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Budget

The federal government collected nearly $4.5 trillion in revenue in fiscal year 2023 (FY 2023).

About half was collected through individual income taxes, while 37% was through payroll taxes. Other revenue sources included corporate income taxes, customs duties, and sales taxes.

Budget

The federal government spent almost $6.2 trillion in FY 2023, including funds distributed to states.

Medicare, Social Security, defense and veterans, transfers to states, interest on the debt, and aid to individuals such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and refundable tax credits accounted for 90% of spending.

Budget

Federal revenue decreased 15.5% in FY 2023 but remained almost 8% higher than in FY 2019.

The drop was due to lower revenue from individual income taxes and non-tax sources. Non-tax sources include Federal Reserve earnings and proceeds from selling government resources.

Budget

Federal spending decreased by 8.4% in FY 2023, the second year of decreased spending since a record high in FY 2021.

This drop was mostly due to the Supreme Court’s reversal of the Biden Administration’s planned student loan debt forgiveness. Federal spending remained 16.0% above that of FY 2019.

Budget

Federal revenue in FY 2023 was $13,341 per person and spending was $18,406.

An increasing federal budget may reflect a growing population; adjusting government revenue and spending to a per-person basis eliminates the distortion from population growth. Per person FY 2023 revenue was 4% higher and spending was 63% higher than in FY 2000.

Budget

The federal government spent 38.0% more than it collected in FY 2023, resulting in a $1.7 trillion deficit.

This was higher than the FY 2022 deficit ($1.45 trillion), but lower than the FY 2020 and FY 2021 deficits (both exceeding $3.0 trillion). For comparison, the FY 2019 deficit was $1.17 trillion after adjusting for inflation.

State and local tax revenue grew 1.2% from FY 2022 to FY 2023 after rising 10% in the previous fiscal year. In FY 2023, state and local governments accounted for approximately 43% of government spending, 28% of which were funds transferred from the federal government.

Budget

The national debt hit nearly $33.2 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2023.

The federal debt held by the public (total debt excluding intragovernmental debt) is equivalent to 95.4% of GDP. This is slightly higher than in FY 2022 when it was 93.6%, and higher than the average of 71.0% over the 10 years before the pandemic.

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