U.S. Deficit Totaled $2.8 Trillion From October Through July, Treasury Says
13 August 2020 - 4:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Kate Davidson
WASHINGTON -- The federal deficit more than tripled in the first
10 months of the fiscal year, as government spending to combat the
coronavirus continued to outpace federal tax collection, the
Treasury Department said Wednesday.
The U.S. budget gap totaled $2.8 trillion from October through
July, 224% bigger than the $867 billion gap during the same period
a year earlier. The government has spent $5.6 trillion so far in
the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, 51% more than a year earlier,
fueled in large part by the economic relief legislation Congress
enacted in March to keep households and businesses afloat during
the pandemic.
Total receipts for the fiscal year are down just 1%, totaling
$2.8 trillion, thanks to an influx of revenue last month as
individuals and corporations made tax payments that the government
had delayed in April and June. Those figures mostly reflect revenue
based on income and business activity from before the pandemic, and
are likely to shrink in the months ahead as the economy slowly
emerges from a deep downturn that led to widespread business
closures and millions of layoffs.
Federal spending has soared after Congress approved trillions in
economic relief measures, including enhanced unemployment benefits,
stimulus checks for households and emergency small-business loans.
That spending began to taper off last month: Outlays totaled $626
billion, 70% more than July 2019 but about half of what they were
in June, when the government issued billions in emergency loans to
small businesses.
Write to Kate Davidson at kate.davidson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 12, 2020 14:14 ET (18:14 GMT)
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