Posted on 05/11/2013 10:02:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The annual deficit has fallen 32% over the first seven months of this fiscal year compared with same period last year, according to Congressional Budget Office figures released Tuesday.
A major reason: A big jump in tax revenue.
Tax collections rose by $220 billion -- or 16% -- between the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1 through April 30. Individual and payroll taxes accounted for $184 billion of that increase.
The tax haul rose sharply primarily because wages and salaries were higher, the payroll tax cut of the past two years expired on Jan. 1 and the fiscal cliff deal brokered over New Year's raised tax rates on high earners.
Spending, meanwhile, fell 1.9% year over year, the CBO estimated.
The biggest percentage drop occurred in the payment of unemployment benefits, which were down nearly 25%, or $15 billion. Defense spending fell 5.3%, or $20 billion, and "other activities" -- primarily spending on nondefense programs -- fell 8.6%, or $58 billion.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
See also here:
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/298291-cbo-shows-budget-deficit-decline
CBO shows decline in budget deficit
EXCERPT:
The Congressional Budget Office reported Tuesday that the federal budget deficit is declining this year compared to fiscal 2012.
For the first seven months of 2013, the deficit was $489 billion. That is $231 billion less than the budget shortfall for the comparable period last year.
The decrease is almost entirely due to revenue increases. Revenues rose $200 billion and spending decreased only $11 billion.
Individual income tax and social insurance payroll taxes are up 16 percent this year compared to last year.
In January, Congress and the White House agreed to allow income taxes on those making more than $400,000 per year to rise and to end a 2-percentage point payroll tax holiday for all workers.
That has contributed to $132 billion more in income taxes and $52 billion more in payroll tax revenue, CBO estimated.
On the spending side, major discretionary items like defense saw notable decreases, but the mandatory entitlement programs continued their relentless march upward in cost.
Whereas defense spending has fallen by $20 billion, spending increased by $25 billion for Social Security and $15 billion for Medicare as the baby boomer generation ages into retirement.
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*sigh* Talking points in the making. Reducing our budget deficit, while nice, means absolutely nothing in regards to our debt, and less than nothing in regards to our unfunded liabilities.
This means precisely nothing.
Fewer people working and more people receiving government entitlements. I'm not really sure we should be celebrating this. It sounds like more theft of other people's money might be going on.
How many days or weeks before they tell us this was a mistake? Sorry! Some low level govt worker put a decimal in the wrong place...
CBO: Are you gonna believe us or your own lyin’ eyes?
Translation: Even with the Sequester cuts and massive tax increases, we are still on track to spend nearly a trillion more than we are taking in this year on top of the $16 trillion dollars in debt that our country is in and $80 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities.
Whoopi!
I’m not sure you read the story correctly.
In 2005, under Bush administration, there was a huge infilux of cash into the budget because tax cuts kicked in and economy grew at robust rates. This current trend is temporay, because of higher taxes the economy will go down and budget deficits will start to grow again.
Sounds like the deficit for the year could fall to about $650 billion — just a wild guess.
Whoever said 'crime doesn't pay' didn't work for the taxman.
My paycheck is supporting my family and how many others who leach off my hard earned money? There's barely anything left to pay bills after Uncle Sugar steals his share.
A major reason: A big jump in tax revenue. Tax collections rose by $220 billion... Individual and payroll taxes accounted for $184 billion of that increase... Spending, meanwhile, fell 1.9% year over year, the CBO estimated.
Take more money out of the Oconomy by raising taxes and tax revenues go up.
Who woulda’ thought?
Probably only a 32% reduction if the didn’t have to pay the inteerst back. We know how the supreme lar in chief spins things, if you decieve the people usin spin it’s still a lie and dishonest.
Neither of you read, or grasped, the article.
Try again.
A lot of the big jump in income is special dividends by companies trying to beat a possible jump in the dividend tax rate from 15% to 43 %.
Although the tax never happened, many companies jumped their dividends to the last part of 2012.
On a personal level, I took about 100K of cap gains in 2012 just in case the cap gains tax jump. This was a one time event for me as I sold stock I held a long time and bought it back the next day (the wash sale rule applies only to losses, not to gains.)
Did certainty replace uncertainty?
For as long as we are shipping US jobs to China and buying a bunch of imports, we will run a deficit and our children will be suffering.
Bring back US jobs, and stop importing everything.
Now.
Sounds like the GOP’s “obstruction” to cut back on Obama’s spending is starting to have a effect.
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