The Treasury Department announced a surplus of $70.5 billion for June, according to a report released today.
After May's Treasury budget clocked in at a $130 billion deficit, analysts had been expecting a surplus for June. In the past decade, June's report has averaged in at $2.6 billion. For this June, analyst predictions of $86.5 billion proved slightly too optimistic.
Overall June receipts (inflow) added up to $324 billion, while outlays totaled up to just $253 billion. Individual and corporate income taxes contributed just over $210 billion toward June's receipts.
Source: Treasury Department
From a more long-term perspective, the deficit has totaled $366 billion so far this fiscal year. The fiscal year started Oct. 1, 2013. That's a substantial 28% improvement over the $510 billion deficit for the same period last year, and is the lowest year-to-date deficit June has seen since 2008. The improvement comes primarily from a boost in receipts, since this fiscal year's outlays still outweigh last year's by around $27 billion so far.
This report serves as another welcome sign that Uncle Sam is on track to keep cutting back on the budget deficit. Although June's surplus was to be expected, the continued strength of year-to-date receipts, as well as slower growth in outlays, are good indicators of increasingly balanced government books.
