January 27, 2011 10:14AM # As If Gov’t Spending Had Nothing to Do with It By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) --- SHARE This is how a front-page [story](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/26/AR2011012602971.html) in this morning’s *Washington Post* portrayed the cause of this year’s $1.5 *trillion* deficit: > **Record U.S. Deficit Projected This Year** CBO forecasts tax cuts will push budget gap to $1.5 trillion > > > The still-fragile economy and fresh tax cuts approved by Congress last month will drive the federal deficit to nearly $1.5 trillion this year, the biggest budget gap in U.S. history, congressional budget analysts said Wednesday. Federal spending and federal tax revenue play equally important roles in creating the federal budget deficit. Yet the *Post* blames the deficit only on inadequate tax revenue. Federal spending isn’t too high, the *Post* implies, tax revenue is too low. This may not be an example of media bias. But it is an example of why supporters of limited government believe that major news organizations like the *Washington Post* are biased toward bigger government. At a minimum, the *Post* has some explaining to do. ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).