--- title: Donald Trump Plans Would Add $5.3 Trillion to National Debt description: Donald Trump's plans would add $5.3 trillion dollars to the national debt, while Hillary Clinton's would add $200 billion, a report says. canonical: https://time.com/4503404/donald-trump-national-debt-trillion/ author: Haley Sweetland Edwards article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-22T03:59:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:47:46.208Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Plans Would Add $5.3 Trillion to National Debt og:description: Donald Trump's plans would add $5.3 trillion dollars to the national debt, while Hillary Clinton's would add $200 billion, a report says. og:url: https://time.com/4503404/donald-trump-national-debt-trillion/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt232c1509070c517f/6988a6af524fc07e08df9872/clinton-trump2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: clinton-trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Plans Would Add $5.3 Trillion to National Debt twitter:description: Donald Trump's plans would add $5.3 trillion dollars to the national debt, while Hillary Clinton's would add $200 billion, a report says. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt232c1509070c517f/6988a6af524fc07e08df9872/clinton-trump2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump's Plans Would Add $5.3 Trillion to the National Debt > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=63c5b14b-ee73-4592-9dcf-a4274c0fc9ac&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Donald Trump's Economic Plan Will Increase US Debt [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump's Economic Plan Will Increase US Debt](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NdIOrfvl.m3u8) (0:41)  _Published 2016-09-22. According to new reports, Donald Trump proposed plan will not help the economy._  by [Haley Sweetland Edwards](https://time.com/author/haley-sweetland-edwards/)  ## Haley Sweetland Edwards Sep 22, 2016 3:59 AM UTC  by [Haley Sweetland Edwards](https://time.com/author/haley-sweetland-edwards/)  ## Haley Sweetland Edwards Sep 22, 2016 3:59 AM UTC If you add up all of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s preliminary policy proposals—from increasing defense spending to creating a new childcare program—then subtract the amount of money he plans to raise with his tax plan, the result is some serious red ink. According to [an analysis](http://crfb.org/papers/promises-and-price-tags-preliminary-interim-update) by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Trump’s plans would contribute $5.3 trillion dollars to [the national debt](https://time.com/nextadvisor/loans/personal-loans/how-do-personal-loans-work/). Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s plans, by comparison, would only increase the debt by $200 billion. Since the national debt is currently around $19.5 trillion, according to the federal Office of Management and Budget, Trump’s plans would increase it by more than a fourth, while Clinton’s would increase it by just 1 percent, under the analysis. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’s analysis is an update to its previous report [_Promises and Price Tags: A Fiscal Guide the 2016 Election_](http://crfb.org/papers/promises-and-price-tags-fiscal-guide-2016-election), published in June, which analyzed the cost of every Trump and Clinton proposal on record at the time. The most recent update reflects both candidates’ amended plans as reported as of September 21, 2016\. It also excludes any calculation of economic impact. **_Read next:_** [**_What the Clinton and Trump Tax Plans Would Mean For You_**](http://time.com/money/4405149/clinton-and-trump-tax-plans-cost-by-income-level/) The report finds that Trump’s plan would result in an overall reduction in non-interest federal spending (that is, all government outlays _not_ spent servicing U.S. debts) by about $1.2 trillion over the next decade. He would do that by cutting Obamacare, Medicaid and other non-defense spending. But he would also slash about $5.8 trillion in revenue through his tax proposal, according the report. While Trump has simultaneously advocated for two different tax plans, his most recent proposal would result in a roughly $4.5 trillion reduction in revenue from cuts to individual and business taxes, and another $1.2 trillion from repealing taxes that pay for Obamacare, the report found. Clinton’s plan, in contrast, would increase federal spending by about $1.65 trillion over the next decade. That includes a $500 billion outlay on her new college education program and $300 billion each on paid family leave and infrastructure. But Clinton’s plan would also boost revenue—to the tune of about $1.5 trillion—by significantly increasing taxes on very high income earners and businesses. Under Clinton, the national debt would rise to above 86% of GDP, the report said, while under Trump, it would top 105%. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4503404/donald-trump-national-debt-trillion/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4503404/donald-trump-national-debt-trillion/"},"headline":"Donald Trump's Plans Would Add $5.3 Trillion to the National Debt","datePublished":"2016-09-22T03:59:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T06:47:46.208Z","description":"Raising it by more than a fourth","url":"https://time.com/4503404/donald-trump-national-debt-trillion/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt232c1509070c517f/6988a6af524fc07e08df9872/clinton-trump2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Haley Sweetland Edwards","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/haley-sweetland-edwards/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt232c1509070c517f/6988a6af524fc07e08df9872/clinton-trump2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"clinton-trump","caption":"Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton","creditText":"Getty Images (2)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4503404/donald-trump-national-debt-trillion/","name":"Donald Trump's Plans Would Add $5.3 Trillion to the National Debt"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Donald Trump's Economic Plan Will Increase US Debt","description":"According to new reports, Donald Trump proposed plan will not help the economy.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/NdIOrfvl/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-09-22T15:07:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NdIOrfvl.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4503404/donald-trump-national-debt-trillion/","duration":"PT41S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4503404/donald-trump-national-debt-trillion/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```