Congress must make aggressive across-the-board spending cuts to federal programs or raise taxes if it hopes to ever contain the growing deficit, a new report concludes.

The report, by the National Academy of Public Administration and the National Research Council, suggests four possible alternatives for getting the $12 trillion deficit under control:

• Cut domestic and defense spending 20 percent and refrain from launching new programs that are not offset by spending cuts elsewhere.

• Raise income and payroll taxes modestly while cutting defense and domestic programs by 8 percent.

• Increase income and payroll taxes more to better afford increased spending on entitlement programs. Spending for all other federal programs would be reduced.

• Raise taxes substantially and possibly introduce a value-added tax (VAT) to increase agency spending above current levels.

Congress must make tough choices to save the nation from devastating economic turmoil, Rudolph Penner, the committee's co-chairman and former Congressional Budget Office director, said at a Jan. 13 news conference.

"The more fundamental point is that they have to do something; we don't have any choice. We're on a path that is going to lead to a crisis if we literally do nothing," he said.

The report also recommends eliminating or cutting funding for federal programs the committee sees as commercial subsidies or "low value" initiatives, such as the Energy Department's applied fossil fuels research and the Homeland Security Department's Science and Technology Directorate's research and development programs.

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