We have showcased a number of omissions, deceptions, and exaggerations this week within the president's FY 08 budget proposal, but another fine point was uncovered this week as well that missed our notice. It concerns assumptions for how much revenues will grow over the next five years. The Congresstional Budget Office, a nonpartisan office in the legislative branch, does projections and estimates for specific legislation moving through Congress, as well as larger, long-term economic and budget projections across the government. Recently, CBO released their Budget and Economic Outlook for the next ten years. In that report, they project revenues will grow 5.8 percent over the next five years. The president's budget, however, projects revenue growth at 7 percent over the next five years. This translates into $425 billion in additional revenues than CBO believes will materialize over the five year period and a hefty $157 billion in FY 2012 alone - the very year the president expects his policies to yield a $61 billion government surplus. Even if revenues grow at a slightly lower rate, the president's surplus projections will disappear. This is just yet another example of many instances of extremely wishful thinking in the president's proposal that allows him to state that his budget will balance the budget by 2012. That, and the fact that he is planning on raising taxes on the middle class.