Baseline Budgeting

Baseline Budgeting is an accounting concept within the Federal Government that determines the necessary budget for a program for the next fiscal year by multiplying the current budget for a program by the rate of inflation. This establishes the "baseline budget" for the next year; the minimum budget needed to keep real dollars for the program constant. For instance, if a program is budgeted at $100, and the rate of inflation for the year is 1%, the baseline budget for the next year is set at $101. The Tea Party Patriots consider it to be a scam,[1] as do many other conservatives.

William Beach for the Heritage Foundation described baseline budgeting this way:

“  |  Baseline budgeting, just to kind of define it first before we get into the falsehoods that are based in there, is the building of a projection of spending based on what you are currently doing. So I'm currently building a house. I could -- under baseline budgeting, I could budget the same amount for building that house for each year of the next 10 years. That would be baseline budgeting. People say that's crazy. You build your house one year. That's it, not every year thereafter. What this does is it permanently builds in higher spending.[2] |  ”

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## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Effect on government spending
* 3 Compare with
* 4 References

## History[edit]

Baseline Budgeting first appeared in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.[3]

## Effect on government spending[edit]

The current effect is that if congress does nothing, spending goes up,[4] and it also allows dishonest politicians like Barack Hussein Obama to make claims that are reflected against the 'wilderness of mirrors'[5] that is the budget, thus allowing them to deceive the American people.

## Compare with[edit]

* Zero-based budgeting

## References[edit]

1. ↑ The truth about budgets: Washington vs. Reality. Tea Party Patriots (December 16, 2012).
2. ↑ All-Star Panel: Will Republicans bend in 'fiscal cliff' negotiations?. Fox News (December 12, 2012).
3. ↑ Congress, Baseline Budgeting, and Fraud. American Thinker (October 19, 2012).
4. ↑ Baseline budgeting: The statists’ thumb on the scale. The Daily Caller (September 17, 2013).
5. ↑ The Budget Baseline Con. Wall Street Journal (December 6, 2012).