Interesting
U.S. Records Surplus in January
February 12, 2008 2:23 p.m.; Page A2
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. federal government ran a monthly budget surplus of $17.84 billion in January, the Treasury Department said Tuesday.
Treasury's monthly budget statement shows the January surplus was 53% smaller than a surplus of $38.24 billion in January 2007.
Historically, January is a deficit month; Treasury said 34 of the last 53 Januarys had budget shortfalls. Treasury couldn't explain why a surplus occurred last month. In December 2007, the government had a surplus of $48.26 billion, which was unrevised.
Outlays were $237.38 billion during January, up 6.7% from January 2007's $222.37 billion. Government receipts in January were $255.22 billion, down 2.1% from January 2007's $260.61 billion.
The January surplus figure was bigger than the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of a surplus of $15 billion for the fourth month of fiscal year 2008, which began Oct. 1.
In the first four months of fiscal year 2008, the budget deficit totaled $87.70 billion, 108.0% bigger than the $42.17 billion deficit in the same period in fiscal year 2007. Fiscal year-to-date outlays were $949.13 billion, up 8.3% from $876.30 billion in the same period in the previous fiscal year, and revenue was $861.43 billion, 3.3% higher than $834.14 billion in the year-ago period.
January individual income tax receipts totaled $148.84 billion. Corporate taxes totaled $6.06 billion.
Last month, the government paid net interest on the federal debt of $22.78 billion. Net interest on the federal debt excludes interest paid on non-marketable government securities held by federal trust funds, such as Social Security.
The Treasury said it plans to release budget data for February on March 12.
Write to Jeff Bater at jeff.bater@dowjones.com1
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