Real Federal Spending Jumps $822.90 Per Person

The federal government spends $822.90 more per person in inflation-adjusted dollars than it did in 2008.

CNS News compiled Treasury and Census Bureau data and found that real federal spending per household also went up $2,437.36 from 2008 to 2012.

The federal government spent $3,176,376,470,000 in 2008 and $3,538,446,000,000 in 2012, according to the U.S. Treasury. (The 2008 number was adjusted for inflation using the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator.)

CNS used the Census Bureau to calculate population figures. On April 1, 2008, the mid-point of the government’s fiscal year, there were 303,381,938 people in the US. On April 1, 2012 there were 313,336,712.

The federal government’s spending in fiscal 2008 equaled $10,469.89 for each person living in the US. Fiscal 2012 spending, however, equaled $11,292.79 for each one of us.

By these calculations, inflation-adjusted spending per person increased by $822.90.

A return to 2008 real federal spending levels this year would require a cut of $362,069,530,000 below last year’s level.