Deficit for First 5 Months of FY23 Larger by $262 Billion a Year Ago
Summary
- Receipts down 4% in first 5 months of FY23 from a year ago.
- Outlays up 7.7% with interest surging 39.4%.
The federal government ran a budget deficit of $262.4 billion in February, according to a report today by the U.S. Treasury; this compares to a deficit of $38.8 billion in January and $216.6 billion in February 2022. The Action Economics Forecast Survey had estimated a deficit of $268.5 billion this February. For the first five months of fiscal 2023, the deficit totaled $722.6 billion, compared to $475.6 billion for the first five month of fiscal 2022.
Federal government revenues totaled $1,735.0 billion for the first five months of FY23, down from $1,806.8 billion in the same period of FY22; this year’s amount is down 4.0% from the FY22 period. Individual income taxes were down 9.8% in the first five months of this fiscal year from the same period last year, corporate income taxes were up 9.8%, social insurance taxes were up 8.6% and excise taxes were up 3.5%. The decline in total revenues from a year ago results from a sizable drop in “other” receipts, especially customs duties and miscellaneous.
Federal outlays for October through February are up 7.7% from the comparable FY22 period. Interest outlays surged 39.4% in that period, while national defense is up just 3.9% in that period and social security outlays are up 9.9%. Medicare, in contrast, eased 0.3% from the year-earlier period, and income security outlays declined 10.5%.
Haver's data on Federal Government receipts and outlays are contained in USECON. The expectations figure is in the Action Economics AS1REPNA database.
Carol Stone, CBE
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Carol Stone, CBE came to Haver Analytics in 2003 following more than 35 years as a financial market economist at major Wall Street financial institutions, most especially Merrill Lynch and Nomura Securities. She has broad experience in analysis and forecasting of flow-of-funds accounts, the federal budget and Federal Reserve operations. At Nomura Securites, among other duties, she developed various indicator forecasting tools and edited a daily global publication produced in London and New York for readers in Tokyo. At Haver Analytics, Carol is a member of the Research Department, aiding database managers with research and documentation efforts, as well as posting commentary on select economic reports. In addition, she conducts Ways-of-the-World, a blog on economic issues for an Episcopal-Church-affiliated website, The Geranium Farm. During her career, Carol served as an officer of the Money Marketeers and the Downtown Economists Club. She has a PhD from NYU's Stern School of Business. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and has a weekend home on Long Island.
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