“Year-end data from the September 2023 Monthly Treasury Statement of Receipts and Outlays of the United States Government show that the deficit for FY 2023 was $1.7 trillion; $320 billion higher than the prior year’s deficit,” said the statement jointly issued by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda D. Young.
The two officials noted that after a typically strong revenue growth in 2022, driven by record-high capital gains receipts and the historic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, revenues in 2023 fell to 16.5 percent of gross domestic product, or GDP.
Individual and corporate receipts also returned to lower levels in line with projections made after the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
“This drop in revenues was the primary driver of the increase in the deficit as a share of GDP,” the statement said. “By contrast, non-interest spending did not meaningfully contribute to the increase in the deficit as a share of GDP.”
The two officials also noted that the deficit remains more than $1 trillion lower than when President Joe Biden took office, thanks to the economic recovery that followed the administration's vaccination program for the COVID-19 breakout.
Bipartisan legislation signed by Biden-led Democrats with their rival Republicans is expected to reduce the deficit by a further $1 trillion over the next decade, the statement added.