specific_pledge
- A balanced budget as 'the foundation of all public and private financial stability' — Herbert Hoover, 1932 specific_pledge
- Balance the budget by cutting expenditures, not by raising taxes — Alf Landon, 1936 specific_pledge
- A budget balanced immediately and a currency based on and convertible into gold — Frank Knox, 1936 specific_pledge
1936-fdr-balance-budget-from-rising-income · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed