U.S. Treasury posted a whopping, and record $308.2 B budget surplus in April
U.S. Treasury posted a whopping, and record $308.2 B budget surplus in April versus the -$192.7 B shortfall in March. The prior record surplus was $214.3 B from April 2018. And it compares to the -$225.6 B red ink amount from April 2021. As analysts noted a huge tax season saw receipts climb, though there were some calendar effects too as the 2021 tax filing deadline was postponed to May 15. Hence, receipts surged 96.6% y/y, while spending declined -16.4% y/y. Nevertheless, the climb reflects 17% annualized growth in receipts since April of 2019, i.e. three years back to the April before the pandemic. For the seven months of fiscal 2022, the deficit totals -$306.0 B, a dramatic improvement from the -$1,931.8 B for the same period for fiscal 2021 now that pandemic spending has been rolling off. For FY 2022, receipts are up 39.3% y/y and spending is down -17.9% y/y. The report dramatically narrowed our estimate for the FY22 budget deficit to just -$720 B from our prior -$950 B figure, and is well off of the official CBO annual forecast from last July of -$1,153 B
