WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US government recorded a $ 144 billion budget deficit in December – a record for that month – due to much higher spending on coronavirus aid and unemployment benefits, while revenues rose slightly , the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
The Treasury said the December deficit compares to a $ 13 billion deficit in December 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began in the United States.
Revenue for the month rose 3% from a year earlier to $ 346 billion, while spending rose 40% to $ 490 billion.
The individual income tax expenses withheld in December were unique, while the Treasury recorded increases in unmaintained income taxes and income tax payments at the end of the year.
The cumulative US deficit for the first three months of fiscal year 2021, which began on October 1, reached $ 573 billion, up from $ 357 billion in the pre-pandemic period of the previous year.
Revenues for the first three months of the fiscal year were largely fixed at $ 803 billion, while spending rose 18 percent to $ 1.376 trillion.
Reporting by David Lawder; Montage by Andrea Ricci