The U.S. government ran a $220 billion deficit in August, up 29% from a $171 billion shortfall in the same month a year ago, the Treasury Department said Tuesday.
For the month, federal revenues grew 13% year over year to $304 billion. An increase of $25 billion, or 11%, in individual income tax withholdings accounted for most of the growth, Reuters notes. Outlays jumped $84 billion, from $439 billion in August 2021 to $523 billion last month — though that increase “largely reflected calendar differences in how payments were distributed in August 2021,” The Wall Street Journal says. “Adjusted for calendar differences, the deficit in August of this year and August of last year were roughly the same, the Treasury Department said in its monthly budget statement.”
Over the first 11 months of fiscal year 2022, the deficit has fallen dramatically, shrinking to $946 billion from $2.7 trillion for the same period in the prior year. That drop of almost $1.8 trillion represents a 65% decrease, aided by the end of pandemic relief spending and record tax revenue.
