How much did TARP cost? $25 billion
Despite critics' estimates that it would cost over $100 billion, TARP only cost $47 billion and recouped almost half of that.
Phyllis Caldwell, chief of the Homeownership Preservation Office for the Treasury Department, center, talks with Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) panel members Damon Silvers, left, and Richard Neiman, in Washington on Oct. 27. Despite much higher initial estimates, TARP ended up costing the taxpayers about $25 billion.
Alex Brandon / AP / File
The much-maligned TARP program will cost taxpayers only $25 billion according to the latest estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. That’s substantially less than the $66 billion CBO estimated back in August or the $113 billion that the Office of Management and Budget estimated in October.
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Donald B. Marron is director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. He previously served as a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and as acting director of the Congressional Budget Office.
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The good news, budget-wise, is that the government is on track to make about $22 billion on its assistance to banks.
However, CBO estimates that TARP’s other activities will cost $47 billion. This reflects aid to AIG ($14 billion), the auto industry ($19 billion), mortgage programs ($12), and a few smaller programs ($2 billion).
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