WASHINGTON — When it comes to the nation's debt, payback time might be here.
Years of low tax rates and rising federal spending, amplified by the devastating economic effect of the Great Recession, have driven the U.S. borrowing tab to more than $16 trillion from less than $1 trillion in 1981.
Deficit reduction has become the dominant issue in Washington. The first major tax increase since 1993 took place last month. And large automatic spending cuts — $1.2 trillion over the next decade — are set to kick in Friday.
The result: Average Americans are starting to feel the pain.
"The day of reckoning is here," said David Walker, the former U.S. comptroller general who has been warning about the nation's long-term fiscal problems for several years.
"We're at the end of an era where we have Democratic spending policies and Republican tax policies," he said. "The result has been huge deficits and mounting debt burdens. It doesn't work."
In attempts to solve the problem, Republicans have focused on reducing government spending. Democrats have aimed at increasing taxes on the wealthy. And both parties leveraged their influence over the last two years to get their way.
When the nation approached its statutory borrowing limit in 2011, Republicans in Congress insisted on large spending cuts before agreeing to raise the cap. The last-minute deal to avoid a default included caps on future spending and a mechanism for automatic cuts this year if lawmakers could not agree on an alternative.
So far, they have not been able to get close to a deal. And time is running out.
On top of that, the George W. Bush-era tax cuts were set to expire at the end of 2012, along with a two-year payroll tax break designed to stimulate the economy. To help reduce the deficit, President Obama pushed Congress to allow some of those tax cuts to expire.
The face-off risked market panic and another recession, and ultimately Republicans agreed to allow some taxes to rise.
The result has been a double whammy of higher taxes and reduced government spending that would stabilize the debt as a set percentage of the U.S. economy over the next decade, even as it gives Americans their first taste of austerity.
Although the Jan. 2 tax increases focused on rates for household incomes of more than $450,000, they also included the end to a temporary payroll tax break that reduced the average person's paycheck about $40 every two weeks.
In addition, government officials said the looming spending cuts would affect most federal programs. The effect would be widespread, hitting state and local programs that depend on federal aid and businesses with government contracts.
But some would directly affect the general public, with the furloughing of government workers leading to fewer food safety inspections, reduced hours at national parks and longer waits at airports.
For example, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the $600-million cut facing the Federal Aviation Administration's 2013 budget would force the agency to furlough the "vast majority" of its 47,000 employees for at least one day every two-week pay period, reducing staffing at airports and forcing the closure of 100 small air traffic control towers starting around April 1.
"This is very painful for us because it involves our employees, but it's going to be very painful for the flying public," LaHood told reporters Friday.
Kevin C. Smith, owner of Smith-Kandal Insurance/Real Estate in Brawley, Calif., which specializes in sales of farms, said the nation must start reducing its growing debt.
"It's pretty obvious, if we don't do something about Medicare ... and all these entitlement programs, I'm afraid they may not be there at some point in time," said Smith, 63.
But he's not happy with the recent tax increases, which have hit his business hard.
Average Americans are feeling pain of U.S. debt
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Average Americans are feeling pain of U.S. debt
