US budget deficit totals $138.5 billion in November
WASHINGTON — The federal government collected a record amount of tax income for the month of November and also had a record level of spending for the month, producing a budget deficit of $138.5 billion, up slightly from a year ago.
The November deficit was 1.4 per cent higher than a year ago, reflecting in part higher spending to deal with disaster relief and also higher spending by the Treasury Department on interest payments on the national debt, the Treasury Department reported Tuesday.
For the first two months of this budget year, the budget deficit totals $201.8 billion, up 10.6 per cent from the same period a year ago.
The spending increases pushed total outlays in November to $346.9 billion, a record for the month, while receipts totalled $208.3 billion, also a record for November.