According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the U.S. government posted its first annual deficit in 1792 and by 1940 had a national debt of $51 billion.

Thirty-five years later in 1975 the debt had climbed to $542 billion, a 10-fold increase, and in another 35 years in 2010 would rise to $13.8 trillion, a 25-fold increase. Government figures project U.S. debt will continue to climb in the future.

The U.S. taxpayer is on the hook to pay off this debt. Over 80 percent of federal government receipts come directly from taxpayers and business owners (who are also taxpayers).

OMB 2009 budget figures show 43 percent of U.S. receipts came from federal income taxes, 31 percent from the Social Security tax, and nine percent from the Medicare payroll tax. Most remaining receipts were also shouldered by the taxpayer through trickle down costs of doing business.

So what do we owe individually? By dividing $13.8 trillion by the latest Census population figures (307 million persons) we find every man, woman and child owes on average $45,000 per person.

In Southern Ohio alone, the counties of Lawrence, Jackson, Pike, Scioto, Adams, Brown and Clermont, with an estimated population of 468,650, collectively owe about $21 billion.

The U.S. taxpayer has had ample opportunity in the last 30 years to see this train wreck coming. We are blessed with an open form of government, with all acts of Congress widely published and publicly available. Even OMB figures quoted in this article are a testament to U.S. government transparency.

Since 1980, OMB and the media have widely reported that Congress voted 38 times to increase the national debt limit, going from $879 billion in 1980 up to $12.4 trillion in 2009.

Yet, over this same time period U.S. taxpayers continued to re-elect and send these same representatives back to Washington to continue putting them in debt.

From 1980 to present, there have been 15 elections in the U.S. House of Representatives. According to the Center for Responsible Politics, voters returned incumbent Congressman to Washington on average 85 percent of the time.

The U.S. Constitution gives its citizens the ballot to hold Washington accountable and put a check on government excess. As citizens we failed to act.

If we the taxpayer are responsible to pay, then we should roll up our sleeves and set priorities in Washington to set the U.S. fiscal ship aright.

It is often said upwards of three-fourths of the U.S. budget cannot be controlled by Congress because spending is mandated by law and cannot be touched.

This preconceived notion of the budget is hooey! As national programs were set in place by Congress, they can be altered or even eliminated by Congress. All sacred cows of the budget , including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Defense, and so on, should be put on the table and reviewed for alignment with national priorities.

Another worthwhile measure is to pressure Congress to pass a law requiring a super majority vote (three-fourths) and not a simple majority (50 percent) to increase the national debt limit.

Obviously, it’s too easy for Congress to resort to this quick fiscal fix today.

U.S. citizenry should get a basic understanding of the U.S. budget process. As a start, I recommend reading an OMB primer on the budget titled, “A Citizen’s Guide to the Federal Budget,” and it may be viewed on-line at www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy02/pdf/guide.pdf.

I came upon this publication by referral from a former colleague who now works for OMB. It was taken out of print in 2002 as an unnecessary expenditure.

Given the gravity of the U.S. debt as a national policy, I think it’s time to dust off this publication and put it back in the hands of the citizenry who are on hook to pay off the largest debt in U.S. history.

Joe Green is from Piketon Ohio and may be contacted at www.joegreen.us