from the Congressional Budget Office

The federal budget deficit was $432 billion for the first eight months of fiscal year 2017, CBO estimates – $26 billion more than the shortfall recorded during the same span last year.

The federal budget deficit was $432 billion for the first eight months of fiscal year 2017, the Congressional Budget Office estimates—$26 billion more than the shortfall recorded during the same span last year. But that result was affected by shifts in 2016 in the timing of certain payments that otherwise would have been due on a weekend. If not for those shifts, the deficit for the first eight months of fiscal year 2017 would have been $68 billion larger than the one recorded for the same period last year.

Total Receipts: Up by 1 Percent in the First Eight Months of Fiscal Year 2017

Receipts totaled $2,168 billion during the first eight months of fiscal year 2017, CBO estimates—$29 billion more than they did during the same period last year. Although receipts grew, they continue to be $60 billion to $70 billion (or 3 percent) smaller for the fiscal year to date than CBO expected when it published its January 2017 report The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2017 to 2027.

As reported last month, the bulk of that shortfall reflects smaller-than-anticipated payments of individual and, to a lesser extent, corporate income taxes, mostly for economic activity in 2016. Payments for 2016 activity may have been smaller than anticipated because income growth was weaker than expected in calendar year 2016 or because taxpayers may have shifted more income than projected from 2016 to later years, expecting legislation to reduce tax rates to be enacted this year. Part of the weakness in receipts may also reflect smaller-than-anticipated payments for economic activity in 2017. The sources of the shortfall will be better understood as data from tax returns start to become available later this year.

The changes between last year and this year were as follows: