Invisible tax: Government debt is crushing your finances

Federal borrowing is inflating interest rates, making loans more expensive. Explore the economic consequences and how it affects your financial situation.

Jack Salmon is a Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where he focuses on economic and fiscal policy, with an emphasis on federal budgets, taxation, economic growth, and institutional analysis.

If government debt had stayed at 2015 levels, the typical family could be paying $222 less per month on their mortgage. Go back to 2005 debt levels and the number jumps to $536. That’s real money disappearing from household budgets not because of the jump in home prices, but because Washington can’t stop borrowing.