It has been more than seven years since the American people were shocked and angered at the news that executives at Enron Corp. had deceived their shareholders and were filing for the most massive bankruptcy in the history of Wall Street.

Today, comparing a business to Enron is serious condemnation and the comparison evokes massive panic and chaos in both the investment community and the public at large. Yet, the federal government follows dangerously similar accounting practices when managing its budget and making justifications to its own shareholders — also known as “the taxpayers.”

Most Americans understand that our nation has a serious budget problem and regularly hear about the national debt, which currently totals over $9 trillion, or $30,000 per worker. While these numbers are astonishing, they are dwarfed by the government’s true fiscal exposure, which now amounts to more than $53 trillion, or about $455,000 for every American household. These numbers reflect long-term, unfunded commitments to pay for future entitlement spending, such as Social Security and Medicare.

Under current law, both Congress and the president have the luxury of ignoring these numbers year after year. They are allowed to present, prepare and approve budgets that merely project estimates over the short-term — usually 5 or 10 years — even though we know these longer-term spending commitments have already been made.

The private sector doesn’t get off so easy. Strict corporate governance and accounting standards require them to report similar liabilities annually. Quite often, private businesses must set aside capital to finance these liabilities in the interests of their shareholders. Such smart governance allows entrepreneurs and stakeholders to make responsible financial decisions and plan ahead for future expenses.

But, since government gets to play by different rules, there are fewer incentives to contain costs, and it is given carte blanche to increase spending while ignoring the consequences. In reality, the consequences are dire. Without any reform, the cost of Social Security and Medicare alone will total 18 percent of GDP by the year 2080 — nearly the exact percentage we spend on the entire federal budget today. As long as lawmakers mask this true picture, there will be no accountability demanded by the American people and Congress will continue to pass shortsighted budgets that do nothing to fix our impending financial crisis. Future generations will be left to clean up the mess.

If the U.S. is to effectively address its long-term fiscal challenges, truth and transparency in government reporting are essential. Last year, I introduced bipartisan legislation, H.R. 3958, the Truth in Accounting Act, which takes a critical first step toward securing transparency for America’s balance sheets. It requires the Treasury Department, in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to begin reporting in the annual Financial Report of the U.S. Government a measure to track the costs of the federal government’s long-term fiscal exposures, based on accrual accounting principles.

Simply put, my bill forces government to be accountable to the taxpayers just as government has required corporate America to face its own responsibilities to its shareholders. In technical terms, the bill measures the present value of projected spending minus projected revenues, over the 75-year and indefinite time horizons, for several long-term spending obligations. The result is the budget shortfall that must be met by our government in order to put our fiscal policies on a sustainable path. The bill also requires the president to consider this important data when proposing his budget to ensure the budget process is always focused on a true accounting.

Just this week, Congress reached yet another historic marker — a budget proposed by the Democrat majority that provides for the largest tax increase in American history … again.  At $683 billion, this tax increase comes amidst an uncertain economy with Americans paying more than ever for healthcare, education, gas and basic necessities. Yet, not only does the House proposal spend $22.4 billion more than the president’s request, it once again ignores our long-term net liabilities.

The consequences of procrastination and self-indulgence are frequent lessons we teach our children.

But, the American people should not have to teach those lessons to their government — especially when our children and grandchildren will pay the price in the end.

Bachmann is a member of the House Financial Services Committee.