Byron Auguste of Hope Street Group co-authors "The Biggest Tax is Debt," an op-ed in The Boston Globe.

Today's average American household pays an astounding $3,153 in taxes annually just to service the debt -- about enough to lease a car for a year. These debt tax payments are required because of the fiscal irresponsibility of previous federal budgets.

A government running a large national debt is like an individual running a big balance on a credit card. Most American households use credit cards, and more than half of cardholders carry over credit card debt from one month to the next. But few would go as far as the federal government currently does; today's national debt is the equivalent of a whopping $62,000 on each family's credit card. And each month, the debt is rolled over, with no plans to pay down the principal.

The debt tax is likely to grow in the coming years, placing an enormous burden on tomorrow's taxpayers. Even if the national debt does not increase, projected increases in interest rates will increase the cost of borrowing money -- increasing the debt tax.