The U.S. government ran a budget deficit of $512 billion in the first nine months of fiscal 2013, compared with a $904 billion shortage in the same period last year, as revenue rose and spending fell.
Receipts for the first three quarters of fiscal year 2013 totaled $2,087 billion, $263 billion more than the amounts taken in over the same period last year, CBO estimates.
Outlays for the first nine months of fiscal year 2013 were $129 billion less than spending during the same period last year.
In June, the federal government had a surplus of $115 billion, CBO estimates, in contrast with the $60 billion deficit incurred in the same month last year. CBIO said the comparison is distorted by quirks of the calendar: Because June 1, 2013, fell on a Saturday, certain payments that ordinarily would have been made in June this year were instead made earlier, reducing outlays in June by about $34 billion.
