A new Congressional Budget Office report shows that federal budget shortfall hit $159 billion after the first four months of fiscal 2017, approximately $1 billion lower than the figure recorded for the same period in fiscal 2016.
CBO said Tuesday total amount of receipts associated with individual and corporate income taxes as well as Federal Reserve remittances increased by less than 1 percent to $1.1 trillion over the past four months.
Federal spending amounted to $1.2 trillion in the past four months, up $4 billion from the outlays posted in the same period last year.
The agency associated the increase in federal outlays in the first four months of FY 2017 with the rise in spending on Social Security benefits, Medicare and Medicaid programs and net interest on government debt.
The federal government posted $49 billion in budget surplus last month, about $6 billion lower than the surplus recorded in January 2016.
CBO noted that last month’s receipts reached $343 billion, up $30 billion from the figure posted in January 2016.
Government spending totaled $294 billion in January 2017, about $36 billon higher from outlays recorded in the prior-year period.