The U.S. deficit this year is 30.3% higher than the $ 1.48 trillion accumulated deficit over the same period last year, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
The U.S. budget deficit hit a record $ 1.9 trillion during the first seven months of this budget year, inflated by the billions of dollars spent on coronavirus relief packages.
This year’s deficit is 30.3 percent higher than the $ 1.48 trillion deficit accumulated over the same period last year, the U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday in its budget report monthly.
The red ink oceans of the two years are largely due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which led the government to approve billions of dollars in assistance to cover three rounds of individual payments, extra benefits of unemployment and support for small businesses.
The budget year deficit that ended Sept. 30 totaled a record $ 3.1 trillion and many private economists believe this year’s total will exceed that amount. Some predict a $ 3.3 trillion deficit.
In April, the deficit amounted to $ 225.6 billion, below a deficit of $ 738 billion in April 2020. This improvement reflected the fact that fewer relief payments were made this year and that people who paid quarterly taxes had to meet the normal April deadline. Last year all tax payments were delayed at the start of the pandemic.
For the October-April period, revenues amounted to $ 2.14 trillion, 16.1% more than the same period last year, a gain that was driven by people’s quarterly tax payments in April. April pay was delayed last year after 22 million people lost their jobs due to pandemic shutdowns.
Expenditures for the first seven months of this budget year amounted to $ 4.07 trillion, 25.8% more than the same period last year, as the government of the two periods passed massive labor laws. pandemic relief.
The $ 1.93 trillion deficit in the first seven months of this budget year was $ 459.4 billion higher than the $ 1.48 trillion deficit in the same period last year.