Interest takes 18.5¢ of each tax dollar; CBO’s path takes it to 37¢
Source. OMB, Historical Tables, FY2027 Budget (April 2026), Tables 1.1 and 3.1; CBO, The Long-Term Budget Outlook Data: 2026 to 2056 (February 2026), supplemental file 51119, Table 1 (saved by hand from cbo.gov). Also: OMB, Table 1.1; OMB, Table 3.1; OMB, Table 1.2; CBO, The Long-Term Budget Outlook Data: 2026 to 2056; BEA population (POPTHM), via ALFRED, vintage of October 3, 2026. Fiscal years 1940–2025 (actual) and 2026–2056 (CBO projection).
Method and data
Method. Net interest (OMB Table 3.1) ÷ total receipts (Table 1.1), fiscal years 1940–2025: FY2025 $970.1 billion ÷ $5,236.4 billion = 18.5%, the highest since the series begins in 1940; FY1991 $194.4 billion ÷ $1,055.0 billion = 18.4%, the previous high. 2026–2056 is CBO’s extended baseline: net interest ÷ revenues, each a share of GDP (Table 1); 2035: 4.486% ÷ 17.711% = 25.3%; 2056: 6.93% ÷ 18.798% = 36.9%. The table also gives net interest as a share of GDP (Exhibit 2). Per resident, FY2025: $970.1 billion ÷ 342.739 million (January–August 2026 average, BEA via FRED POPTHM) = $2,830; a day, $970.1 billion ÷ 365 = $2.7 billion.
| Fiscal year | Net interest, % of receipts | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| 1940 | 13.73 | OMB actual |
| 1941 | 10.82 | OMB actual |
| 1942 | 7.19 | OMB actual |
| 1943 | 6.37 | OMB actual |
| 1944 | 5.07 | OMB actual |
| 1945 | 6.89 | OMB actual |
| 1946 | 10.46 | OMB actual |
| 1947 | 10.92 | OMB actual |
| 1948 | 10.45 | OMB actual |
| 1949 | 11.48 | OMB actual |
| 1950 | 12.20 | OMB actual |
| 1951 | 9.04 | OMB actual |
| 1952 | 7.10 | OMB actual |
| 1953 | 7.41 | OMB actual |
| 1954 | 6.90 | OMB actual |
| 1955 | 7.41 | OMB actual |
| 1956 | 6.81 | OMB actual |
| 1957 | 6.69 | OMB actual |
| 1958 | 7.04 | OMB actual |
| 1959 | 7.27 | OMB actual |
| 1960 | 7.51 | OMB actual |
| 1961 | 7.12 | OMB actual |
| 1962 | 6.91 | OMB actual |
| 1963 | 7.26 | OMB actual |
| 1964 | 7.28 | OMB actual |
| 1965 | 7.35 | OMB actual |
| 1966 | 7.17 | OMB actual |
| 1967 | 6.90 | OMB actual |
| 1968 | 7.25 | OMB actual |
| 1969 | 6.80 | OMB actual |
| 1970 | 7.46 | OMB actual |
| 1971 | 7.93 | OMB actual |
| 1972 | 7.47 | OMB actual |
| 1973 | 7.52 | OMB actual |
| 1974 | 8.15 | OMB actual |
| 1975 | 8.33 | OMB actual |
| 1976 | 8.97 | OMB actual |
| 1977 | 8.41 | OMB actual |
| 1978 | 8.87 | OMB actual |
| 1979 | 9.20 | OMB actual |
| 1980 | 10.16 | OMB actual |
| 1981 | 11.47 | OMB actual |
| 1982 | 13.76 | OMB actual |
| 1983 | 14.95 | OMB actual |
| 1984 | 16.67 | OMB actual |
| 1985 | 17.64 | OMB actual |
| 1986 | 17.68 | OMB actual |
| 1987 | 16.23 | OMB actual |
| 1988 | 16.70 | OMB actual |
| 1989 | 17.05 | OMB actual |
| 1990 | 17.86 | OMB actual |
| 1991 | 18.43 | OMB actual |
| 1992 | 18.27 | OMB actual |
| 1993 | 17.21 | OMB actual |
| 1994 | 16.12 | OMB actual |
| 1995 | 17.17 | OMB actual |
| 1996 | 16.59 | OMB actual |
| 1997 | 15.45 | OMB actual |
| 1998 | 14.00 | OMB actual |
| 1999 | 12.57 | OMB actual |
| 2000 | 11.01 | OMB actual |
| 2001 | 10.35 | OMB actual |
| 2002 | 9.22 | OMB actual |
| 2003 | 8.59 | OMB actual |
| 2004 | 8.52 | OMB actual |
| 2005 | 8.54 | OMB actual |
| 2006 | 9.41 | OMB actual |
| 2007 | 9.23 | OMB actual |
| 2008 | 10.01 | OMB actual |
| 2009 | 8.88 | OMB actual |
| 2010 | 9.07 | OMB actual |
| 2011 | 9.98 | OMB actual |
| 2012 | 9.00 | OMB actual |
| 2013 | 7.96 | OMB actual |
| 2014 | 7.58 | OMB actual |
| 2015 | 6.87 | OMB actual |
| 2016 | 7.35 | OMB actual |
| 2017 | 7.92 | OMB actual |
| 2018 | 9.76 | OMB actual |
| 2019 | 10.83 | OMB actual |
| 2020 | 10.10 | OMB actual |
| 2021 | 8.71 | OMB actual |
| 2022 | 9.72 | OMB actual |
| 2023 | 14.82 | OMB actual |
| 2024 | 17.88 | OMB actual |
| 2025 | 18.53 | OMB actual |
| 2026 | 18.57 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2027 | 18.82 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2028 | 20.06 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2029 | 20.96 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2030 | 21.71 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2031 | 22.54 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2032 | 23.43 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2033 | 24.14 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2034 | 24.82 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2035 | 25.33 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2036 | 25.84 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2037 | 26.29 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2038 | 26.78 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2039 | 27.23 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2040 | 27.72 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2041 | 28.22 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2042 | 28.79 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2043 | 29.34 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2044 | 29.87 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2045 | 30.40 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2046 | 30.97 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2047 | 31.52 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2048 | 32.06 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2049 | 32.63 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2050 | 33.23 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2051 | 33.81 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2052 | 34.41 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2053 | 35.01 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2054 | 35.60 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2055 | 36.23 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
| 2056 | 36.87 | CBO extended baseline, February 2026 |
Download 12-01-interest-share-of-receipts-and-gdp-1940-2056.csv
Download SVG · CSV. Data and chart licensed CC BY 4.0.
Higgins Strategy. “Interest takes 18.5¢ of each tax dollar; CBO’s path takes it to 37¢” Exhibit 1, The Interest Bill (Study XII). October 12, 2026. https://higginsstrategy.com/charts/12-01-interest-share-of-receipts-and-gdp-1940-2056/