The budget deficit of the United States exceeded $1 trillion in the first six months of the fiscal year, bolstered in part by interest on public debt, according to Treasury Department data released on Thursday.
But the gap of around $1.1 trillion was three percent below the corresponding period last year, according to Treasury figures which was obtained by Africa Today News, New York.
Between October and March, receipts rose by seven percent to a record $2.2 trillion. Outlays rose by three percent, remaining above $3 trillion.
In particular, there was a 32 per cent rise in gross corporate taxes collected and an increase in individual taxes as well, the Treasury said.
But a key factor adding to spending was interest paid on the public debt, which shot up 36 percent to $522 billion after borrowing costs jumped.
Spending on defense programs also picked up, by six percent to $410 billion, while spending by the Social Security Administration was up eight percent to $741 billion.
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There was a drop in expenditures for the month of March, in part because there were no major bank failures this year.
Last year, there was a large Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation payment due to the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, a Treasury official told reporters.
In 2023, the US budget deficit widened to $1.7 trillion, a development that could pile pressure on President Joe Biden as he seeks reelection.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that last year’s deficit expansion came on the back of lower tax revenues while interest rates remained elevated.
In another report, President Joe Biden asserted in an interview aired Tuesday on the primary US Spanish-language TV network that his Republican opponent, Donald Trump, poses a paramount danger to American democracy.
Queried by Univision while seated in the iconic Oval Office about the chief menace to liberty and democracy domestically, Biden promptly singled out “Donald Trump. Without a doubt.”
Biden pointedly highlighted Trump’s backing of the mob that breached the Capitol on January 6, 2021, unleashing “chaos and disorder” in a bid to overturn Biden’s victory from two months prior.