The U.S. government ran a $107 billion deficit in the month of August, the Treasury Department reported Tuesday, bringing the shortfall for the first 11 months of the fiscal year to $620 billion.
August’s deficit, which was slightly larger than expected, reflected $338 billion in spending and $231 billion in revenues taken in during the month, both up significantly from the previous year.
The most recent projections from the Congressional Budget Office have the full fiscal year 2016 deficit at $544 billion dollars. The final year deficit will likely be smaller than the current $620 billion shortfall because the government is expected to run a surplus in September.
But the deficit remains on track to widen from last year’s $439 billion shortfall. That would be the first increase in the deficit since 2011.
So far this year, the government has taken in $2.9 trillion in total revenues — $1.4 trillion from individual taxes, $1 trillion from payroll taxes and $233 billion from corporate taxes.
Spending, meanwhile, has totaled $3.5 billion. The single biggest spending item is Social Security payments, accounting for $840 billion. The U.S. spent another $535 billion on defense, and $525 billion on Medicare. Servicing the debt cost $258 billion.
