MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Federal Budget April Revenue Falls 7.9% with Deficit Reaching 82.7 Billion

President Obama also has some taming with finances

The US reported its largest April budget deficit on record, 82.7 billion USD as receipts declined in a month that typically sees an increase in individual income tax payments, according to the latest release from the Treasury Department.

April marked a record 19th straight monthly shortfall, highlighting the challenges facing the Obama administration. Deterioration in the government’s balance sheet in coming years raises the risk of higher interest rates even as an improving economy helps lift tax receipts.

The last time the United States had back-to-back April deficits was 1963-1964. The government has reported budget surpluses in 43 of the past 56 Aprils. For the fiscal year that began in October, the budget deficit totaled 799.7 billion compared with 802.3 billion during the same period last year.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), in a report issued May 10, projected an April deficit of 85 billion. “The decline in non-withheld individual income tax receipts and the increase in individual refunds were partly offset by higher revenues from other sources,” the CBO said in the report.

Revenue and other income fell 7.9% to 245.3 billion in April from 266.2 billion the same month last year, the Treasury said. Corporate tax receipts totaled 77.1 billion for the year to date, an increase of 8.9%. Individual income tax collections were down 11.6% so far this fiscal year to 500.8 billion.

Spending for the entire government for April jumped 14.2% from the same month a year earlier to 328 billion. The Obama administration forecasts a 1.6 trillion budget deficit in the current fiscal year that began October first.