During the most recently completed federal fiscal year, the federal deficit declined to its lowest level since President Obama took office. For the twenty fifteen fiscal year, the federal budget deficit totaled four hundred and thirty nine billion dollars. That’s forty four billion dollars less than last year. These data are supplied by the U.S. Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget.
The latest budgetary shortfall translates into two point five percent of gross domestic product, the lowest share of output since two thousand and seven. An improving economy has helped. Government receipts rose by eight percent over the past year. Though wages are not rising rapidly in America, they rose by enough to drive up collections of individual and payroll taxes. It helps that for much of the past year, job growth has been more than respectable.
Higher corporate profits also pushed tax collections higher, as did fees and payments that took effect in twenty fifteen as a result of the Affordable Care Act. While the shrinking deficit is broadly viewed as a positive indicator, many analysts worry that the current trend won’t last. The Congressional Budget Office projects that deficits will begin to rise again in twenty seventeen.
