The United States national debt surpassed $40 trillion in August, prompting renewed debate over its causes and potential solutions. Brendan Boylan, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee and representative for Pennsylvania’s second congressional district, emphasized that both government spending and tax policy have contributed significantly to the current fiscal situation.

Boylan acknowledged that government spending affects the debt but highlighted that major tax cuts over the past 25 years, mainly benefiting wealthy individuals and large corporations, have also played a crucial role. Citing analyses based on Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation data, he noted that tax reductions linked to President George W. Bush and extended by Democrats, along with President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, collectively added approximately $10 trillion to the debt through 2023. The 2017 act alone is estimated to have increased the debt by nearly $2 trillion.

In addition, Boylan pointed to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed last year under Trump and Republican leadership, which the CBO projects will add around $4.7 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, marking it as one of the most costly measures in recent history.

While tax cuts have been significant, Boylan also mentioned other factors contributing to the debt rise. These include extensive borrowing to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as emergency spending during the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic aimed at stabilizing the economy. He stressed the importance of maintaining fiscal capacity to respond to emergencies but warned that accumulating structural debt during normal periods undermines that ability.

Another element discussed was the issue of unpaid federal taxes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that almost $700 billion owed for 2022 was not paid on time, with roughly $600 billion unlikely to be collected. Although noncompliance is not wholly due to fraud, the magnitude of missing tax revenue is substantial. Boylan argued that repeated cuts to IRS enforcement funding, particularly reductions in audit staff by about 30 percent under Republican-backed initiatives during the Trump administration, have diminished revenue collection. According to a recent Treasury Inspector General report, IRS audits yielded 35 percent less revenue in fiscal year 2025 compared to the previous year.

Boylan urged bipartisan cooperation to address the growing debt, warning that annual net interest payments on the debt are expected to surpass $2 trillion, diverting funds away from healthcare, infrastructure, and education. He proposed that tax breaks, especially those favoring the wealthy, should not be permanent but subject to routine, nonpartisan evaluation and periodic renewal votes by Congress, akin to the scrutiny given to federal spending.

Furthermore, he called on Republican lawmakers to support strengthened IRS enforcement efforts to tackle tax evasion and fraud, arguing that such measures are critical to a comprehensive deficit reduction plan.

Boylan concluded that while Republicans have historically focused on spending reductions, they have not equally addressed the revenue side, calling for an honest, balanced discussion and credible solutions before the fiscal situation deteriorates further.