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Growth Trends of New Federal Programs: 1955-1968

1 min readBy: TF Staff

Download Research Publication No. 10, Part 2Download Research Publication No. 10, Part 1

Research Publication No. 10

Foreword This study analyzes one aspect of the recent tremendous growth in Federal expenditures—new programs initiated since the Korean War ended.

On an over-all basis, Federal spending in the administrative budget has already doubled from $64 billion in fiscal 1955 to the $135 billion projected for fiscal 1968. A substantial portion of this increase is accounted for by more than 100 new programs, all non-defense in nature, introduced during the period.

This report identifies the new programs adopted since 1955 and traces their growth year by year and by function. It is significant that the cost of these programs, collectively, haws more the quadrupled since their respective first years of operation. Moreover, there is every indication that these ventures, many inaugurated in the last two or three years, will continue to grow in the years ahead.

It is hoped that this factual presentation of the growth of new Federal programs will provide background and perspective for current and future policy and program decisions. The basic research, carried out by the Tax Foundation’s Washington office under the supervision of Maynard H. Waterfield, involved intensive analysis of annual Federal budget documents covering the period since the early 1950s.

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