The final CBO FY 2006 deficit estimate numbs are in … at a cool quarter of a trillion dollars. The $250 billion figure released today is well under CBO’s estimate of $337 billion at the beginning of the year and the $318 billion actual deficit for FY2005. Until this summer, the deficit projections were uniformly in the $300 billion-range, but a late surge in corporate income helped boost FY2006 revenues by $253 billion over last year’s total. Despite this year’s figures, the nation is still experiencing the largest 6-year deterioration in the budget in 50 years, a $486 billion drop from the last surplus recorded in FY00, said House Budget ranking member John Spratt (D-SC). Moreover, the reduced deficit figure for FY06 obscures the true nature of the nation's fiscal condition going forward. According to CBPP: The outlook for the budget over the next 10 years (much less for the following decades, when increasing numbers of baby boomers will retire) remains bleak. CBO’s projections show that, if the President’s tax cuts are made permanent and relief from the alternative minimum tax is extended, deficits will total nearly $3.5 trillion over the next 10 years (2007-2016).