Critics state that the tax cuts, including those given to middle and lower income  households, failed to spur growth. Critics have further stated that the cuts also  increased the budget deficit, shifted the tax burden from the rich to the middle and  working classes, and further increased already high levels of income inequality.
Jan 2, 2013 ... They were born in 2001, and now have been mostly made permanent. ... Drove  the deficit : This chart from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows how  the Bush tax cuts are likely to continue be a major driver of ... Still, they will  remain the largest component of deficits for the foreseeable future.
The annual federal budget deficit is projected to reach 8.3 percent of gross  domestic product (GDP) by 2020—more than three times the historical average of  2.3 percent. This dramatic increase in the federal deficit will be exclusively the  result of increasing spending, not declining revenues (or the 2001 and 2003 tax  cuts).
May 20, 2011 ... This post has been corrected. If the Bush-era tax cuts are renewed next year, that  policy will by 2019 be the single largest contributor to the nation's public debt — “ the sum of annual budget deficits, minus annual surpluses” — according to new  analysis from the non-partisan Center for Budget and Policy ...
Jul 23, 2011 ... The answer is largely the Bush-era tax cuts, war spending in Iraq and  Afghanistan, and recessions. Despite what ... In fact, such spending, accounting  for only 15 percent of the budget, has been basically flat as a share of the  economy for decades. ... First, the Bush tax cuts have had a huge damaging  effect.
Bush's tax cuts for high earners "have been the biggest contributor to the budget deficit."