Here's How Much Every American Would Need To Pay In Taxes To Solve The Country's Debt Crisis

The national debt keeps rising to a point where the number doesn’t even sound real. Where is the U.S. government going to get $33 trillion anyway? 

Well, it turns out that stabilizing the U.S. national debt might require each American to contribute about $2,400 per year through spending cuts or tax increases.

The tricky part is the fact both Democrats and Republicans are hesitant to make the changes that would be needed to address the debt.

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The Aspen Economic Strategy Group, led by former Treasury secretaries Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner, emphasized U.S. policymakers have some tough decisions to make, outlined in a recent report from Axios.

The U.S. government needs to figure out how to balance our budget better so it can still invest in important things such as national security, healthcare and addressing climate change.

Harvard economist Karen Dynan did some math and found a big chunk of the money is going towards Social Security and Medicare benefits, especially with the Baby Boomer generation retiring.

To make sure the debt doesn't keep going up, Congress would need to make changes that are equal to about 2.8% of the total economic output — that's nearly $800 billion every year.

Some politicians want to keep the tax cuts that came from Trump's administration. Others don't agree with President Joe Biden's ideas, such as instituting a payroll tax for earned income more than $400,000. Decision makers are even thinking about cutting the budget for the IRS, which experts say might make our money situation worse.

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